Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with deep regret that I inform the Senate of the death, on 17 July 2020, of Dominic John Foreman, a senator for the state of South Australia from 1981 to 1997. I call the Leader of the Government in the Senate.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the Senate records its deep sorrow at the death, on 17 July 2020, of Dominic John Foreman, former senator for South Australia, places on record its gratitude for his service to the parliament and the nation and tenders its profound sympathy to his family in their bereavement.

Dominic Foreman came into the Senate in October 1980 as a strong voice and dedicated advocate for workers rights, particularly for those in the manufacturing industries. He was a true blue-collar worker who spent much of his early working life in the automotive industry, first as an apprentice on the factory floor and then as a union official. He rose through the ranks of the Vehicle Builders' Employees' Federation of Australia to eventually serve as its president. Like so many on the other side of this chamber, Dominic worked within the trade union movement for many years before entering politics. He will be remembered for his dedication and passion for the automotive industry, his long and distinguished service to both the trade union movement and the Australian Labor Party and his commitments to those he represented—the people of South Australia.

Born on 6 August 1933 to George and Gertrude Foreman in the mid-north country town of Clare in South Australia, Dominic Foreman grew up on the family's vineyard as one of six children. Leaving school at 13, Dominic spent two years working in the family cafe on the main street of Clare before moving to Adelaide to work for whitegoods manufacturer Simpson. In 1954, he joined General Motors Holden, working as a welder on an assembly line at both the Woodville plant and the Elizabeth plant.

After a year with General Motors Holden, Dominic Foreman joined the Vehicle Builders' Employees' Federation, becoming a shop steward. He spent the next 15 years working through the ranks of the Vehicle Builders' Employees' Federation, serving as both its state secretary and eventually, in 1979, becoming its Australian president. During his service as the Australian president of the Vehicle Builders' Employees' Federation, Dominic Foreman also served as president of the South Australian trades and labour council and as state president of the ALP in South Australia. Clearly, this was a very busy period in Dominic Foreman's life, but he still wanted to do more for his state—specifically for those working in the automotive industry. Less than 12 months later, he would get his opportunity.

In 1980, then senator Reg Bishop, a former minister in the Whitlam government, indicated his intention to retire. With the support of his close friend and federal member for Port Adelaide Mick Young, Dominic Foreman contested the Senate preselection, securing first position on the ALP Senate ticket—a feat within itself for a first-time Senate candidate. He was elected on the first count and remained in a strong position on the ALP ticket in South Australia in subsequent elections in 1983, 1987 and 1993.

In his first speech he highlighted the importance of the car industry in Australia, especially in his home state of South Australia. Dominic Foreman was passionate about workers rights, industrial relations and upskilling Australia's youth to prevent unemployment. He was especially vocal in relation to the needs of young people in rural areas, recognising how important it is for young Australians to get a decent education. During his parliamentary service Dominic Foreman retained his strong commitment to the automotive industry and to representing the rights of young workers. He ensured that he was always there as a strong voice whenever there was a motor industry issue on the table.

It is also important to note and reflect on his long and distinguished service to the Australian Labor Party. Dominic Foreman joined the ALP in South Australia in the early 1950s. He served on Labor's state executive in South Australia from 1975 to 1981 and in 1979 was elected state president, serving for one year before entering this chamber as a senator for South Australia. By all accounts, even after leaving the Senate in 1997, he remained a vocal supporter and committed member of the Australian Labor Party. During his 16 years in parliament, Dominic Foreman served on a number of Senate committees. But he is probably best remembered for his service in the Senate as both a government and an opposition deputy whip. For over a decade he served as a deputy whip, a role he thoroughly enjoyed and in which he performed extremely well.

In 1997 Dominic Foreman was forced to retire from parliament due to ill health. It is clear that he was highly regarded, trusted and respected on both sides of politics. He was reliable and served this parliament with loyalty, devotion and integrity. Family was important to Dominic Foreman, as it is to all of us here. He was a loved and cherished father, grandfather and great-grandfather. It is to his family, on behalf of the Australian government and the Senate, that I offer our deepest condolences. Dominic Foreman will be remembered for his long service to the Australian Labor Party, his commitment to and love of the automotive industry and his dedication to serving the interests of Australian workers and their families.

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Special Minister of State) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Wong for allowing me to start the contribution of the Labor Party on this condolence motion regarding former Senator Dominic Foreman. Dominic John Foreman died on 17 July 2020. Dominic was possibly one of the last blue collar workers who toiled his way up through the trade union movement to be a shop steward and organiser and secretary of the Vehicle Builders' Employees' Federation of Australia, being almost one of the last of the blue collar workers to represent Labor in either house of the federal parliament or even the state parliament.

Dominic John Foreman was born in Clare on 6 August 1933. He had one brother and four sisters. As a young man Dominic worked in the family restaurant in Clare, but he was eventually educated at Rostrevor College, which was a considerable expense for his family at that time. However, Dominic was grateful for this. Dominic went on to work as a welder. He worked at General Motors Holden and at the old Woodville plant that has long since gone—now a Bunnings store, if I'm correct.

Dominic became a member of the Vehicle Builders' Employees' Federation and was an active trade unionist, being a shop steward. He represented the union to the membership and slowly but surely worked his way up through the trade union movement. It was during this period, in 1976, that I first met Dominic. I was a young trade unionist myself and we would meet after meetings of the trades and labour council in the basement of the old Trades Hall in South Terrace. My first impression of Dominic was of a quiet and humble man, and that impression never changed throughout all of the years that I knew him subsequent to that. Eventually, he was an organiser with the VBEF and, from that time, became the state secretary of that organisation.

Dominic was a lifelong trade unionist and through that became an active member of the Australian Labor Party. He made friends with a large number of other trade unionists, but mainly ones of blue-collar origin, of that particular generation, one of whom was the late Mick Young. Dominic was always seen as part of Mick's gang, and the two were inseparable until Mick's death in 1996. Dominic was convinced by Mick that he should seek a parliamentary career and he was seriously considering the seat of Bonython, which was going to be vacated by the then member, Martin Nicholls, in 1977. However, Mick Young prevailed upon Dominic to put his plans on hold so that Neal Blewett, then a professor at Flinders University, could take the seat. Blewett was seen as a prize catch for the Labor Party, and he would go on to be the architect of Medicare and other things within the Labor Party. Dominic was happy to stand aside in the interests of the Labor Party and the labour movement as a whole. He eventually was preselected No. 1 on the ticket for the 1980 federal election to be a senator for South Australia, and was duly elected, although he didn't take up his seat until July 1981. He would then go on to be a federal senator until 1997. Dominic resigned his position in 1997 when the Labor Party preselected John Quirke to fill the vacancy. Quirke was then a state member of the South Australian parliament and previously had worked for Dominic as a staffer and a speechwriter.

In the Senate Dominic held a number of positions, including chairman of the Joint Standing Committee on Public Works and the Standing Committee on Infrastructure and other committee positions. Dominic was a very good committee performer, and many projects in Australia would go through that rapid scrutiny and reporting process under his watchful eye.

Dominic was married to Maggie and they had two children, Luke and Lindy. In turn, Luke and Lindy would provide many grandchildren and, now, great-grandchildren, all of whom mourn the passing of Dominic. Dominic married Shirley in 1986 and they had a happy life together until Shirley's passing in April 2007.

Dominic's parliamentary career was not without its ups and downs. There was a serious attempt to deselect him in 1992 and give the seat to another sitting senator. The problem for the Labor Party was that at the next election, due in 1993, there would be three sitting senators, with the prospect of returning only two to Canberra. Dominic faced the combined opposition of certain sections of the ALP—the then South Australian Premier, John Bannon, the former Premier, Don Dunstan, and others who were friendly to the other particular senator—who were seeking to replace Dominic up the ticket. On 2 February 1992, Dominic Foreman stared down the opposition and won the ballot three to one. He would go on to serve in the Senate until 1997.

Dominic was a lifelong fan of Australian Rules football. He played with that great South Australian team West Adelaide, of which I'm also a member. He would have gone on to play serious league football—he was in my Uncle Joe Heptinstall's generation at West Adelaide—but he was concerned that if he was injured his young family would have to survive without a breadwinner. However, this did not stop Dominic from being a strong supporter of Westies through thick and thin, and through the very many years that they were in the wilderness. One of his Port Adelaide supporters makes this claim about him, which I have been unable to verify but which I will repeat: they say he was an initial supporter of the Adelaide Crows but he changed his allegiance to the Port Adelaide Power because he believed it represented more of his trade union, working-class origins. I don't personally believe that myself, but I'm told this is true. The passing of Dominic represents almost the end of the blue-collar era within the Australian Labor Party. Dominic went from the tools on the floor through various levels of the trade union movement into parliament to represent the working people of South Australia.

Question agreed to, honourable senators standing in their places.