Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yesterday, Australia lost a giant with the death of John Kerin AM, AO, FTSE at the age of 85. John was born in Bowral and attended Bowral High School and then Hurlstone Agricultural High School before completing a Bachelor of Arts at UNE and a Bachelor of Economics at ANU in 1977. John worked as a poultry farmer and then as an agricultural economist at the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences. He was elected as the member for Macarthur in 1972. He lost in 1975 and then re-entered parliament in 1978 as the member for Werriwa, where he served until 1993. He was a giant of Australian politics, serving in the Hawke and Keating governments.

He was a personal friend, and I was very grateful for the help that he gave me when I first came into parliament in 2016. He, his wife—June Verrier—my mate Bob Bennett and I had several wonderful dinners together. Tragically, he died yesterday, but his legacy will stay on. The people of Macarthur are very grateful for his service, and he'll remain in our memory. He remains in the memory of all those who served in the Hawke and Keating governments as a man true to his word, an honest man and a highly intelligent, principled person who gave lots of very good advice to young Labor members like myself over many, many years. We lost a giant.

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