Smith Lockwood: Obituaries — Rt Hon David Russell Lange ONZ CH John Finlay Luxton QSO Hon John Howard Falloon CNZM Rod David Donald 
Smith Lockwood: Obituaries — Rt Hon David Russell Lange ONZ CH John Finlay Luxton QSO Hon John Howard Falloon CNZM Rod David Donald 
[Volume:628;Page:71] 
Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH (National—Rodney) 
: 
 As I have served with each of the four late colleagues we honour today it is a real privilege to say a few words in tribute. 
Much has been written and spoken of David Lange a remarkable former Prime Minister including the courageous economic reforms his Government undertook his famed pause for a cuppa that brought to a grinding halt those economic reforms and of course his antinuclear legacy. Less often mentioned though is his contribution as Minister of Education when Labour was re-elected in 1987. I think David Lange recognised that economic reform alone would not make for a successful future for New Zealand and that if people were to be able to make the most of a freer and more prosperous future they had to have an education that equipped them to do that. What is more I am sure he foresaw that in a more competitive world New Zealand needed to have a more skilled and highly educated population. 
So as the returning Prime Minister he took on the role of Minister of Education himself. I will never forget the day in 1987 when the phone went and it was Jim Bolger. He asked me whether I would be prepared to be the spokesperson on education for National which meant I would have to oppose David Lange in this Chamber. I do not know what bad things I had done to deserve that but trying to oppose David Lange in this place was like trying to stop the  
Titanic 
 by using only the tip of the iceberg to do it. His legacy in education lives on. He dismantled a hidebound school administration system and proposed the concept of the self-managing school. His reform was called Tomorrow’s Schools and they remain today’s schools. 
But I think it was his oratory and formidable wit that one remembers so much with David. His famous quotes are often repeated but it is the smaller gestures that are so often just as memorable to us who remember them. I will never forget the day we replaced Sir Robert Muldoon as leader of the National Party. Of course he and David Lange were old sparring partners. The bell rang for the House to reassemble that day. David Lange came down to the Chamber and took his place in the Prime Minister’s seat and sat there flamboyantly peering through a pair of binoculars to poke a bit more borax at Sir Robert Muldoon his old foe. He did it not in too mean a way but in quite a good-natured way as Sir Robert took his seat towards the back corner of this Chamber. 
 Nor will I forget the time in 1988 when I came into the House with most of the skin missing from my face. I had tripped while jumping over a gate on the farm and literally landed flat on my face. Just as things went quiet for the Speaker to come into the House that booming voice rolled across the Chamber: “Aha! He’s been visiting kindergartens again!”. David Lange was an extraordinary man and he made extraordinary times. 
Also part of those times were my former colleagues Jack Luxton and the Hon John Falloon. Jack Luxton served 21 years as MP for Piako and Matamata and he was Deputy Speaker for some time. In my 21 years in this Parliament I have never known a more principled politician than Jack Luxton. He fought in the 1970s for the kinds of market policies that paradoxically saw the light of day with the Lange Government of the 1980s and of course the Bolger and Shipley administrations of the 1990s. I have never forgotten the day in caucus in the mid-1980s when some colleagues were railing against the Lange-Douglas economic reforms and Jack Luxton got to his feet and said “Look if this is socialism let’s have more of it.” As an economic thinker Jack was far ahead of his times. But through his son John—who was here in the Chamber this afternoon—who succeeded him and shared his values Jack’s vision finally did strike the right times in the 1990s and it has influenced our country very much for the better. 
My former colleague the Hon John Falloon served almost exactly the same years as David Lange from 1979 to 1996. They would have had the odd sparring match as the Hon John Falloon was Associate Minister of Finance under Rob Muldoon when David Lange became Leader of the Opposition. Like Jack Luxton whom the Hon John Falloon sometimes described as a mentor the Hon John Falloon also argued very much from principle. He believed in the benefits to be gained from freeing people from the shackles of bureaucracy and excessive regulation. He was a tireless and very effective advocate for New Zealand agriculture both here and overseas. It was a privilege to follow and carry on his work after his almost 6 years as Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Forestry. the Hon John Falloon was respected and liked by both sides of this House. Those of us left who served with him will never forget his gentlemanliness his good humour and his extraordinary skill on the piano. Parliamentary parties were never the same again after John went. 
I also acknowledge the shocking and untimely loss of Rod Donald to whom my colleague Gerry Brownlee has paid tribute this afternoon. 
Our late colleagues are not forgotten. Today we honour them; tomorrow we work on strengthened by their legacies.