Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I rise on behalf of the opposition to acknowledge the passing of one of our own comrades, Jim McKiernan, who passed away in August at the age of 73. At the outset, I express Labor's condolences to his family and to his friends. I acknowledge those who have joined us today in the gallery, in particular, Jim's wife, Jackie, and, of course, former Senators Ruth Webber and George Campbell. I also acknowledge the government for its cooperation in ensuring this motion could be moved at a time that enabled them to be here.

Jim McKiernan was a great servant of our movement and our party. He was a great servant of the Australian labour movement and the Australian Labor Party. A migrant from Ireland, the harsh experiences from his upbringing shaped his contribution to union and political life in Australia. He was a tenacious advocate for working people and in the cause of fair treatment for the disadvantaged, both at home and abroad. He became particularly expert in migration policy, leading discussions through parliamentary committees for much of his service, as well as representing the nation overseas. His activism was always underpinned by a generous personality, and that led him to be very greatly admired and respected amongst his peers.

Jim McKiernan's Irish nationality and character was an integral part of who he was. Born in 1944 in Cavan, he would migrate to Perth, Western Australia, in 1969. In his first speech, he spoke of his Irish heritage and his desire that Ireland would one day be unified. Later, recounting his return to Ireland when a senator, reminiscing about his child and visiting the region where he grew up, he reflected on the good fortune migration to Australia had brought him. Jim McKiernan's schooling was limited and was harsh, and it saw him conclude his formal education by the time he was 14 years old. Taking on a number of jobs at this time by necessity, due to the incapacitation of his father following a serious injury, Jim McKiernan experienced firsthand the challenges that existed where social safety nets are inadequate. These personal experiences helped to shape his values and helped shape his identity. He would later tell the Senate how the suffering of his childhood and the bitter experiences of his youth brought into sharp personal focus the unjustness and inequity of Western society.

Prior to embarkation to Australia, he moved first to England where he gained trade qualifications as a first-class machinist following a four-year apprenticeship. On arrival in Australia, after a period he found work at the Dillingham Shipyards in Fremantle. It was through this work that Jim McKiernan became an active member of the Australian trade union movement. After a fellow worker was sacked on account of the workers union involvement, his response was to join the union. He found his way to the union that we now know today as the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, the AMWU. Later, he would tell the Senate that this was Australia's best and most democratic union. Senator Cameron, I'm sure, will endorse that.

Jim McKiernan understood the capacity of an active and organised trade union movement to achieve improvements for working-class men and women, and the importance of the union movement, especially for our lowest paid and most marginalised workers, has not diminished to this day. Jim McKiernan went on to hold a number of positions in the union. He became the AMWU's first full-time education officer in Western Australia in 1976, a position he would hold for eight years until his election to the Senate. It was through figures he knew in the union that he first engaged in politics as a member of the Communist Party. However, recognising its limitation as a vehicle for achieving political results, by the late 1970s he had joined the Australian Labor Party. After holding a variety of positions in the WA branch, in 1984 Jim won election to the Australian Senate and went on to be re-elected in 1987, 1990 and 1996.

In his first speech to the Senate, social disadvantage was at the forefront. He spoke of his personal upbringing. He spoke of the way it shaped his outlook, especially being forced to rely upon handouts from charities, friends and relatives. He observed a distinct class structure in which the rich and the wealthy used the instruments of privilege and power to exert control over those who were poorer, weak and disadvantaged. He recognised that his trade qualifications made a pathway for him into an industry that boasted improved wages, hours and conditions, thanks to an active and effective trade union presence. He spoke of union advocacy on matters that went beyond those directly in the workplace to matters that affected all aspects of the lives of working people. Jim McKiernan believed in the role of unions as agents of change—that they empower people without a voice and place them on a fairer and more equitable footing as full participants in our society.

Understandably, with his trades background, he had a great interest in manufacturing policy and was alarmed by its decline in the early 1980s. Whilst this was not unique to Australia, at the outset he contrasted the proactive response of governments overseas with that of the former conservative government in Australia. Unsurprisingly, he welcomed the cooperation between the Hawke government, employers and unions on this front, and he also advocated for greater opportunities for Australian industry, in procurement and in providing genuine inputs for major domestic projects.

One area of policy that would feature as a continuous thread throughout his career was migration. This manifested itself in a variety of ways—through his migrant heritage and in service on parliamentary committees, including the Joint Standing Committee on Migration and its predecessors, and the Senate standing committee on legal and constitutional affairs. He served as chair of both these committees at different times over the course of nearly a decade and described migration as the area of his greatest parliamentary involvement. On the Senate committee, he served with Senator Payne, whom he thanked in his valedictory speech for her support as chair and deputy chair of the legislation and references committees. He said, 'Having served with a previous deputy chair in Senator Abetz, it was a joy to work with Marise.'

Through his role as a parliamentarian, Jim McKiernan had the opportunity to travel extensively and witness firsthand the poverty and destitution in which many people live in refugee camps. He supported the UN convention on refugees and described it as a precious resource. But it is in this light that he also supported mandatory detention policies. It would be a mistake to interpret this as a sign of a lack of compassion or understanding for the plight of refugees. He also spoke of the rewarding but traumatic work of the joint committee dealing with very sensitive matters, including refugee policy, the determination process, illegal entry, mandatory detention and resettlement services.

Describing the most significant visit he took overseas during his time as a parliamentarian as being to a refugee camp, Jim McKiernan made it his mission to work constructively to assist those in genuine need. He described the benefits he saw flow from Australian-funded overseas projects in refugee camps and contributed to a handbook designed to assist parliamentarians who worked in the area of refugee law. Senator Faulkner described him as the most expert person in legal affairs who was a nonlawyer and praised his expertise in immigration policy and legislation.

Jim McKiernan was also an important contributor in numerous other facets of policy. One area in which his views were not in doubt was uranium policy, and he was a leading advocate against softening the Labor position towards mining in the early 1980s. He continued to organise in response to the direction of the Hawke government's policies on disarmament, deterrence and the US alliance, fuelled by the rise of the Nuclear Disarmament Party. The proposal, which was eventually successful, to privatise the Commonwealth Bank was another instance where Jim McKiernan's position was opposite to that of the government.

One of the most dramatic and emotional debates of the early 1990s was in relation to the Gulf War. There were many on Labor's left who were critical of the resolution proposed by the then Prime Minister, Bob Hawke. Some 170 senators and members spoke across the parliament, and the Senate debate was carried out amidst protests that saw panes of glass fall from the public galleries into the chamber due to people thumping on the glass. For someone who was known for his strong positions and policy questions, Jim McKiernan gave a restrained and measured contribution, illustrative of the reluctance of many to debate an issue they would have preferred had not arisen. He opposed the war, but he also spoke of the need to stand against dictators such as Saddam Hussein. His reflections on the importance of peace, the horrors of war and its implications for innocents—innocent children, women and men—add an additional dimension to Jim McKiernan's lifelong commitment to fairness and his support for those on the margins.

Jim McKiernan's period of service coincided with almost all of the Labor government under Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, as well as the first half of the Howard government. In many respects, in total this period represents one of the most significant two decades in Australian politics since federation. He was present at the epicentre of many substantial debates, especially on the economy and the policy response to challenges and opportunities domestically and internationally. But, in many ways, there was no more consequential debate than the battle for the leadership of the Australian Labor Party and the country in 1991. A loyal Hawke supporter, Jim McKiernan's role as the returning officer in caucus meant the duty fell to him to announce the results of the two ballots—the first in June and the second in December—that saw Bob Hawke first retain and then lose the leadership and therefore the prime ministership to Paul Keating. On the second occasion, the moment is captured in the memorable Labor in Power documentary, with Mr McKiernan's distinctive Irish accent announcing the Keating victory by a margin of five votes—56 to 51—as he walked down the corridor from the caucus room carrying the ballot box.

Despite the challenges of his upbringing, Jim McKiernan had retained his Irish citizenship following entry into Australia, and, had the political circumstances of 2018 reigned in 1984, he may never have made it to the floor of the Senate as he continued to hold Irish citizenship through the first two elections in which he was returned. He did relinquish it, albeit reluctantly, ahead of the 1990 poll and following some high-profile cases involving the now significantly more infamous section 44. Had he been disqualified, this Senate would have been deprived of not only a passionate advocate for fairness and support for working people but also one of its genuinely good individuals.

Leading the valedictory remarks in June 2002, Senator Robert Hill spoke of him as someone who brought 'a great heart and a great sense of humour to the Senate'. That is certainly my memory of him. He was a very funny man. His own leader, Senator Faulkner, recognised his effectiveness as a senator and representative of the party overseas and, most particularly, his 'absolute loyalty to our party and our movement'. This was echoed by another AMWU comrade Senator George Campbell, who noted the esteem with which he was held in the Irish community. As Senator Cormann has said, he was Irish Australian of the Year in 1991. Senator Peter Cook, another Western Australian senator, noted that, whilst they had not always agreed, what was not in dispute was Jim McKiernan's ability to bring 'a fund of information, a lot of commonsense and a great deal of human compassion' to debates.

Following his departure from the Senate in 2002, Jim McKiernan remained active in public service. This included through the Western Australian Disability Services Commission Board, the State Administrative Tribunal, the Carers Advisory Council and the migrant agents advisory board. Naturally, he was also active on the management committee of the Irish Club of Western Australia. Sadly, illness and a battle with cancer brought his further public contributions and, eventually, his life to an end.

Jim McKiernan is held in high regard by many, most particularly our colleagues from Western Australia. It is a tribute to the way he conducted himself throughout his career. He embodied Labor values but not because he sought to adapt himself to fit the mould of the party. His values were formed in the toughest of circumstances, in the bitterness of social inequity and at the coalface of the working class. Throughout his life, he would be a spokesperson for the marginalised at home and abroad. He spoke for those with little power and for those who had no voice themselves.

As a parliamentary representative at a time when our party was the steward of great change in the Australian economy, Jim McKiernan held fast to the principles of fairness that were at his core. For this, we remember Jim McKiernan and we thank him. I express again, on behalf of the Australian Labor Party, our condolences to his wife, Jackie, to his whole family and to his many comrades. Farewell, Jim McKiernan.