Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When you're a brand new journalist, a city girl fresh in the Canberra press gallery, and your radio station tells you that as well as being a political reporter you're the rural reporter and you're required to file daily for the National Rural News, you're really lucky to have a primary industries minister like John Kerin. In 1985, when I stepped into the rural reporter role for the biggest commercial radio network, that covered the rural areas run out of 2UE, things could have gone very wrong. Yes, my parents both came from country New South Wales, but I was born and raised in Sydney, so, aside from having lived in an agricultural city in Mexico for a year, farm visits were the sum total of my agricultural experience.

Minister John Kerin and his staff were generous in educating me about the issues, explaining things slowly to my no doubt naive questions and filling the gaps in my knowledge. As the longest-serving minister in the primary industries portfolio, Kerin knew what he was talking about. That's how I always referred to him, as 'Kerin', in the tradition of journos relying on surnames to reduce confusion. In my memory, John Kerin was a kind, often funny, relaxed interviewee, who was apparently grateful that I was paying attention to his agricultural portfolio and sharing his words with farmers around the country.

It wasn't always an easy time, with the tariffs in Europe and the US meaning an unfair playing field for our producers. In 1986 I spent time in Cairns with John Kerin and trade minister John Dawkins at the Ministerial Meeting of Fair Traders in Agriculture, which became known as the Cairns Group. The first Cairns Group meeting brought together a collection of agricultural exporting countries from South America, Asia, the Pacific and Canada, with the goal of caucusing to get agriculture on the agenda of the Uruguay round of the multilateral trade negotiations. They were ultimately successful in doing this. Prime Minister Hawke, speaking at the meeting, described how bad the situation was for farmers in this way:

I think it is no understatement to say that the GATT ministerial meeting at Punta Del Este in September to consider the launch of a new round of multilateral trade negotiations will be the main and probably only opportunity over the next decade for setting in place multilateral mechanisms to restore some sanity in the international agricultural trading system.

The Prime Minister went on to say:

The task before this group of fair traders is to develop tactics for maximising its influence in putting an end to the economic madness now pervading world agricultural trade.

The distortion of the world agricultural production and trading system has reached ludicrous proportions.

John Kerin was a key part of the discussions that ensued. He did relationship building. He negotiated. All those things took place over a few days in Cairns. Witnessing his efforts firsthand, outside of the private meetings that were held, remains clear in my memory. John Kerin would have had us laughing at a joke here and there as he came out to regroup. Prime Minister Hawke described it thus:

John Dawkins and John Kerin have been untiring in their pursuit of agricultural trade reform.

That's what we saw in action in Cairns in 1986. The other thing we would have asked John Kerin was if he had plans to impress his fellow ministers from around the world with his chook-hypnotising skills.

When I saw John a few years ago in Canberra, his warmth, humour and decency continued to shine through. It's a privilege to be able to record a tribute to him in this place. Vale, John Kerin.

Russell Broadbent (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you for the opportunity to speak on such an important motion. In 1990 when I came here—you may inform me as to how long he was the primary industries minister. When did he finish? I believe that in 1990 he was still the primary industries minister. He came with a very, very good reputation with farmers in my electorate of McMillan at the time. In fact, he was highly regarded by farmers and by the institutions that surrounded the farmers, including the VFF and NFF. For a Labor minister, he had ingratiated himself by his personal knowledge of what it's like to be on a farm, growing up on a farm, living the farmers life. His determination, of course, to get himself an education meant that he worked all day and then worked into the night on his education. Quite a remarkable man.

I recently saw him in the dining room—I felt it was recently, but what's recently in my life! I saw John Kerin in the Parliament House dining room. I knew somebody else at the table, and I went up and spoke to them straightaway. John was sitting at the other side of the table. He said: 'Aren't you talking to me? I hypnotised chooks, remember?' He called me Russell—I wouldn't have thought he would remember me. Nothing had changed with the John Kerin that I knew as a minister then. I'm the only sitting member today that was here in 1990 to '93 through the tumultuous years of the fall of Hawke as Prime Minister and the rise of Keating becoming Prime Minister. Even Keating then promoted John, after being Treasurer, to a senior portfolio in the Keating government. So he was not only highly regarded by farmers; he was highly regarded by the community at large. And he was highly regarded by his parliamentary colleagues, who thought he was a bit quirky, with his sense of humour, but they had a high regard for him.

On his staff was a fellow named Gordon Gregory. Because my electorate of McMillan was basically rural, primary industries, from one end to the other, there were a number of issues that were extremely important to me and the farmers that I represented. My contact in John Kerin's office was Gordon Gregory. Gordon and I have had a great relationship ever since that time. I want to give you Gordon's personal reflections on John Kerin, which will be far better than anything I can add to what has already been said either here or at his commemoration ceremonies that I attended in Canberra a couple of weeks ago. Gordon Gregory said this:

Working on the Ministerial staff of John Kerin was a privilege. He rarely gave orders to his staffers. Instead, he annotated Ministerial documents, uttered brief comments and requests, and made known his preferences for next-stage documents through what he heard and said in the thousands of meetings he held.

The Departments for which he was responsible, whether Primary Industries, Primary Industries and Energy, the Treasury, Transport and Communications or Trade and Overseas Development, all served him well. Their officers knew him; they grew to like him. They soon learned to trust him and to respect his working ways. Departmental officers were very rarely kept waiting for the return of Ministerial documents from his office: he liked to get through the paperwork.

Part of the duty of his Ministerial staffers was to sustain and augment this mutual respect between Minister and public service. The staffer's capacity to hide behind the Minister's wishes was treated with respect when dealing with departmental staff.

John Kerin undertook an enormous amount of official travel, mainly in Australia but also overseas as required. He had an encyclopaedic knowledge of places, people and industries in regional and remote areas. In his travels he was always willing to do the work necessary for success, always cheerful. And he took those rural insights to the metropolitan places to which he went.

He was a living bridge between the people of rural industries and 'members of the Board'.

As a member of his staff, one's hope was to ensure that he was informed of all relevant information needed to make a decision in the national interest. He was pleased to be an economist and proud to have become Australia's number one in that profession. But he had no pleasure in knowing that so many members of the profession he joined had blind faith in small government and market forces.

For John Kerin the national interest was something real—almost tangible—albeit complex in terms of the factors determining what it looked like. When faced with hard decisions the national interest was in the room, openly discussed, which meant seeing through the self-interest of powerful people and vested interests.

He did not trust privatisation, deregulation and the outsourcing of public services. He was always opposed to the trickle-down benefits of tax cuts.

By staying on his staff for over seven years I was able to provide him with some continuity. This was especially useful towards the end when the Ministerial road became bumpier. A Minister with a new portfolio has plenty to worry about without the challenge of finding suitable staff.

When working with him almost everyone with whom I came into contact had more technical nous than me, more intellectual capacity, and more commercial experience.

But they did not have the Ministerial confidence and trust given to loyal retainer.

I think I was able to provide what John Kerin needed on the personal (and personable) front—as a friend who was always around but did not interfere nor expect too much. I helped to satisfy his need for friendship and civility in his workplace. And it helped that there was a shared sense of empathy and fairness for those affected by decisions made.

The high-level technical support required by a Minister in economics, production, commerce, management and governance could be provided by others who would come and go.

In a well-functioning Minister's office there also needs to be someone with sufficient patience to deal with people who will not go away: those bearing gifts, the eccentric and the confused. I was that person who, by dealing in a kindly fashion with such 'enthusiasts', could help maintain the good reputation of the Minister.

I hope I wasn't one of those people at the time! He continued:

Just once in my seven years with him John gave me a very direct order. We were in the Russian Far East talking about trade relationships. Kerin was being welcomed by means of a rollicking dinner which, if I recall correctly, featured vodka and dancing a traditional late-night-folk variety.

Towards the end of the evening some of the local staff sang a Russian song in Kerin's honour. He and June were momentarily panicked: how could we possibly reciprocate and maintain our delegation's good face? He ordered me to sing Travelling down the Castlereaghwhich I did.

Like everything else one did with John Kerin, it was professionally appropriate for its time and place but it was also fun. Given his absolute detestation of war, drinking and dancing in the Russian Far East would now seem both unlikely and inappropriate. But as a self-confessed humanist by nature, John Kerin would, I'm sure, ask us to distinguish between the Russian people on the one hand and their leaders on the other.

Rest in peace John.

I would say to you that in all my years in this House—and there have been a number—John Kerin, amongst other very capable ministers in the Hawke government, was a man to be admired. He was a decent man. He was an honest man. He always spoke directly to the issue that you had come to him with. He paid due respect to every parliamentarian, whatever their status in the parliament was and whatever the issues that came before him were.

I say: vale, John Kerin. Here lies a good man. I say to his family and all those that gathered for his funeral: we buried a good man—a man of standing, a man of ability, a man of talent. There are so few John Kerins that come to this place. He was the agricultural minister from 1983 to 1991. How gracious it was that I was able to spend time in this parliament when he was at his peak. Vale, John Kerin.

Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this condolence motion on the very sad passing of the Hon. John Charles Kerin AO. I start by paying my respects to John's wife, June, to John's family and to all the very many people who knew John Kerin, because that's what John Kerin did: wherever John went, John left his mark, and that is why I am speaking here today.

Decades ago, as a young girl, when I first heard the name John Kerin on the radio, in the newspapers, on TV—I can't remember exactly when I heard John's name, but I certainly remember it. I grew up on a dairy farm and little did I know at that time but, of course, John Kerin was the agriculture minister, or Minister for Primary Industries and Energy as it was known then.

John grew up on a farm not too far away in the New South Wales Southern Highlands and studied economics. He then worked as an economist with the bureau of agricultural economics. John entered parliament as the member for Macarthur in 1972—I was two years old—and held a number of portfolios, including Treasury, but went on to be the longest-serving minister for primary industries.

Like John, I also studied economics, but at the very time John was the minister. I mean, John was even in the textbooks and the articles. However, at that time our paths had still not actually physically crossed. It would be many, many years later, when I joined the Australian Labor Party as a member of the Jervis Bay/St Georges Basin branch, that I first came across John's wonderful and loyal friends and then John and June Kerin themselves. It turned out that John and June lived part of their time on the New South Wales South Coast and shared their time between Canberra and the coast.

During my candidacy in a number of federal elections in Gilmore, most notably 2016, 2019 and 2022, John always seemed to pop up at events to support me. John always phoned and emailed, offering guidance and support. No-one asked John to do that. John just did it, and I understand that was because of who John was. I had to pinch myself, really. Here was someone that I had known as a prominent name while I was a young girl on a farm and while studying economics, and here was John Kerin, decades later, supporting me.

Listening to condolences since John's passing, it is easy to see the tremendous mark that John has left on so many people right across the country. John was a reformist, a trailblazing minister for primary industries. John was a friend and a mentor to so many. May John rest in peace and his legacy live on.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think my late father, Lance, a very good farmer at Brucedale between Wagga Wagga and Junee, only ever came to Parliament House once. Dad wasn't one for protesting, but on 1 July 1985 an estimated 40,000 to 45,000 farmers and their friends rallied at Parliament House to protest about the effect of taxes and charges on the farming community and the lack of government concern about their welfare. The minister at the time was one John Kerin. In December of that same year, 25 tonnes of Frank Daniel's best wheat was dumped at the door of Parliament House.

Now, John Kerin was not one for changing his mind. 'Given his natural instincts', and I'm reading from an obituary by Gordon Gregory—this was published on Pearls and Irritations, John Menadue's public policy journal. This was an obituary written just the other day. As I say, in this obituary, it says:

Given … his fascination with the industries in his protection, and a real belief in the rectitude of the task given him, Kerin was building bridges, not moats. He opened the path between agricultural people (not just their leaders) and the evil of 'Canberra'.

He did believe in ensuring that, indeed, we were going to export to the world, that we were going to look at tariffs and try to reduce tariffs and reduce protectionism.

Now, I'm not saying my dear old dad was wrong, but I suppose when I think of my late father, Lance, and I think back to John Kerin, they were both similar sorts. They were both strong in mind and strong in attitude. At the time you could imagine that farmers would have been pretty angry. They were pretty angry about the Hawke government, but I do also remember at the time that the rains came and ended the drought, so that gave the farmers something else to think about.

No doubt he did take credit for that, Member for Whitlam. Some might ask why I'm standing to pay tribute to someone whose actions led to my father coming here and protesting, when dad was not a protester. It's because it's simply the right thing to do. It's simply the right thing to do as a National Party member to stand and pay tribute to somebody who held what can be seen as a difficult portfolio in the Labor Party. Often the bar is set a lot lower for Labor agriculture ministers than it is for National Party agriculture ministers—that's the simple truth.

John was the minister for agriculture from 1983 to 1991, and they were tumultuous years. He reminds me a little of Eddie Graham, who was the New South Wales minister for agriculture from 1944 to 1957. He actually died in office. Eddie Graham was the member for Wagga Wagga, and they referred to him as 'the Minister for Wagga Wagga', such was his passion for my home town, that great inland New South Wales city, the largest in the state. He was agriculture minister for all of that time, apart from seven days when James McGirr, the great-uncle of the current member Dr Joe McGirr, was the agriculture minister. McGirr also had just been elected the 28th Labor Premier of New South Wales. Eddie Graham served as a great ag minister.

I listened to the tribute the other day from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and in talking about John Kerin the word 'great' came out. Anyone who has been the minister for agriculture federally can be looked upon as somebody who did the best for rural communities, and, to that end, I thank John Kerin. I pay tribute to his legacy. When you look at his CV, you see that he was born in Bowral. There's a tick—a good agricultural community. He went to Hurlstone Agricultural High School and Bowral High School. He worked as a poultry farmer—he was a chook farmer who became a federal minister; good on him!—before he completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of New England in 1967. There was a lot of country cred in this man, the late John Kerin, who we pay tribute to today. He completed a Bachelor of Economics at the ANU in 1977 and he spent time working at the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, ABARE. You can see, Mr Deputy Speaker, that he would have been a model agriculture minister for the ALP.

John Kerin served in the House of Representatives from 1972 to 1975, under Gough Whitlam, as the member for Macarthur—a seat now held, of course, by Dr Mike Freelander—and from 1978 to 1993 as the member for Werriwa, after Gough Whitlam retired, causing a by-election. Anne Stanley, of course, is the current member for Werriwa. He held several senior ministerial roles in both the Hawke and Keating governments. He served for eight years as Minister for Primary Industry and Minister for Primary Industries and Energy, the longest period in that role in Australian history for a member of the ALP.

During his time as primary industries and energy minister he played a key role in various Hawke reforms. We all know of the Hawke reforms. We look on many of them today as being a good thing and think it was about time they were introduced. Our country is greater for them. Obviously, protests came about, particularly at the gradual abolition of most tariffs on agricultural imports, and of course our farmers were worried that we were going to get a flood of agricultural produce from other countries when we didn't need it. At the time, it was controversial. But we were opening up to the world, not just under the Hawke government but under previous governments, and under successive governments we have further opened up to the world. This is a trading nation. John Kerin played a part in making Australia a trading nation.

Bob Hawke appointed Mr Kerin as Minister for Transport and Communications, but he held the portfolio for only a couple of weeks because Paul Keating successfully challenged Bob Hawke and Mr Kerin was then moved to the trade and overseas development portfolio.

There was a time, too, when he was the Treasurer, and, unfairly, he was castigated by the media for his actions in his time as Treasurer. It brings home, I suppose, certain memories. We've all had those interviews where, if we could take back some of the things we said or furnish some of the answers we didn't provide, we would do it in a heartbeat. But you get criticised, and Mr Kerin was criticised by people who would never have put their hand up for public office. They'd never have put their name on a ballot paper. I've always said it takes guts to put your name on a ballot paper and to put your hand up for public office. Despite that performance as Treasurer, he did his best. We thank him for the various roles that he played and for the role that he played in helping shape public policy and the federal government of the day.

In October 2010, Mr Kerin was appointed chair of the Crawford Fund, a position he held until early 2017. The Crawford Fund aims to increase Australia's engagement with international agricultural research, development and education. It is a good organisation. John Kerin was a good man. We pay tribute to him today, we mourn his loss and we pay respects to his family. I know he released an extensive memoir of his experiences as primary industries and energy minister between 1983 and 1991. He passed away on 29 March at the age of 85. It was a full life—we wish it could have been longer—but he packed so much into his years, and he gave so much for others and so much for our regional communities. For that, as a National Party member, I say thank you. For the experience and for the energy that he brought to all the portfolios he held, vale, John Kerin.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 12:56 to 13:1 7

Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I knew John Kerin reasonably well and I liked him even better. The contribution I'm going to make today draws upon my knowledge and friendship with him, but it draws more heavily on some of his own words in some of his own writings, which were voluminous. It also draws upon three people who knew him for most of his life: Jim Glasson, who grew up alongside him in Yerrinbool—they were at primary school together and they were lifelong friends; Rodney Cavalier, who was well known to many people in this place, a former member of the New South Wales parliament and a prolific Labor historian and a long-time friend of John as well; and a gentleman by the name of Phil Yeo, who was a former principal, a district director of the Department of Education in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales and a former mayor of the Wingecarribee Shire Council.

John was a boy from the Southern Highlands who made a big and lasting mark on Australia and was powered by sincerity, curiosity and a trademark sense of humour. He served in a time of giants: first as a backbencher in the Whitlam government and then as a highly regarded and high-performing minister in one of Australia's most highly regarded and high-performing governments. He was first elected as the member for Macarthur in 1972 in a seat which at that point in time overlapped one-third of my existing seat of Whitlam. That part was the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. But back then the seat stretched all the way from the western suburbs of Sydney down to the South Coast at Nowra. He served until 1975 and then succeeded Gough Whitlam to serve as the member for Werriwa from 1978 to 1993. Both seats took part of what is now the electorate of Whitlam.

He did not take what we now would think of as an ordinary path to get there. Growing up on a poultry farm in Yerrinbool in the Southern Highlands, he was an autodidact. He chased knowledge as well as chooks. He read the New Statesman but also the Spectator, deliberately seeking to see the full span of politics, wanting to know but also to understand. In his youth, he worked as an axeman, a brick setter, a poultry farmer and finally, before his election to parliament, an economist in the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, an organisation to which he returned, unusually, during his brief break in his parliamentary service. He joined the Mittagong branch of the Labor Party in 1965—the year I was born. They met out the back of the Mittagong Hotel, and the attendees were, he insists, five men and a dog. Along with Pat O'Halloran, John built and drove the Mittagong branch, and then he drove and built Labor's standing in the Southern Highlands. If he had done nothing else, he would have deserved the party's gratitude for that feat alone. John Kerin truly was a regional Australian.

The Hawke-Keating government, as it is now known, is storied in Labor history and indeed in Australian history. That is as much because of the depth and range of abilities across its cabinets as it is about the two headline names. John Kerin was one of those in those cabinets. The Prime Minister has said that John Kerin was Australia's finest minister for primary industries, and you'll not hear me contradict that assessment. He was also the longest-serving minister in that portfolio, with all its unique challenges and difficulties.

We are indebted to John for his autobiography, The Way I Saw It;The Way It Was, which he completed in 2017 and made freely available online. It's a detailed, generous, wry account of his life. I think it totals 726 pages. I have a printed copy of it, and it serves many purposes. It serves a great account of his life, but it also has a particular focus on his time as a minister, the things that it taught him and the things that he wished to teach the rest of us. He wrote some mighty wise things, like:

… it is just not possible to be a good policy maker if you do not foster trust.

And:

… it is best to think you may be wrong and try to put yourself into the other person's shoes rather than being supremely confident that you are always right.

There are many thanks to go around and many statements of how privileged he felt to have served in the federal government at that time.

The generosity that John showed in his autobiography, both to Hawke, who he called a superb chairman, and to Keating, who he described as a master, is a measure of his nature. There is no bitterness about the things that had gone wrong, and there are no attempts to elevate his own contribution at the expense of others'. His description of himself a few pages later as 'poorly, or patchily educated, lacking confidence and often indecisive' is a terribly modest reflection of his abilities. But it's a striking reflection of his humility as a human being. That, I think we can all observe, is a rare thing in politics. John Kerin was much more than these things, and Australia and Australian Labor were much enriched for his service. Vale.

Andrew Leigh (Fenner, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The last public event that I did with John Kerin was to introduce him as the guest of honour at ACT Labor's dinner celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Whitlam government at the Canberra Labor Club in December 2022. John was physically frail but intellectually lively, and he told the stories of serving with Gough. And what better person to regale the dinner than a man whose first stint in federal parliament had coincided exactly with the Whitlam government? Elected in 1972 as member for Macarthur and unelected in 1975, at least his dismissal was by the voters. When John returned to parliament in 1978 it was as Gough Whitlam's successor as member for Werriwa. John won a three-way preselection contest and served the people of Werriwa until 1993.

In my experience, those who have been defeated and then return to parliament come back a little humbler and more attuned to the voters. During his time out of parliament, John Kerin completed his Bachelor of Economics at the Australian National University and worked at ABARE, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics. So, when Labor won in 1983, Hawke appointed John Kerin as minister for primary industries and energy.

Kerin was a former poultry farmer and loved hard work. He could set 6,000 bricks a day in a kiln. At John's funeral, Michael O'Ceirin described John as hardworking, always able to push himself to exhaustion. Jim Glasson described John as a man who worked hard, played hard and would read and write late into the night. Barry Jones remembered that John Kerin subscribed to the New Statesman and the Spectatorkeeping an open mind to new ideas across the political spectrum. He was an habitue of the Parliamentary Library, where he met his wife, June—a romance story that, in this digital age, I fear may never be repeated.

The man known to some as 'JK' never took himself too seriously. In his eulogy, Christopher Massey told us that John would often enjoy his own jokes so much that he would laugh over the punchline. Brian Hill told the story of a trade negotiation with Japan, in which a straight-faced John Kerin told his counterparts: 'Australians value our tuna so much that each one of them has its own name.' His quixotic sense of humour is embodied in the fact that one of his favourite poems was John Donne's 'The Flea'. He also loved the poem 'Said Hanrahan', which John read in England when he and June renewed their wedding vows, and which John Lombard read at John Kerin's funeral.

He was an inveterate joiner of organisations, perfect preparation for a member of parliament who wanted to serve his community well. He was loved by his mates. His friend Tony Gleeson said of him that to be a mate of John Kerin's was to share his trust and his values. He wasn't a hugger but he had huge hands—like dinnerplates, someone said—which gave his handshake the character of an embrace. When he was dropped from cabinet by Bob Hawke, after forgetting an irrelevant acronym in a press conference, both men cried.

As a minister, John Kerin recognised that country Australia was about more than agriculture. I fear that's the mistake that some representatives of rural Australia in this place make. They focus on crops, roads and livestock but they ignore the social networks—the doctors, the schools, the communities—that bind regions together. John Kerin was respected by farming experts. As Australia's longest-serving agriculture minister, he stands as an inspiration to all who follow him in the role. Former agriculture minister Joel Fitzgibbon described him as a lanky axeman—not a bad skill to have in politics. Joel said that John Kerin put policy before politics and detested those who got them in the wrong order. Current agriculture minister Murray Watt said:

Free of vested interests, solely focussed on doing what's right for farmers, farm workers and for the whole agriculture supply chain. I know that they are thinking of John when they say that. His reform legacy lives on in Australian agriculture and he rightly deserves the title of Australia's best Agriculture Minister.

I first met John Kerin in 1994, when I was writing my Sydney university government honours thesis about trade liberalisation and the Australian Labor Party. John had only just stepped down from parliament, but he was generous with his time and generous with his insights. He had worked to undo the McEwenite idea of 'protection all round'. He supported tariff cuts and looking after the most vulnerable. As an economist, he knew that choosing openness was the best option for Australia, and he pursued his ideas with idealism and vigour.

After retiring from politics, John Kerin remained active in public life. He chaired the Crawford Fund and wrote his memoir, The Way I Saw It; The Way It Was: The Making of National Agricultural and Natural Resource Management Policy, which is available as a free ebook download and is indispensable reading for anyone seeking to understand John and the economic reforms of the 1980s. John was an active participant in the ACT branch of the Labor Party. To see him at meetings was to be reminded of what an honour it is to represent Australia's oldest and greatest political party. With me, as with many other members, John took time to email, to chat and to turn up—a joiner and a community-builder to the end. I count myself lucky to have known him and to have shared his warmth, ideas and integrity.

Sitting suspended from 13: 3 0 to 16:00

Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There have been very few more honourable or decent members of this place than the 10th member for Werriwa, and, of course, I am referring to the late John Kerin AO. My predecessor Gough Whitlam would insist that, for the sake of setting the record completely straight, I should add that John Kerin was also the second member for Macarthur and a former member of the Mittagong Shire Council from 1969 to 1971. The latter was a feat that the former Prime Minister never achieved. So I rise to pay tribute to John Kerin, a member of this House in the period of 1972 to 1975 as the member for Macarthur and then again from 1978 to 1993 as the member for Werriwa.

John was known as the most efficient minister for agriculture this nation has ever known. And with no disrespect to the honourable incumbent, I think that is right. But he was much more than that, very much more. John's ministerial career was stellar. At different times, he was Treasurer, Minister for Trade and Overseas Development, Minister for Transport and Communications, along with his beloved agriculture, and also Minister for Primary Industries and Energy.

John was born in Bowral and raised in Yerrinbool in the Southern Highlands on his family's farm and later attended Hurlstone Agricultural High School, which is still in the electorate of Werriwa. John spent a period of time in his youth in the poultry industry. Perhaps it was here where his famous ability to hypnotise chickens was developed and perfected. His other jobs around this time included axeman and bricksetter. Given John's size, it's not surprising he found his way into these industries. Later, and always seeking to learn, John formally completed his studies at the University of New England and at the Australian National University. He had a sharp mind but an even sharper wit. Few in this House have ever possessed a more self-deprecating and droll sense of humour.

The parliamentary records note that John went on 52 official conferences, delegations and visits during his parliamentary service. Notwithstanding his frequent overseas travel, John was a highly respected and much loved local ALP branch member. Attending branch meetings, even while Treasurer, was a priority for him. His white C-plated Comcar would inevitably show up at Monday night meetings at the Macquarie Fields indoor sports centre to deliver his insightful local member's reports. John's involvement with the ALP goes back to his earliest days. He founded the Southern Highlands branch and at various times was both its president and secretary. Notwithstanding a small hiatus, John never wandered far from his belief in the party. He knew the party better than anyone, and, despite knowing its faults, he also knew its incalculable force for good. Post politics, John's life was as full as ever. He never stood still and never really retired. He was Chair of the Australian Meat and Livestock Corporation, a director of the CSIRO and, at various times, the chair and a member of the Crawford Fund for 17 years.

John's farewell took place at Old Parliament House. It was an appropriate setting for a man who served his electorate, party and nation in that place for so many years with such distinction. In many aspects, John was old school, especially in his manner and style. On reflection, John's interest in and contributions to Australian agriculture were entirely in keeping with his character, for John was a hands-on man, a practical man, always looking for solutions and answers—and where better to use those skills than in an area of public policy that requires such an approach?

So it is entirely appropriate that this member for Werriwa, the 14th, pays tribute to my predecessor in this new Parliament House, the same building John attended in the second half of his parliamentary career, because, while John was an old-school man, he was always looking to the future for solutions to today's and tomorrow's challenges, and it is in this building that John did that, and that's what we're doing here now. To June and to John's family I offer my sincere condolences, but I also give thanks for a life well lived and for an example I will strive to follow.

Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to pay tribute to the Hon. John Charles Kerin AO, a remarkable Australian and a dedicated public servant; a proud member of the Australian Labor Party, who was committed to the people of Australia and who served them with passion, intellect and a sense of unwavering duty; a minister in the Hawke and Keating governments; a Labor legend. But I had the privilege to call him a friend and knew him as an active branch member of ACT Labor until the end. It was always a little daunting and a great honour to have him come and join me on the campaign trail, both in 2019 and in 2022, and to have him stand on street stalls in the Canberra cold with me and talk to voters. I was particularly touched after I was preselected to have John and his wife, June, reach out to me and offer their advice and their support, and it was an absolute honour to know him. It was wonderful to see a man who had been such a senior minister and, as I say, a Labor legend. To him, to be a member of our party was still to come to branch meetings, to support candidates and to offer advice, and it was very moving at his funeral to hear Barry Jones talk about John's commitment to party democracy and how that was part of his involvement in ACT Labor. He will be very much missed in our branch.

John was born in 1937 in Bowral, just a few hours down the road from this place. In his valedictory speech, he spoke of joining the Labor Party in 1965 in response to the Vietnam War, and he was elected president of the Mittagong branch at the second meeting he attended. He was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1972, to the seat of Macarthur. While he lost that seat in the 1975 election, he returned as the member for Werriwa in 1978, taking the place vacated by Gough Whitlam.

During his time in parliament, John held numerous ministerial positions. He served as the Minister for Primary Industries and Energy from 1983 to 1987 and later as Treasurer, Minister for Transport and Communications and finally Minister for Trade and Overseas Development. Last year—and I think it was the last time I saw John—it was wonderful to see him honoured at a Press Club address by the current minister for agriculture, Senator Murray Watt. John was honoured as a very special guest there, and Minister Watt described him as Australia's best and most reformist agriculture minister, a view that I know is widely held.

John's service extended far beyond his political roles. Prior to his political career, he had pursued various occupations, including as an axeman, a brick setter and a farmer, roles that would help guide and shape his politics. He worked as an economist for the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, where he contributed significantly to shaping agricultural policies. John was passionate about environmental sustainability, serving as chairman of the Australian Advisory Council on the Environment and as a member of the Australian Development Assistance Agency Board. In 2001 he was recognised for his leadership and appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia, and in 2018 he was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia.

Beyond his professional achievements, John is remembered as a special friend to so many, a very caring and genuine person. He had a keen interest in the arts, music, travel and the natural world, including birds and the beauty of the Australian bush. Those who had the privilege of knowing him will remember his sense of humour. His valedictory speech is an entertaining mix of warmth, political insight, humour and advice. Many of the themes remain relevant today, including female representation in politics, the impact of our jobs on our families and the quality of political journalism. In one insight, he described life in Canberra as:

… a combination of theory, egomania, megalomania, mediamania and the rules of Gaelic football in a derived environment, without any bottom line …

His was a life well lived, and he leaves an enduring legacy. He leaves behind a remarkable contribution to Australia's political landscape, agricultural sector and environmental sustainability, inspiring future generations to pursue public service with dedication, integrity and compassion. My sincerest condolences to June and John's family. John, thank you. You will be much missed.

James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I understand it is the wish of honourable members to signify at this stage their respect and sympathy by rising in their places.

Honourable members having stood in their places—

I thank the Chamber.

Alison Byrnes (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That further proceedings be conducted in the House.

Question agreed to.