Kevin Andrews true to his beliefs

Many of their views were chalk and cheese. But Anthony Albanese hit the nail on the head when he said former Liberal minister Kevin Andrews, who has died aged 69 after a year-long battle with cancer, was a strong advocate who “stuck to his guns” yet was personable and polite. “Kevin Andrews dedicated his life to the things he cared for most: family, faith, community and nation,” the Prime Minister said.

Mr Andrews was committed to serving the public interest. Representing the Melbourne seat of Menzies from 1991 to 2022, he left parliament as the Father of the House, after serving as a minister in the Howard and Abbott governments, but his legacy went well beyond longevity in office.

Early in his career, as a backbencher, Mr Andrews made his mark as a man of conviction and faith – he was a practising Catholic – taking a leading role in 1997 in overturning the Northern Territory’s voluntary euthanasia laws. As his friend Tony Abbott said, Mr Andrews “understood the critical difference between declining to keep alive someone who would otherwise be dead and deliberately killing someone who would otherwise be alive”. He also was a strong supporter of making significant improvements to palliative care services to try to ensure that, as Mr Abbott said, “no one need die in severe pain”.

As social services minister in the Abbott government, Mr Andrews undertook the difficult but important task of reducing the ballooning number of recipients of the Disability Support Pension and implemented a private sector work experience version of work for the dole.

As immigration minister, Mr Andrews became embroiled in controversy in 2007, Dennis Shanahan writes, when he famously revoked the Australian visa of Mohamed Haneef on the basis of a request from Scotland Yard, British intelligence and the Australian Federal Police in relation to a terrorist incident in Britain. It was probably his biggest mistake. The case ultimately collapsed, Dr Haneef left Australia and Mr Andrews was heavily criticised but he maintained he acted properly on advice.

Mr Andrews is survived by his wife, Margie, their five children and grandchildren. May his soul rest in peace.