Vale Ron Boswell
Nation First looks at Ron Boswell's legacy and his push for a new party.
Dear friend,
Australia lost one of its greats this week. Senator Ron Boswell, or “Bozzie” as we knew him, passed away at age 85, surrounded by family in his Brisbane home. The media’s obituary pages have noted his long service in the Senate and the odd colourful quote. But they’ve missed the real story.
Ron Boswell wasn’t just a long-serving Senator, he was a relentless champion for the little guy, fighting for farmers, families, and forgotten Australians.
In his final years, Ron led behind-the-scenes efforts to build a new party that would restore the true spirit of the old Queensland Nationals.
He got me into politics by sheer force of will, and I saw firsthand how he used his influence not for himself but for struggling everyday people.
Ron was a fierce opponent of Net Zero and abortion, unafraid to speak unpopular truths in defence of what he believed was right.
His legacy is one of humble, fearless service, and it’s up to us now to continue the fight for the people he never stopped standing up for.
Ron Boswell wasn’t just a long-serving member of the National Party. He was a lion for the little guy, a fighter for families, and a man who never stopped trying to save the party and country he loved. And just a few years ago, he was working behind the scenes on a political resurrection, a new party for rural Australians, built in the ashes of what the LNP had become.
Ron was loyal to the Nationals, yes. But a number of years ago, he confided to a small group of us that the LNP experiment in Queensland had failed. He saw that the outfit had been captured by moderates and economic rationalists who didn’t care for the battlers he fought for or the conservative causes he held dear.
So he reached out, even to former political enemies like the Katters, with a plan to revive something closer to the old Queensland Nationals. It was more than a thought bubble. There were former and current politicians, and former senior LNP backroom operators involved, and I was invited into the conversation, too. Others invited One Nation and Clive Palmer to the table, but Ron was central to it all. The effort didn’t come to fruition, but it tells you something: Ron Boswell never gave up. He kept fighting for a party that would fight for the people.
During the 2001 election, the Queensland National Party ran a presidential-style Senate campaign for Ron. This might have seemed strange for a man who was a former paintbrush salesman but was no oil painting himself. But the slogan the party ran in TV and radio ads, newspaper ads, and giant billboards was, “Ron Boswell: He’s not pretty, but he’s pretty effective.” It was a line that stuck because it was true in every way. Whether he was in the Senate chamber or back in the bush, he didn’t care for the limelight; he cared for results.
He didn’t come from elite ranks. He left school at 14, sold paintbrushes door-to-door, and later became a small business owner. He spoke the language of workers, not woke consultants.
He knew what it meant to battle. He knew what it meant to risk everything on a business. And he knew that the ordinary people of this country were too often forgotten in the halls of power.
But he never forgot them. And they never forgot him.
I wouldn’t be writing this if it weren’t for Ron Boswell. Back in 2009, I was a city councillor in Mackay, considering a leap into Christian ministry. One day, out of the blue, Ron’s advisor rang and said the Senator needed to see me. I cut short a bushwalk I was taking with my then-girlfriend and drove an hour back into town.
What followed were hours of Ron, sitting in a modest motel room on Nebo Road, Mackay, hammering me to nominate to be the LNP candidate for the seat of Dawson.
“Are you content being a big fish in a little pond?” he asked. “Your country needs you.”
To end the haggling, I told him I’d nominate. I did, and I won. That’s the kind of pull Bozzie had. He didn’t just spot talent, he built it.
He travelled with me during my second election, too. I’d wave roadside signs in peak hour while he sat under a tree shaking his head.
“You’re prostituting the political process!” he joked. But he joined me in meeting farmers, fishermen, and struggling small businesses, the people he fought for his entire life. And he got things done for them.
Senator Matt Canavan said it best:
Ron was a giant of a statesman who looked after the small. The small businessmen, the small farmers, the small manufacturers and the families that are the smallest and most important unit of our society.
Tony Abbott called him “a true conservative, committed to the family, small business and institutions that have stood the test of time.”
Barnaby Joyce, his friend and protégé, wrote that, with his passing, Ron “left a big hole in so many of our lives.”
He also mentioned missing Bozzie’s calls, advice and orders. Canavan, too, said it was going to be strange not getting calls from Ron. That’s because, despite his departure from parliament, Ron would ring sitting politicians constantly to help people in need or to provide firepower to defeat policy idiocy, such as Net Zero. No cameras. No headlines. Just action.
In one of his final public contributions, Ron authored an op-ed titled “LNP Must Listen to Its Members on Net Zero,” published in the Courier Mail late last year. In it, he wrote:
In Canberra, the political smarties just can’t work out why the grassroots of the National and Liberal parties are turning away from Net Zero.
Last week, Queensland’s LNP was the latest state division to urge the parties to reject Net Zero. This week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, the Teals and most of Canberra’s press gallery have been united in their urban condescension, describing Barnaby Joyce’s private member’s bill to kill Net Zero as a political gift to the government.
For them obedience to Net Zero is a painless slogan. They label anyone with doubts about Net Zero as a climate denier. They think the target – 2050 – is sufficiently distant that they’ll be insulated from adverse consequences. And they reckon that the short-term political benefits outweigh the long-term economic costs.
Labor thinks the “vibe” is with them, even if, deep down, they know that Net Zero by 2050 is complete political fakery. Labor’s position is one of frank political cynicism.
He warned of the economic destruction the policy has brung and will continue to bring and urged his party to reconsider its support for it. Two months later, they did, at least in part.
Ron stood against the tide, as always. He wasn’t afraid to be unpopular. He wasn’t afraid to say no.
Bozzie was one of the rare ones in Canberra who spoke up boldly against abortion. He once condemned taxpayer-funded abortions of disabled children as something out of “the Hitler regime.” That’s the kind of spine most modern politicians don’t have.
He believed in natural family structure, stating in the Senate:
Two mothers or two fathers cannot raise a child properly. Yes, there might be some attempt by one of the mothers to fill in as a father figure, but it will not work, it is defying nature.
Whether you agreed or disagreed, you knew exactly where Ron stood.
Ron’s legacy wasn’t built on ego, careers, or photo ops. In his final speech, he said, “I never aspired to high office. I just wanted to get things done.” And he did… for the fishermen, the farmers, the families, and the forgotten.
That was Bozzie. A servant. A fighter. A friend. A father. A patriot. A believer.
I pray he is now reunited in glory with his beloved and late wife, Leita, and their dearly departed son, Stephen.
May we honour him, not with statues or plaques, but by picking up where he left off, fighting for the forgotten people of this nation. Because, as Ron knew, they’re still out there. And they still need a voice.
Until next time, God bless you, your family and nation.
Take care,
George Christensen
George Christensen is a former Australian politician, a Christian, freedom lover, conservative, blogger, podcaster, journalist and theologian. He has been feted by the Epoch Times as a “champion of human rights” and his writings have been praised by Infowars’ Alex Jones as “excellent and informative”.
George believes Nation First will be an essential part of the ongoing fight for freedom:
“The time is now for every proud patriot to step to the fore and fight for our freedom, sovereignty and way of life. Information is a key tool in any battle and the Nation First newsletter will be a valuable tool in the battle for the future of the West.”
— George Christensen.
Find more about George at his www.georgechristensen.com.au website.
dairy deregulation, sugar deregulation, destroyed tobacco industry, destroyed Qld wild catch fishing industry not a very good legacy. As a former Dairy farmer he most certainly was not my hero!
We need many more like him. Looking at his photo, there is nothing wrong with his looks