Having had much to do with Beazley in my 13 years in the parliament I can attest to his leadership ability. This was particularly evident in his six years as Australia’s Minister for Defence.

As a former member of the army reserve I took great interest in defence policy work and know that departmental and military experts often praised Kim Beazley as the best

Defence Minister with whom they had worked. US Defence Secretary Weinburger and US Secretary of State George Schulz also described him as the best defence minister they had worked with.

His brilliance as a defence leader capped his pre-parliamentary studies in that very subject.

His decisiveness as a leader was often evident to me including when, as Minister for Communications he led a successful fight against the full sale of Testra.

Apart from his experience in both communications and defence, Kim Beazley’s leadership qualities would never have seen him make Howard’s hasty pre-election announcement of a defence facility near Bungendore without first determining whether it would interfere with a nearby and vital - communications facility.

JIM SNOW, Member for Eden-Monaro 1983-1996, Bruce St Queanbeyan