Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to pay tribute to Jim Carlton—or, as we called him, 'JJ call me Jim', as he was fond of saying to us. I first met him back in 1971, when I was a very young Young Liberal and he took over from the great Sir John Carrick as General Secretary of the Liberal Party. As the member for Berowra has said, they were fairly busy times. He moved straight into running the 1972 federal election. In those days, election campaigning was done individually by the states, so there was no coordinated national campaign. As he said in his farewell speech in this place, he had come out of McKinsey and Co., a world competitive consulting firm, and was running the 1972 federal campaign with a separate advertising agency to the ones used by all other states, with almost no communication with any other parts of the organisation and not too sure about the role he had in front of him. Also, as the member for Berowra and former member for Parramatta said, he then went on to lead us in the great victory in the Parramatta by-election.

I remember quite well the great influence Jim Carlton had in the party in those days. He had an excellent relationship with the Young Liberal Movement, to the extent that at one of our annual revues, which was staged publicly at the Phillip Street Theatre and ran for three or four nights, there was a skit called 'The importance of being JC' that was directed fairly at Jim Carlton and John Carrick. In those days we also had the Young Liberal president, Jim Carey, and a fairly influential state member, Jim Cameron, so the JCs in the Liberal Party in New South Wales in the seventies were quite prominent. Of course, the person who enjoyed that skit more than most was Jim himself.

As he said in this place in his valedictory speech when he retired:

When I first came into parliament both parties were essentially protectionist, both supporting the classic, original Deakin labour movement compact of the early 1900s—which was a great social compact but it had become outdated. To us it was a question of how soon that would be understood and how soon the parties would be shifted away from that. Both parties have now moved away from it—both major political groupings—in quite a dramatic way. This change has been tremendous. We did not get much understanding or support from the Labor Party in those early days. I think Peter Walsh, John Kerin and John Button were three who were very sympathetic but, fortunately, when the Labor government came into office a band of people seemed to become converted to the necessity of moving Australia into a more competitive mode. A lot has been done.

More tellingly, particularly given the legislation in the chamber today, he went on to say:

It has been very frustrating to be in opposition during this period. It has been good to welcome changes as they have occurred. The big single change that still has to occur is in the labour market. Until we have freedom of contract in the labour market, until we break the monopoly position of the unions with coverage assured by somebody else on their behalf, we have not got to the heart of the matter.

In 1977 Jim Carlton joined this place as the member for Mackellar and I moved to Queensland, so I had a lot less contact with him. But on his retirement he became the new chief executive officer of the Australian Red Cross. I had become very involved in the Red Cross in Queensland, so our paths were to meet again. It was wonderful to have him in that role, where he brought so much organisational change and also—I think because of some of his background in the Liberal Party—understood the importance of the volunteer network. Our branches and members in the Red Cross in Queensland appreciated his recognition of the key role that they had to play in the Red Cross.

More recently Jim moved into other areas, as the member for Berowra noted, and I next had contact with him in his role in Papua New Guinea. His work seemingly never ceased. Even when he retired from one role, he would take on another, usually with even more demands on his time. He also found time late in life to serve on the board of PNG Sustainable Development Program, which was born out of BHP's departure from Ok Tedi.

The PNG SDP's long-term presence and investment in the Western Province sought to provide an alternative economy after the closure of the Ok Tedi mine. Jim brought all of his skills from politics, life and the Red Cross to this role—and he needed them all. He genuinely enjoyed this role, even though it was incredibly challenging from time to time. His contribution to the main board and the microfinance arm was considerable. He was genuinely concerned to find a way to resolve recent differences between the government of PNG and PNG Sustainable—differences that remain today and would have benefited from his ongoing contribution. This was a role where Jim made yet another contribution to the world around him. My sympathies to Di and the extended Carlton family. May he rest in peace.

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