Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with deep regret I inform of Senate of the death on 10 August this year James Philip 'Jim' McKiernan, a senator for the state of Western Australia from 1985 to 2002. I note in the gallery we are joined by his widow, Jackie McKiernan and former senators. I call the Leader of the Government in the Senate.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the Senate records its deep sorrow at the death, on 10 August 2018, of James Philip (Jim) McKiernan, a former Senator for Western Australia, places on record its gratitude for his long service to the Parliament, and tenders its profound sympathy to his family in their bereavement.

Beginning in County Cavan in Ireland, stretching through England to the dockyards of Fremantle and indeed all the way to the Australian Senate chamber, the remarkable life of former senator James McKiernan exemplified in many ways the unique promise that this great country, our great country, has offered to generations of migrants to Australia. Born in Ireland on 11 October 1944 as the third of James and Mary McKiernan's eight children, Jim's early life was one of great hardship. Initially educated at De La Salle College and Crubany National School, he concluded his studies at the young age of 14, with his father's debilitating illness forcing him to work a raft of different jobs in support of his large family. Harsh circumstance made Jim a jack-of-all-trades and he worked at various times as a messenger, petrol pump operator and abattoir assistant. In time he followed the example of his older siblings, Noel and Rosaline, and left for England, where he completed an apprenticeship in Stafford and qualified as a first-class machinist.

It was in 1969 that he finally made tracks for Australia, bringing with him his first wife, Jean, and their first son. In time two more children would follow. Seeking out work, Jim famously wandered around the Fremantle dockyards in a three-piece suit, braving sweltering heat of a kind not seen in his native Ireland. Eventually he found success and took on a role as a machinist, a fitter and turner, at the Dillingham Shipyards, where he worked for four years. That early exposure to the dockyards evidently left its mark, as Jim would go on many years later to be a passionate supporter of the Fremantle 'Dockers' Football Club.

It was in these early years that Jim first interacted with and joined the Australian union movement. Though a member of and campaigner for the Communist Party of Australia in the 1970s, the self-described rebel put that down more to his contrarian nature rather than any ardent communist sympathies. Indeed, he left the Communist Party for the Australian Labor Party and took on a range of party roles throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, including some roles and responsibilities on the WA branch's state executive for the Labor Party. It was not long before he made his pitch for parliament. Securing the No. 6 position on the WA Labor Senate ticket at the 1983 double-dissolution election, the following year he was preselected in the third position on WA Labor Party's Senate ticket and was subsequently elected at the 1984 federal election.

Jim married his second wife, Jackie Watkins, in January 1985. Jackie herself, a migrant from the United Kingdom, was then a sitting member of the WA Legislative Assembly, serving in the seats of Joondalup and Wanneroo. For a time both Jim and Jackie were the only concurrently serving married parliamentarians in the nation—and foreign born ones at that.

Jim was a prolific contributor to the parliamentary committee system throughout his career. Indeed, at its conclusion, he reflected that committee work often constituted the most arduous and yet rewarding part of his service. It was his keen interest in Australian migration policy that became his hallmark, and he served on a range of associated committees including the Joint Select Committee on Migration Regulations and its successors. Between 1993 and 1996, he served as chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration as well as serving on the legal and constitutional legislation and references committees, the latter of which he chaired from 1996 to 2002. Having arrived in Australia legally, Jim was a consistent advocate for the policy of mandatory detention of unauthorised arrivals and often invoked fiery language on this topic, a habit that landed him in hot water with his own party on more than one occasion. He stands on illegal immigration remained firm throughout his parliamentary career. Indeed, he supported the raft of legislation brought through by the then Howard government.

Yet Jim's political brief was far broader than one issue, and he took great interest in a number of matters relevant to his home state of Western Australia, including electoral reform and the development of Western Australia's burgeoning mining sector. He always knew what he believed in, and I'm reliably informed that he was often willing to use his internal heft as convener of the Labor Party's parliamentary left faction to impress that point. At times these views, such as his strident republicanism, saw him align very well with his party's leadership. At other times, I'm also reliably informed, they placed him at loggerheads with it, as seen in his open critique of Labor policy on visiting nuclear powered warships in December 1987. Whatever the topic or the time, when raising issues that he felt to be important, colleagues on both sides of the chamber could be sure that Jim would pull no punches. That tenacity matched a sense of humour that endeared him to many of his contemporaries and, when combined with his well-known penchant for unique neckties, ensured that Jim cut a distinctive figure on the Senate floor. But that was not all that set him apart. Though an active member in this place, he was known to remark that his true wish was to have served in the House of Representatives. Indeed, he was often quick to point out that he deliberately ran a bustling constituent office to keep the reality.

Outside of the committee space, Jim also served as deputy government whip in the Senate between 1987 and 1991, as well as being the returning officer of the federal parliamentary Labor Party from 1990 to 1996. Having chosen to retire prior to the 2001 federal election, Jim's Senate term formally ended on 30 June 2002. Among a range of achievements, in his valedictory speech he counted among his proudest his role in encouraging Australia to donate to the International Fund for Ireland, which sought to promote economic and social development and, crucially, foster a dialogue between unionists and nationalists. That effort formed just one part of Jim's lifelong commitment to his homeland. He was a reliable advocate for stronger ties between Australia and Ireland, both within these walls and outside of them.

Prominently, he had been a founding member and long-time secretary of the Australia-Ireland Parliamentary Friendship Group. In his first speech Jim noted that he was the 25th federal Australian parliamentarian of Irish descent. That he took the time to research that fact spoke to his keen sense of Irish identity. That the number was already so high over three decades ago highlights the scale of the contribution made by those of Irish descent to our nation. At the time of his retirement, that passion for Ireland was undiminished. He concluded his valedictory speech with a goodbye to his colleagues in Gaelic.

Those efforts did not go unnoticed. In 1991, Jim was named Irish Australian of the Year, and just last year he met the Irish President, Michael D Higgins, in Perth, who thanked him warmly for his efforts. It was heartening to learn that, upon the news of Jim's recent passing, President Higgins penned a letter that praised Jim's commitment to justice and courage.

The conclusion of Jim's parliamentary career did not signal the end of his public service. Over the years that followed he served in a range of roles, including on the board of the WA Disability Services Commission, on the WA Carers Advisory Council and as a seasonal member of the WA State Administrative Tribunal. His policy interest in migration was undiminished. He was a member of the Migration Agents' Advisory Board from 2009 until 2015. He was also a very active member of the management committee of the Irish Club of Western Australia.

Towards the end of his remarkable life, as he battled cancer, the boy from Cavan, having made his mark on both his original and adopted homes, spent time with those that he loved. It is to those people—his wife, Jackie; his children, Steven, Donna and Jimmy; his stepchildren, Kim, Ben, Lisa and Kate; his 14 grandchildren and his two great-grandchildren—that, on behalf of the Australian government and the Australian Senate, I offer my deepest condolences.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to 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.

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Regional Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise on behalf of the National Party to reflect briefly on the life of Jim McKiernan, a senator I did not have the pleasure to work with but I am sure, having read through excerpts and listened here in the chamber, that there would have been areas of strong agreement with him.

Jim served on a wide variety of parliamentary committees during his time in the Senate, but it was his engagement with the issues of migration which, over time, came to dominate his attention. Being a migrant himself, he empathised with them and advocated for expanding Australia's migration policy to attract people of good standing to Australia. He pursued this cause through the Joint Select Committee on Migration Regulations and its successors, the Joint Standing Committee on Migration Regulations and the Joint Standing Committee on Migration, which he chaired from 1993 to 1996. He was also a member of the Senate legal and constitutional references and legislation committees, which dealt with those issues.

Jim was a prominent advocate both within his party and in public of mandatory detention of unauthorised boat arrivals. He often employed combative language when referring to those who opposed mandatory detention and those acting as advocates for detainees. In December 1992, whilst debating the Migration Amendment Bill, Jim accused a Federal Court judge of bias in his determination of applications and castigated a vocal refugee advocate, who happened to be a Catholic priest from the United States, stating:

If anything grates the public of this country, it is foreigners coming here telling us how to do things and how they could do it better.

At the end of his Senate career, Jim reflected on his work in this particularly difficult area of policy, saying:

I have participated in this area by choice. I could have turned my back on it ... I could have accepted the lie that all persons in immigration detention are refugees or even asylum seekers, but to do so would have been to let the constituents of my adopted country down, and I am pleased that I did not.

Between 1993 and 1994 Jim McKiernan chaired a high-profile inquiry of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration into the length of time that asylum seekers had been spending in detention before their applications were processed. The committee ultimately recommended that the policy of mandatory detention should not be changed, but that greater consideration should be afforded to releasing detainees after six months. He continued to support mandatory detention right up to the end of his career and he saw the Howard government's hard line on unauthorised arrivals as a good deterrent, especially at a time when the number of unauthorised boat arrivals to Australia had increased significantly.

Beyond migration, Jim made contributions to Senate debates on a number of matters, particularly of relevance to Western Australia, including reform of the state electoral system, the mining industry and the corruption affecting the City of Wanneroo council. His Irish heritage, the Northern Ireland peace process and Australian-Irish relations were prominent themes in his speeches. He may have watched with amusement last year's shenanigans around section 44 of the Constitution. Senator Wong briefly touched on this issue. As a National Party senator, I found it quite amusing. Jim had retained his Irish citizenship through both the 1984 and 1987 elections. He accepted that he may have been subject to disqualification had a challenge been mounted at the time—talk about the luck of the Irish—but on the advice of the Attorney-General, Lionel Bowen, he reluctantly renounced his Irish citizenship prior to 1990.

He was also the Deputy Government Whip in the Senate from 1987 to 1991 and the returning officer for the federal parliamentary Labor Party from 1990 to 1996. The latter position saw him preside over and announce the results of both leadership ballots held between Bob Hawke and Paul Keating in June and December 1991. During these contests Jim was a vocal Hawke supporter and a critic of Keating, effectively precluding him from a ministerial post in the Keating-led government.

Senator McKiernan used his valedictory speech to reflect on his personal experience of migration. He stated that his generation of Irish were 'born for the road' and that in his case fortune had smiled upon him in both England and Australia. He described his committee work as arduous and sometimes traumatic as a result of the subject matter, but he also said that found it very rewarding. His fellow senators lauded his contribution to and expertise in the field of migration. They also noted that he had brought a great sense of humour to the chamber and had been one of its outstanding characters, with his unorthodox taste in ties drawing considerable comment.

He went on after public life to make considerable contribution to his home state of Western Australia. On behalf of the parliamentary National Party, we would like to record our condolences particularly to family and friends of former Western Australian senator for the Labor Party, Jim McKiernan.

Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to pay my respects to former senator Jim McKiernan and associate myself with the remarks of my colleagues. I'd also like to acknowledge Jim's wife, Jackie, her family and friends here today, former Senator George Campbell and former Senator Ruth Webber. I am told that Jim and Jackie were an extremely formidable and effective political team. Jackie was a significant political figure in Western Australia in her own right. My colleagues will have dealt in detail with Jim's contribution to the Senate. Suffice for me to say that Jim was a significant contributor to the Senate and the committee structure. Jim was respected by his friends and political opponents alike. I was going to remark on Senator Wong's position with Senator Marise Payne. I've got that written here. I'll just say that Jim was a good judge of character. He was less praiseworthy of Senator Abetz. As a migrant fitter and machinist, he was like many who came from the UK, from Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland, who came here to make a better life and make a contribution to this country. There is no doubt that Jim made a better life for himself and made a huge contribution to the country.

I want to touch briefly on Jim's role as an education officer for the AMWU. The education officers in the AMWU were critically important to the activities of the union. They had a key role in educating AMWU activists and delegates, who were the backbone of the union and implemented union campaigns and pursued and improved wages and conditions across Western Australia and the whole country. It was Jim's working-class background, his experience and his capacity that ensured metalworker delegates were equipped to negotiate and represent workers across the country. Delegates who were educated by Jim became formidable opponents in workshops across the country. Jim was quoted in the past as saying that 'the only real organisation outside the political sphere which can or is willing to do anything for the working class is the trade union movement.' It does not surprise me now and on reflection that I became involved in that great movement.

He was a Republican. He wanted to reform the Australian Constitution and he also indicated that, because of his involvement with the metalworkers union and the metal unions campaign on industry restructuring and job creation, he had decided as part of his contribution to the Governor-General's speech to remark on the decline in Australia's manufacturing industry. He quoted Joe Ceaser, the National President of the Metal Trades Federation of Unions, a person who he described as hardly being 'a left-wing radical who would take orders from Moscow or Peking'. He said:

Australian workers, particularly metal workers, are sick and tired of listening to theories that 'free markets' will be the saviour of our industries. The stark, cold fact is that more than 75 per cent of world trade is 'managed' or government-controlled trade and is no way free. Workers are blamed by these theorists for our non-competitive situation in world trade. In fact, the root cause is ad hoc decision-making by management and lack of support by successive governments. Australian research and development have been allowed to wither. Consequently, we now import more and more overseas technology and as the technological gap between Australia and overseas countries widens, valuable trade and technological skills are being lost.

He said:

I commend that publication and congratulate the MTF on its initiative in publishing it. I would urge all workers, particularly those in the manufacturing industry, to read it and suggest that it be compulsory reading for all members of parliament.

I'll conclude on what Jim said:

I owe a great debt to my friends and colleagues in the metal workers union. It was their encouragement that gave me the confidence and skills to represent working people in a variety of positions, which culminate now in the Parliament of Australia. I look forward to an on-going relationship with the union, particularly its shop stewards. They are the backbone of the metal workers union and it is they who will continue to remind me of my working class origins and who will ensure that I do not get carried away with my own importance.

I think that says it all about Jim and what a fantastic contribution he and his family have made to this country. I say vale to a great working-class Australian.

Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Environment and Water (Senate)) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I am indeed humbled to pay tribute to a great West Australian and a great Irishman, former Labor senator Jim McKiernan, who passed away on 10 August after a long battle with cancer. As we've heard, Jim was just 14 when he left school to help support his family. He said authorities turned a blind eye to this due to his father's illness. He was the third of eight children and he went out to work because he knew his family was relying on his income to survive. As Senator Cormann highlighted, he worked as a petrol pump attendant, an abattoir worker and a messenger. What I know of Jim was his work ethic. That was apparent to me from a very young age, when I first joined the Australian Labor Party in Western Australia. It was through his office and his mentorship that the likes of me and his good friend the honourable Stephen Dawson first saw how professional political offices worked. With Jim you could always see that connection of his values and his ethics to the way he undertook his work. For me, I was inspired by the complex national and international issues that he was interested in, such as asylum seekers, nuclear disarmament and trade issues.

Jim recognised from a young age the unfair and classist society he was born into, with his family relying on charities like the St Vincent de Paul Society and handouts from friends and family. It's exposure to those issues—learning those lessons and values from the likes of Jim McKiernan—that I have taken into my work in this place in working with charities and community organisations to address injustice and poverty, and, most important of all, in dealing with the structural issues that undermine the welfare of Australians.

Jim understood very well the inferior social service system in Ireland. He stood up, as a member of the great Australian Labor Party, for quality social safety nets here in Australia. It is something that always informed his approach to social welfare in this place. As others have highlighted, in his inaugural speech he said how:

… unjust and inequitable our Western style societies can be. The rich and wealthy command, control and walk all over the weak and disadvantaged.

In his first speech he described how his attitude to life had been coloured by this suffering in his childhood. In 1960, he was only 16 when he followed his older siblings to England, where he completed his apprenticeship and qualified as a first-class machinist. In 1969 he moved to Perth with his first wife, Jean, and their son. He found at first only intermittent work before securing a job as a fitter and turner in Fremantle at the Dillingham Shipyards.

It was there that his lifelong relationship with the Australian union movement began. A work mate was sacked for participating in union activities and the Australian Society of Engineers didn't speak up for him. That's when Jim joined the Amalgamated Engineering Union, now the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union. I can say to the chamber today that it is inspiration from the likes of Jim that has given me my own motivation to also be a member of the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union. He described the union movement as the only real organisation outside the political sphere which can or is willing to do anything for the working class. But something that Jim taught me is that the union movement is the movement that creates the will within the political classes to do anything for the working class. They are the heart and soul of our accountability in this place. As we've heard, Jim became the AMWU's full-time education officer in WA from 1976 until he entered the Senate in 1984.

For me, it's been a great pleasure to watch Jim McKiernan's relationship with his lovely wife, Jackie McKiernan—formerly Jackie Watkins—whom he married in 1985. Jackie was, of course, the state member for Joondalup and, later, Wanneroo. I want to, in this place and in this speech, pay tribute to the strength of the relationship that Jim and Jackie shared, bringing their children together in their family. The love for their children was always evident when you watched them as a family and as a couple. I could clearly see that as they came together as a family during Jim's last days. Jackie, the love that you and Jim shared was always evident not only in your teasing banter, your good humour but also in the political courage and inspiration you gave each other and others. It has not only been a joy to know Jim but also to have known you both as a couple. I'm saddened at Jim's absence as an individual but also saddened by his absence from your life, Jackie, and from the joy that you brought together as a couple to a great many people.

I and a great many owe our thanks to you both for your encouragement, inspiration and mentorship. Jim was a wonderful advocate for metal working and manufacturing jobs in Australia. It's a voice and passion I carry with me into this place, and today I know he would have railed against the TPP and the effect on manufacturing jobs that mean so much to the fabric of our nation. In his inaugural speech, he lamented the shift to cheap goods manufactured elsewhere to boost big profits for companies at the expense of Australians and Australian workers. He criticised the Fraser government for its lack of leadership and policy that saw some 152,000 metal engineering jobs go in the decade prior to his election.

Jim McKiernan was also a proud republican. He submitted 28 petitions between 1992 and 1993 that called for the removal of references to the Queen from the oath or affirmation in the allegiance pledge made by new Australian citizens. For me, it's not surprising that a boy from Cavan, not far from Ulster in Northern Ireland, who is a migrant from this country, would want this country to represent the values of all migrants in a true republican sense. It's a great tribute to him that, in 1993, the Australian citizenship amendment bill brought forward these changes, thanks to Jim's work.

As we have heard, Jim was a strong advocate for the Irish community in Australia and for building a strong relationship between Ireland and Australia. He proposed a motion in the Senate welcoming the endorsement of the Northern Ireland peace processes for the Good Friday agreement, which was passed by the government, the opposition and the independents in this place.

As Senator Cormann highlighted, he visited Ireland where he met the then president, Mary McAleese, who thanked him for the work that he had done building the relationship between Ireland and Australia. I'm sure that, after relinquishing his Irish citizenship, he endeavoured to regain it and held it in great esteem. I want to share some words about Jim's passing that were put forward by the President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, who said of Jim in correspondence about his passing:

His life, his commitment to justice, his courage, his internationalism represented something that can only be described as Ireland and Australia at their best to overcome the obstacles he overcame to be a wonderful achievement in itself but even greater for what was his lifetime commitment to removing all those obstacles for the benefit of all humanity.

So today I join in expressing the sentiments of this place in expressing condolences to Jackie, to your children, Steven, Jimmy, Donna, Lisa, Kim, Kate and Ben, to your partners as well as to Jim's 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. We will always remember the life and contribution of Jim to our community as an advocate for workers, a committed trade unionist, a vowed republican, a proud Irishman and a proud Labor member. Vale Jim McKiernan.

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I, too, rise today to pay my condolences to Jim McKiernan, a senator for WA. I endorse the comments made by Senator Cormann; our leader, Senator Wong; and other Labor senators in this place. I want to put a personal perspective on my knowledge and friendship of Jim. First of all, I pay my deep respects and condolences to Jackie, up there in the gallery today, and I acknowledge former senators Ruth Webber and George Campbell. I knew Jim through the Labor Party and I knew Jim particularly through the Left of the Labor Party. I'm a proud member and many of the senators you've heard from today are proud members of the Left of the Labor Party. But, in knowing Jim in that role, through the Labor Party and through the Left, you couldn't help but know of and feel his deep passion for the trade union movement and his deep passion particularly focused on the AMWU. Jim was a metally through and through and you just knew that the minute you met him. As we've heard from others today, the values of the Labor Party and the values of the trade union movement were who Jim was.

We've heard today about his role as an education officer with the AMWU. I was reminded by Helen Creed today that one of the things the metallies did in those early times was produce material in cartoon-type strips, which Jim contributed to. That took a message about the global struggle of union members out to workplaces in Western Australia. So, from very early on as an education officer, the global struggle and how it tied to a local struggle was very important to Jim, making sure that message resonated locally with workers. Jim was a formidable force in the Labor Party. He was also a formidable force in the Left of the Labor Party. I remember that we would have long debates, often coming to an agreement and taking longer than it would when we finally brought it to the floor of the Labor Party. I'm sure that we all remember those very long debates.

But I have to say that, whilst Jim may have been a formidable force, Jim and Jackie together were very, very powerful. One of the things that they did was really build Labor in the northern suburbs of Perth. Senator Pat Giles, who has sadly passed as well, was a trailblazer out there, but was so Jackie, as the member for Joondalup and later the member for Wanneroo, and Pam Beggs. It's really pleasing—and I'm sure Jackie reflects on this in the work Jim did in the northern suburbs—that, at the last state election, we took those northern suburbs back with Sabine Winton and Emily Hamilton. Just two weeks ago, as we gathered in Pearce, again in your footsteps and the footsteps of Jim, with our candidate for Pearce, Kim Travers, Kim Young was there and he talked about the sad passing of Jim. It had been only a few days before. As you know, Kim Young is out there every Saturday doorknocking. We talked to the young people we were with on that Saturday morning before we began doorknocking about who Jim was and what his contribution to Labor has been. He might have passed away, but the footprint of your early work and Jim's early work in those northern suburbs, along with Pat, and Jackie's work in Joondalup and Wanneroo, is now getting larger and the Labor beat is getting stronger.

I also spoke to Cheryl Davenport, who told me a funny story about Jim when he was contesting the Senate. Jim was always a great supporter of women and he said to Pat Giles, 'Don't you worry, Pat, I'm not going to take your seat; I'm going to win one of my own,' which, of course, he went on to do.

As I said, Jim was fierce. We have heard of his contribution. He often put a perspective so that, when you looked at him, you shook your head and thought, 'Where does that come from?' One of those was smoking. Sadly, Jim was a big smoker, but in this place he led the charge to try and implement a smoking ban. He wanted it done by 1997. Even though he fought against outlawing smoking in the parliament, he wanted a ban by 1997 because he said too many young people were smoking.

I pay my respects to Jim. I know what a sad loss he is to you, Jackie. He is a sad loss to the broader Labor movement in Western Australia. When we win seats in the northern suburbs, we will do so in Jim's name and in your name. My condolences to you and your family.

Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I met Jim McKiernan through two of my great friends, George Campbell and Ruth Webber, who are both up in the gallery today. George spoke about Jim many times. I look back on the last speech of the valedictory process, which can be extraordinarily painful, where people get up and talk about each other in this place. Amongst all the praise that was given to Jim on that night, George got up and inevitably spoke about himself in his opening statement. He said that Jim and he were very similar and that they both came from Northern Ireland. Jim did not, as you know, George. Senator Campbell went on to talk about their great strength of friendship and mutual respect. He talked, as many people have done here this afternoon, about Jim's great commitment and passion for his union. George said at that time:

There are three things I can say about Jim that mark his commitment over the years. His absolute commitment to his union has been unstinting over the period since he joined it way back in 1969, when he first arrived. He has been an activist in the union ever since that period, even through the period of being a member of this chamber—he has been absolutely committed to the union movement all that period of time. His commitment to the party has been also a feature of Jimmy's period of involvement in the Labor movement, as is his commitment to the Irish community.

We have heard from many speakers today that the man never really left Ireland in many ways. He maintained a fantastic relationship all the way through his service in this place, talking consistently of issues that were happening in Ireland. For my friend Ruth Webber, I spoke with Jim a number of times, because we sometimes gathered when Jim and Jackie visited this place. We would get together, and they were enjoyable and memorable evenings. Jim spoke to me about how pleased he was that he was able to hand over his office and seat in the parliament for Western Australia to Ruth. One of the things that was mentioned by one of the earlier speakers was his absolute understanding that a senator's office serves the community. We heard from Senator Lines how working closely with community can rebuild faith in our party and build that understanding. He was able to pass that on to Ruth. Having been to her office many times, there were very many marks of the McKiernan in that office out there in the northern suburbs.

Jim had a genuine twinkle, there is no doubt.. I know it's a stereotype when you talk about a person with a twinkle, but he had it. He had a charm and an interest that made you want to get to know him, made you want to talk with him. He could also be a formidable opponent and advocate for issues on which he felt deeply. I would not have agreed with Jim McKiernan on all issues, but his intelligence and commitment would make you want to engage in the discussion and sometimes get into what would become a debate. I've been reading this afternoon and over the last couple of weeks getting ready for this. It's not an easy thing to talk about a man whom you respected but didn't know that well, but you knew people who loved him and you loved them.

Many of the issues which he discussed and took up in this place were things that we are debating now. We heard in the comments now the issues around migration and asylum and detention. They're in the debates now. The work that he did through his committee work was mentioned many times when they talked about the role that Jim McKiernan played in this place. He genuinely understood the importance of our committee work and understood the impact that had on the development of policy. One of the areas of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, which he chaired for many years, was looking at issues around family law. This is now happening at this stage, in terms of what we are looking at at the moment: republicanism, citizenship—we won't talk about section 44—and also media ownership. There was a very strong debate at that time around media ownership.

But I think what we could see consistently was that Jim always remembered that he was a servant of Western Australia. When we had the much famed comments about what the role of the Senate was from the Prime Minister of the day, there were comments asked by a number of senators in this place about the term 'swill'. Jim, I believe, from the quotes I heard, said that, yes, he thought perhaps the word 'swill' could be appropriate to some people sometimes in this place—he left it deliberately vague as to who and when—but he also said that what senators needed to know was that they were here for the people from their states. They were representing the states in this Senate. I think he never forgot that.

I really enjoyed spending time with Jim. He made me feel happy. He made me feel challenged. He understood the value of working in the Senate. Jackie: in terms of Jim's work, he understood and celebrated the fact that you have a genuine and real and long-lasting partnership. That was how you worked together. It was reported on regularly in the Western Australian press about the way the two of you worked together. In his comments in his speeches, he actually showed that love and respect in a particularly cheeky way. In his last speech in this place he referred to his wisdom in employing you. I think that was one of the major things. He never did get to understand how to do the washing and the cleaning and the housekeeping, which he insisted—absolutely falsely—that you did by yourself, but they were the words that were left in this place.

Jim McKiernan will be missed, but we can see by the contributions this afternoon that remembering him will only make us stronger. And although I do not have a Cavan accent, I'm going to try to murder the Gaelic language, because he left this place with a couple of wishes in Gaelic. I'm going try as well, to put some words in Gaelic to finish off this contribution. A Chairde, go raibh mile maith agaibh go leir agus Jim McKiernan Ar Dheis De go raibh a Anam agus go raibh mile mile maith agat. And that says, 'A thousand thanks to all of you for sharing this afternoon the words about Jim McKiernan, and also for Jim McKiernan: may your soul always rest at the right hand of God and a thousand thanks to you also.'

Question agreed to, honourable senators standing in their places.