Sharryn Jackson (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Tonight I would like to pay my respects to the Hon. John Kilday Ferguson, better known to many of us as Jock Ferguson, member of the Legislative Council of the Western Australian parliament, who suddenly and tragically passed away in the early hours of Saturday, 13 February 2010. Jock was only 64 years old.

Jock was elected to the Legislative Council in September 2008, commencing his term on 22 May 2009. He represented the East Metropolitan Region, which encompasses many of the suburbs within my electorate of Hasluck. He was born on 15 January 1946 in Possilpark, a poor, working-class area of Glasgow, Scotland. Jock was raised by his grandparents, thinking for many years that they were his parents and not knowing that his sister was actually his mother. She had given birth to him as a single mum and such was the prejudice at the time that it was kept a family secret, as was the birth and adoption of his younger sister, Monica. It is fortunate that Monica was a persistent Scot. She actually found Jock before his death and they had some years together.

Jock undertook an apprenticeship in Glasgow, becoming a fitter before joining the merchant navy and leaving Scotland. We were fortunate that Jock’s travels eventually led him to the resource-rich north-west of Western Australia. Always a proud member of his union—perhaps sponsored by his grandfather, who was the convenor of the boilermakers union in Possilpark—Jock became an active shop steward and later a convenor for the Metal Workers Union. He was subsequently elected as an organiser, then as assistant secretary and, finally, as State Secretary of the AMWU in 2000, a position I know he held with great honour.

Jock understood how important a good job is to a person’s self-esteem and their sense of worth. He was passionate about the rights and dignity of working people. He was also passionate about securing and sustaining the manufacturing industry in Australia and the need to ensure local content and jobs in our national economy. He advocated and lobbied for tenders from big business and governments to be broken down into smaller contracts so that local small and medium enterprises could bid for the work on a fairer basis.

Jock worked tirelessly with industry and with governments of all political persuasions to ensure investment in our industries and our people, and I think he was successful at that and highly regarded by both sides, in the sense of not only Liberal and Labor but also employers and industry in Western Australia. He was a member of the WA State Training Board, reforming apprenticeships and trade training in WA to make sure that we had the workforce with the right skills to keep jobs and manufacturing in WA. He was appointed to the State Supply Commission, where he ensured that WA industry was supported by government in government procurement policies. He played a crucial role in the development of the Australian Marine Complex, or Jervoise Bay as some of us remember it. The Australian Marine Complex is a common user facility with open access for companies servicing our diverse marine, defence and resource—especially oil and gas—industries in Western Australia. Again, he was working to ensure, always, WA jobs and industry.

Jock was a true champion of the Western Australian labour movement. I know he will be sorely missed by members of the Australian Labor Party, his colleagues in state parliament and also by the union movement, especially the AMWU. My great sympathy goes to his partner, Tina, who had to put up with a lot in the busy life of a union official and parliamentarian; his sister, Monica, whom I know he was grateful to meet; and his eight children and three grandchildren. Jock remarked in his first speech to the WA parliament what a joy they all were to him. My thoughts go to Steve McCartney and the staff, officials and members of the AMWU.

Jock was a proud unionist and a proud Scot. He never lost the accent. He was the only trade union official I know who needed subtitles on the local commercial news so we could understand the depth of his feeling on an issue. If he had put on a kilt and painted his face blue he could have stepped off the set of Braveheart. Vale Jock Ferguson.

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