A tribute to John C. Kerin
John Kerin died two years ago, on 29 March 2023. He was Australia's best and longest Minister for Primary Industries – agriculture, fisheries. forestry and related sectors.
A tribute to John C. Kerin, by Gordon Gregory, was published in January 2025. It is in four parts, as follows.
1.To all MPs in their Ivory Towers
- by Iris G Barton of Katunga, South Australia; 22 February 1986. Begins:
We serfs out in the country, Who through our sweat and tears,
Have carried all Australia On our backs throughout the years,
Now stand and raise our voices At the injustices we see,
And hope the Government will hear Our strong and desperate plea.
The response from Kerin begins:
Your poem caused us much delight, A change from heartfelt cheerless letter;
Although your facts are not all right, Some heartfelt verse – so much the better.
Some deep in strife – make no mistake – And sympathy I really feel.
But a balanced view is what I take: For lots, the 'crisis' isn't real.
2. Owed to Kerin was written for his 60th birthday. The fourth stanza is:
Like Collossus he strode the rural stage and petty men did peep out
From underneath his mighty legs that bushwalked him about.
He conquered the woolgrowers’ natural reserve - said the timing perhaps was the flaw
That staple industry owes JK a debt for ever more.
3. John Kerin – a personal reflection
(extract) For John Kerin the national interest was something real – almost tangible – albeit complex in terms of the factors determining what it looked like. When faced with hard decisions the national interest was in the room, openly discussed, which meant seeing through the self-interest of powerful people and vested interests. He did not trust privatisation, deregulation and the outsourcing of public services. He was always opposed to the trickle-down thesis, including the notion of the trickle-down benefits of tax cuts.
4. John Kerin: Obituary from a staffer “The best policies are the best politics”, in Pearls and Irritations, 9 April 2023.
(extract) John Kerin’s contribution to the success of the Hawke-Keating government has been grievously understated and uncelebrated.
Note: John Kerin's legacy includes his massive work: The way I saw it; the way it was; the making of national agricultural and natural resource management policy, published by the Analysis and Policy Observatory, 2017.