Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I rise on behalf of the opposition to express our condolences following the passing of the Hon. Dr John Herron AO, former senator and minister, at the age of 86 years. As I begin, I wish to convey the opposition's sympathy to his family and his friends, particularly those present in the Senate today.

John Herron served our nation at home and abroad. He was described by the Prime Minister he served, John Howard, as a devout Catholic and dedicated humanitarian but a hard-headed pragmatist. He fulfilled a distinguished career in medicine before entering politics. His timing was good. Of the 12 years he spent in the Senate, six years were in government and mostly on the front bench. As Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, he tackled one of the most difficult and contentious portfolios in the first two terms of the Howard government. He was liked and respected by his colleagues and was described by a former Labor senator, John Faulkner, as 'a pretty avuncular sort of bloke, affable and easygoing around this building'. He went on to serve as an ambassador before returning again to leadership in medical causes.

A lifelong Queenslander, John Herron was born in the Burdekin shire at Home Hill. He completed his school education at the former Christian Brothers College in Townsville, which, I understand, was known as Our Lady's Mount, a Catholic boys school at Stanton Hill, which has been succeeded by Ignatius Park College. His first vocation was in medicine. He graduated from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery in 1956. He went on to practise as a surgeon, notably at the Princess Alexandra and the Mater hospitals in Brisbane, becoming chief surgeon at the latter.

At the time he began his first representative career, Dr Herron served on a number of medical councils, including with the Australian Association of Surgeons and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. After serving as the state chairman of both these organisations at various times, he was President of the Australian Medical Association, Queensland branch, in 1988 and again in 1989. In 1974, he received the Justin Fleming Medal from the Australian Association of Surgeons. Prior to entering parliament, Dr Herron also served for over 30 years in the Australian Defence Force, including in the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps reserve and the Royal Australian Air Force Reserve.

His first significant political office was President of the Queensland division of the Liberal Party from 1980 until 1984. He would fulfil this role again in 2001 and 2002. The first period in office was marked by a determination to improve ministerial accountability and attack the corruption that had enveloped the National Party state government. It was a demonstration of Dr Herron's moral leadership that John Howard and others would come to value. Along with Senator Macdonald, John Herron was first elected to represent Queensland in the Senate in 1990. He was twice re-elected, in 1996 and in 2001, before resigning his place in 2002.

His first speech concentrated on health policy—his area of professional expertise—while also setting down the importance of what he described as 'family life as the basis for civilised living'. He believed that 'the standards of a free society should support family ideals'. On both matters, he saw the philosophy of liberalism as the most convincing and humane answer to the problems he saw in Australia at that time. Critically, in a demonstration of his pragmatism, he favoured not what he said was 'an appeal to moral values or adherence to the Ten Commandments' but policy responses in line with these values that would make a practical impact where they were needed.

He only had a brief career on the back bench, being promoted into the opposition shadow ministry in 1993. As a shadow parliamentary secretary, Dr Herron served in the health portfolio, well aligned with his medical qualifications and experience. At the same time, he served as Chair of the Senate Community Affairs References Committee. He took part in what were described as two groundbreaking Senate inquiries—one into breast cancer screening and one into the tobacco industry. The legacy of the recommendations was not to be outdone by what Dr Herron saw as another signature achievement—the limitation on the Senate hours of sitting. We all owe him a debt of gratitude for his part in that!

Dr Herron also maintained a practical engagement in medicine by volunteering as a doctor for CARE Australia in Rwanda during the course of his first term as a senator. This gruelling eight weeks was traumatising but also moving. As a consequence, he became an advocate for the International Criminal Court.

The election of the Howard government saw John Herron move into Howard's first ministry. Dr Herron took on the role of Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs from the beginning of the Howard government in 1996. He held that portfolio until January 2001. When he gave his farewell remarks in the Senate in 2002, he described these years as 'the most fascinating years of my life'. They were also controversial and divisive. Not everyone saw Indigenous policy in the same way as the Howard government. Dr Herron took on his role not long after the passage of the Native Title Act 1993, something that was highly contentious for those in the Liberal and National parties. The High Court decision in the Wik Peoples v Queensland in December 1996 would ensure that native title remained at the forefront of the debate in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs. The court found native title rights could coexist with pastoral leases. The response was the 10-point plan, which only passed the Senate after substantial debate and amendment. While Dr Herron was not directly responsible for the policy and the legislative response of the High Court's decision, there's no doubt that this was a pivotal event in the relationship between the first peoples and the government.

Dr Herron saw the Aboriginal affairs portfolio as an opportunity to inject a mantra of self-sufficiency into Indigenous policy. He was the architect of practical reconciliation. As the then Leader of the Government in the Senate, Robert Hill, said following Dr Herron's farewell remarks in this place:

John Herron, in his typical way, went out and visited the communities and assessed in his own mind what their real needs were.

He wanted to address basic needs—jobs, health, education and housing. Recognising the particular challenges that came with remote living, he wanted to ensure that the acute problems of lack of basic services and infrastructure were properly addressed, even if this meant a decline in funding for urban and rural services. This approach was not without its critics. A critical working relationship in his portfolio was with ATSIC, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission. Early on, he sought to form a constructive working relationship with its senior officers in the face of strained circumstances, although this was not always achieved. Further evidence that life in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs portfolio was not smooth sailing can be found in the decision of the Senate to twice censure Dr Herron—in 1996 and 2000.

Another significant event was the release of the Bringing them home report in 1997. In response, Dr Herron announced $63 million in practical assistance for those affected by the former practices of separating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families. This included funding for the development of Indigenous family support and parenting programs, boosting culture and language maintenance programs, and professional counselling and support, although not compensation, nor a formal apology. While he hoped the response would enable people to 'move together in a more positive, more harmonious and fairer future, in the true spirit of reconciliation', the idea of reconciliation itself was not a matter of political unity. Dr Herron stood up against then Independent member of the House of Representatives Pauline Hanson, now Senator Pauline Hanson, for her comments that reconciliation was being 'forced down mainstream Australia's throat'. He was appalled by these comments. Speaking in 2002, Labor senator Trish Crossin—noting that at that time some 28 per cent of the population living in the Northern Territory, which she represented, were Indigenous—acknowledged his significant contribution to Indigenous people—sometimes despite the attitudes and constraints within his own government.

John Herron's resignation from the Senate in 2002 precipitated his appointment as Australia's Ambassador to Ireland and the Holy See—a terrific combination, Mr President, but, unfortunately, no longer together—at a time when the incumbent held office in Dublin and the Vatican simultaneously. I'm not sure how you do that, but that's what he did. This was quite the full circle for the Catholic son of an immigrant Irishman. Dr Herron served in this role between 2003 and 2005. On Dr Herron's return to Australia, he was chair of the Australian National Council on Drugs. His lifetime of distinguished service in the Parliament of Australia, international relations through diplomatic and humanitarian roles, professional medical associations and the community was formally recognised in 2012, when he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia. In further recognition of his contribution, he also received the Australian Service Medal, the Humanitarian Overseas Medal and, from the Australian Medical Board, the Bancroft Medal.

John Herron died in February and was honoured with a state funeral at St Stephen's Catholic Cathedral in Brisbane. John Howard said this about Dr Herron:

John Herron gave a lifetime of service to the medical profession, his nation and the Liberal Party … he brought sincerity and dedication to everything he did.

Again, on behalf of the opposition, I express our deepest condolences to his family and friends.