Board: John Kerin

The Hon John Kerin AM
Chair, Board of Directors, Crawford Fund

Born in Bowral, New South Wales, where he worked on the family farm, John Kerin is an Australian economist and former Labor politician. He worked at the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE), before being elected to the Commonwealth Parliament as Australian Labor Party member for Macarthur in 1972. He lost his seat in the Labor defeat of 1975, and returned to ABARE, before being re-elected as member for Werriwa in 1978, following the retirement of Gough Whitlam.

He served as Minister for Primary Industries (1983-1987), Minister for Primary Industries and Energy (1987-1991), Minister for Transport and Communications (1991), Minister for Trade and Overseas Development (1991-1993) and Treasurer (1991) in the Labor government of Bob Hawke.

Since leaving politics, Mr Kerin has served with bodies including the Australian Meat and Livestock Corporation, CSIRO, the Poultry Cooperative Research Centre, the Australian Weed Research Centre; the CRC for Tropical Savannas Management; UNICEF Australia and the National Ovine Johne’s Disease Programme Advisory Committee.

In 2001, Mr Kerin was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia for service to the Australian Parliament. In the same year, he was awarded the Centenary Medal for services to Australian society in technological science and engineering. He has a long association with the Crawford Fund – after serving on the Crawford Fund Board and as chair of the Crawford Fund NSW and ACT Committees for some years, he was elected as Chair of the Crawford Fund Board in October 2010.