John Charles Kerin (21 November 1937 – 29 March 2023) was an Australian economist and Labor Party politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1972 to 1975 and again from 1978 to 1993. He held a number of senior ministerial roles in both the Hawke and Keating governments, including six months as Treasurer of Australia and eight years as Minister for Primary Industries and Energy, holding the latter role for the longest period in Australian history.

Early life and education

Kerin was born in Bowral in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. Growing up in a rural area, he was educated at Hurlstone Agricultural High School and Bowral High School. He worked as a poultry farmer before later completing a Bachelor of Arts from the University of New England, Armidale, in 1967, and then a Bachelor of Economics from the Australian National University in 1977. Kerin was highly regarded as Minister for Primary Industry. After an initially positive start, Kerin was judged by several journalists as failing to respond adequately to the Liberal–National Coalition's proposals for their new 'Fightback!' economic policy. Hawke felt that he had no option but to sack Kerin as treasurer, replacing him with Ralph Willis, and instead appointing Kerin as Minister for Transport and Communications.

However, his time in this role would be brief, as Keating mounted a successful challenge to Hawke's leadership less than a fortnight later. Having promised the portfolio of Transport and Communications to his close ally Graham Richardson, Keating moved Kerin to the role of Minister for Trade and Overseas Development. In this position, Kerin played a key role in preparing the groundwork for the APEC Leaders' Summit at which the Bogor Declaration would be declared, pledging significant movement towards free trade amongst Pacific economies.

He was dropped from the ministry after the 1993 election and at the end of that year Kerin announced his retirement from Parliament, stating that he wished to move on to other things.

Post-political career

After his retirement from politics in 1993, Kerin was appointed to a senior position at the Australian Meat and Livestock Corporation, and joined numerous boards of various charities and companies. Kerin remained active across a range of public policy issues in Australia. In October 2008 he was appointed to the board of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. He was appointed the 2008 Distinguished Life Member of the Australian Agriculture and Resource Economics Society.

In October 2010 Kerin was appointed Chair of the Crawford Fund, a position he held until early 2017. The Crawford Fund aims to increase Australia's engagement in international agricultural research, development and education. In 2011 he resigned from the New South Wales branch of the Labor Party in protest at what he saw as the increasingly highly centralised nature of control over the operations of the organisation. He said that the administrative arm of the party had become increasingly involved in policy formulation, leaving little room for meaningful participation by rank and file party members. In August 2012, he rejoined the Party as a member in Canberra, where he stated he felt that local management of the party was more responsive to the concerns of members.

In 2017, Kerin released an extensive memoir of his experiences as Primary Industries and Energy Minister between 1983 and 1991.

Kerin died on 29 March 2023, at the age of 85.

Honours

On 26 January 2001 Kerin was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM). On 11 June 2018 he was advanced within the Order to Officer level (AO).

On 1 January 2001 Kerin was awarded the Centenary Medal.

References

  • John Kerin (2003), "Primary Industry Policy", in Susan Ryan and Troy Bramston (Eds.), The Hawke Government: A Critical Perspective, Pluto Press, .
  • John Kerin (2013), "Primary Industry Policy", in Troy Bramston (ed.), The Whitlam Legacy, The Federation Press, Annandale, NSW. (hbk)
  • John C. Kerin (2017), "The way I saw it; the way it was: the making of national agricultural and natural resource management policy". Melbourne: Analysis and Policy Observation. doi: 10.4225/50/590fe72f12dd9