Condolence Motion for Jim Cairns Simon Crean - Leader of the Opposition

Speech

Transcript - Parliament House, Canberra - 14 October 2003

Today the Parliament honors the life of one of the most admired men of the Labor movement – Dr Jim Cairns: a former Deputy Prime Minister, Treasurer and Trade Minister.

While he was a member of this House for 22 years – from 1955 to 1977 – he's perhaps better known for his extra-parliamentary political activities – as a leader of the peace movement and as a writer and activist for radical social change.

He was a man of passion, commitment and conviction.

He was a famously shy man in his personal life. Few got close to him. Even close friends like Tom Uren say that they never really go to know him.

There's a wonderful story about his diffident personality. Jim Cairns was a founder of the new age ‘Confest' – famous for its ‘back to nature' dress code. But despite this, he could never quite bring himself to take off his clothes. He managed to remove his shirt – and we've all seen those photographs of him.

But he always reached out and helped others.

His house was always open to homeless people down on their luck.

Typical of the man, at Melbourne University after the war he set up a group to encourage friendship between Asian and Australian students.

At the height of the great Labor split in 1955 he won the seat of Yarra from the DLP candidate Stan Keon.

After an electoral redistribution, he was elected Member for Lalor from 1969 and served his constituency until his retirement at the 1977 election.

While he later became a ‘New Age' thinker, in the beginning Jim Cairns was a Marxist, advocating, among other things, the nationalisation of the commanding heights of the Australian economy.

To say the least, this sometimes put him at odds with Gough Whitlam, who wanted to modernise Labor's platform.

This battle came to a head in April 1968 when Cairns came within a handful of votes of defeating Gough Whitlam for the Leadership of the Labor Party.

In that campaign he famously asked about Whitlam: ‘Whose party is this – his or ours?'

History records that Gough Whitlam won that battle, and the Labor Party took a different direction to the one Cairns would have preferred.

Despite this, Cairns served under Whitlam's leadership in both opposition and government.

It is interesting what Gough said about Cairns after his death:

Jim Cairns brought a nobility to the Labor cause which has never been surpassed. It is a great thing for me that throughout our political careers I had such a colleague, a friend, sometimes a rival, but always a benchmark in doing the great and the good things in the interests of Australia and the ALP.

In the late 1960s Cairns put much of his energy into the Vietnam Moratorium movement, culminating in the famous march through the city of Melbourne in May 1970.

I was part of that movement. I recall taking part in the rally – marching with other students.

And I remember his message.

He was condemned by the establishment as a radical, but his speech that day, urged moderation and reason.

Let me read part of it to the House:

When you leave here today, realize a sacred trust.

You have the trust to stand for peace and for the qualities of the human spirit to which we must dedicate ourselves…

Our spirit is the spirit of peace and understanding.

Our spirit is opposed to violence, opposed to hate, opposed to every motive that has produced this terrible war.

And in developing our own spirit, we will change the spirit of other people.

We can overcome… and I have never seen a more convincing sight than I see here now to give me confidence that we shall overcome.

Mr Speaker, the call to spread the message of peace and understanding in that famous speech stand as Jim Cairns' epitaph.

Other marches followed and the dissent they expressed did much to shape the political consciousness of a generation of young Australians.

I'm proud to say that I count myself as one of them.

The Moratorium Movement is often regarded as the high point of Jim Cairns' career, but this overlooks his many other achievements.

He was ahead of his time in so many areas of policy:

• He was one of the first Australian politicians to call for closer economic, political and social ties with Asia.
• He was also one of the earliest opponents of the White Australia Policy.

When the Whitlam Government was elected in 1972, Cairns was appointed to the senior economic portfolios of Trade and Secondary Industry.

These appointments involved him in two major policy achievements that still shape our economic direction today.

• He played a key role in steering the 25 per cent general tariff cut through a divided Cabinet – a decision that the Australian Financial Review at the time heralded as ‘a watershed in Australian economic history'.
• And he was successful too in opening trade links with the People's Republic of China.

In 1974 Cairns was elected Deputy Labor Leader and Deputy Prime Minister. In that role he is remembered fondly for the great compassion he showed to the people of Darwin after Cyclone Tracey and the people of Hobart after the Derwent River Bridge collapsed.

Gough Whitlam made Cairns Treasurer in November 1974, replacing my father in that role.

The great tragedy was that Cairns reached the height of his power just at the time when he was starting to lose his belief in the power of parliament and government to change society – much to the regret of his supporters.

In 1974 his head was famously turned by Junie Morosi.

His Ministerial work suffered, and his Office became notoriously dysfunctional.

The confusion probably led him to inadvertently mislead Parliament over the Loans Affair – which saw Whitlam sack him from the Ministry.

It's a great pity that a personal matter – the Morosi Affair– has tended to overshadow Jim Cairns' achievements in a life of service to the Australian people.

Mr Speaker, Jim Cairns was a man on a constant intellectual journey.

Even though he lost faith in parliamentary politics, he never lost his zeal for political and social reform.

After leaving Parliament in 1977, he became a leader of the counter-culture movement.

We all recall vividly Jim selling his books on counter-culture themes in community markets and on university campuses.

I'd often see him at the South Melbourne and Prahran markets and stop for a chat. Sometimes my father was with me. The discussion was always friendly.

He set up those book stalls for a reason: to persuade a new generation to take up the torch of cultural reform.

And he succeeded.

Today many of the issues he championed – environmentalism, the importance of relationships, and nurturing our children – are mainstream political issues.

Mr Speaker, Jim Cairns represents in perhaps its purest form the spirit of idealism that is such a central part of the Labor Party.

He was an optimistic, trusting and gentle man, whose strong beliefs, soothing voice and handsome looks made him a hero to many.

He never measured political success in electoral terms alone, but in persuading people of the merits of his beliefs and the rightness of his convictions.

And while he never succeeded in converting the majority, he converted many, and still has many devoted followers today.

He was a man who liked to think the best of his fellow human beings.

If that eventually brought him undone, then there are worse judgements that can be made of a politician and a human being.

Whilst he was ever controversial, and whilst people can question his judgement at times, no one can question his passion and his belief.

Jim's wife of sixty years, Gwen, died three years ago. Jim never really recovered from it.

One of his sons, Philip, died in 1997.

He is survived by his other son, Barry, and by many thousands of admiring Labor members and supporters.

Mr Speaker, Jim Cairns was a Labor original.

A true believer.