Matt Thistlethwaite (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is an honour to make a contribution in this tribute to Joseph Martin Riordan, AO. Joe personified the Australian notion of a fair go. A committed Catholic, a champion of workers' rights, a thorough gentleman and a dedicated family man, it is an honour to have known him and to have had the privilege of working with him.

Joe was born in Sydney and educated in that great Patrician Brothers tradition at Waterloo. He later returned to his primary school as the member for Phillip to open one of the new facilities that the Whitlam government had funded at that school. He took great pride in having the opportunity to represent the government at the opening of those new facilities, because to Joe that action personified the great Labor value of education for all. He was a man who left school at the age of 15 and had become the local member for the area in which he grew up, opening an educational facility for young children. To him that was what the Labor Party was all about.

He went on to high school at Marcellin College at Randwick, the same school that produced former Deputy Prime Minister Lionel Bowen. He, after school, became a clerk in the Public Service, and that is where he began his long involvement with the Federated Clerks Union. He was involved in the many battles of the late 1940s and 50s with the communists and eventually was part of a team that wrestled control of that union from the communists. He became the acting secretary in 1952, the secretary in 1954, and went on to become the union's national secretary in 1958, a position that he held for well over a decade.

In 1969 he was unsuccessful in his first tilt for federal parliament in the seat of Phillip, but in 1972 he became the member for that seat in the It's Time election. He went on to become a minister in the Whitlam government, holding the portfolio of Housing and Construction and the position of Minister assisting the Minister for Urban and Regional Development. Unfortunately he was defeated at the 1975 election. That was a great loss for the people of Sydney's east and for this nation.

But his commitment to social justice did not end with his parliamentary career. He became, as Senator Cameron said, the deputy president of the electricity commission, the head of the New South Wales department of industrial relations, and the senior deputy president of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. During his time on the Industrial Relations Commission he was considered a diligent and hardworking member, well researched and someone who took pride in his decisions. He had four of his decisions appealed to the High Court of Australia. On each and every occasion the appeal was dismissed. That is something that Joe took great pride in. He saw arbitration as 'the industrial conscience of the Australian community'. It is no coincidence, I believe, that the Fair Work Act has that name today. The principles of fairness and equal opportunity employment were things that were instilled by the likes of Joe Riordan in his time in this parliament and in his time as the senior deputy president of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. He went on to chair WorkCover and a number of boards and inquiries.

One job that he did take on that many would not know about—and it is something that I had the pleasure of being involved in with him—was an inquiry that he undertook in 1997 into the riding fees that are paid to jockeys in this country. In 1997, jockeys were hopelessly underpaid and overworked. Their fees for losing rides in a race had not increased for over a decade. They were paid $65 per losing ride for a race throughout the country, and less for barrier trials. In some occasions they were not paid for barrier trials. Their conditions were unsafe. In the country, many of the conditions were appalling, with no facilities at all for female jockeys. I remember stories of female jockeys having to get dressed and changed in broom cupboards at racetracks in the bush because those facilities did not exist.

This led to a strike of jockeys in 1997. Many of them joined the Australian Workers Union, and I had the fortune of representing them in the deliberations that ensued. Because jockeys were not employees, the jurisdiction of the New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission was not enshrined. Therefore, the Carr government acted quickly to establish an inquiry into the issues that had been raised by the jockeys in New South Wales and throughout the country. The person that was appointed to conduct that inquiry was none other than Joe Riordan. He conducted a most thorough investigation. He travelled to racetracks throughout New South Wales, to Armidale, to Hawkesbury, to Bowraville, to Wagga, and to all of the city racetracks, talking to jockeys and administrators about their conditions. Some of the evidence was shocking.

In 1998 he handed down a decision that endures to this day. It saw the riding fee for jockeys increased to $85 for a losing ride and a barrier trial fee of 35 per cent of the losing ride fee instituted. Importantly, he enshrined the notion of an annual review of the fees paid to jockeys for losing rides and barrier trials. Because of Joe's foresight and that decision that he implemented, jockeys are now paid $170 per losing ride in this country, and the Riordan formula of 35 per cent for barrier trials endures to this day.

This morning I spoke to the national president of the Australian Jockeys' Association and asked him what his memories of Joe's work in that inquiry were. He asked me to convey to the Senate that every jockey in this country is eternally grateful for the role that Joe Riordan played in bringing fairness and equity to their conditions throughout this country. It was because of that inquiry and the jockeys working with the Australian Workers Union getting organised that change occurred for them in that industry. The National Jockeys Trust was established in the wake of that to provide support for terribly injured jockeys and their families, and a public liability and personal accident scheme was implemented. On every racetrack throughout this country the Riordan legacy lives on.

In 1995 he was awarded an Order of Australia for services to industrial relations, social justice and the community. What a perfect reflection of his professional and personal life. It was a privilege to know Joe Riordan, a person who I admire greatly, and I offer my condolences to his family.

Question agreed to, honourable senators standing in their places.