DEATH OF THE HONOURABLE LAURIE JOHN (JACK) FERGUSON, AO, A FORMER DEPUTY PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES
Page: 4901
The Hon. JAN BURNSWOODS [6.37 p.m.]: Tonight I speak about the sad death of Jack Ferguson, AO, a former Deputy Premier of New South Wales. When the Premier was paying tribute to Jack Ferguson he said that he was one of the most significant figures not only in Labor politics but also in post-war New South Wales politics. He will have a proud place in our history. Jack Ferguson was deputy leader of the parliamentary party from 1973 to 1984. In the three years prior to the election of the Wran Government he was Neville Wran's right-hand man. As Deputy Premier, Minister for Public Works and Minister for Ports from 1976 to 1984 Jack Ferguson played an important role in the making and maintaining of the Labor Government and much of New South Wales, including much around Macquarie Street where we are tonight.
Jack Ferguson had as his background the typical old-style Labor pedigree. He was born in the inner city, he was brought up in Merrylands, he left school during the Depression, he served in the Army, and he was able to learn bricklaying under one of the post-war reconstruction schemes. One of the amazing things about Jack Ferguson was that although he left school at 13 he managed to educate himself mainly through the Guildford School of Arts—a wonderful institution. Those of us who knew Jack will remember the passion with which he spoke about schools of arts, mechanics institutes, literary institutes, mining institutes and so on, which were all established in the nineteenth century and which played an important role in educating people who were unable to complete school in the ordinary way, usually because of economic circumstances in the city and because of a combination of economic circumstances and isolation in the country.
Jack Ferguson not only used the Guildford School of Arts to educate himself; he continued to be involved in it and in similar institutions right until the time of his death. When I worked in the Department of Education and Training I remember going to some trouble to peruse various departmental files—as that department used to look after schools of arts—in an attempt to establish more of the history of the Guildford School of Arts and other similar institutions. His own education, as well as that of other people, was very important to Jack.
In the New South Wales Parliamentary Labor Party, Jack was very important as leader of the Left through the 1970s and 1980s. He played an important role in Wran becoming the leader in 1973, he continued to be Wran's loyal deputy through until 1984, and he stood firmly behind Wran as acting Premier on a number of occasions. They were very close friends and colleagues, and we are all the better for it. The Ferguson role in his capacity as Minister for Public Works and Minister for Ports was crucial in overcoming the huge backlog that existed in New South Wales in relation to the state of our public infrastructure, which related to everything, including the restoration of heritage buildings such as the barracks. One of Jack's proud boasts was that he had re-established the vocation of stonemason in New South Wales. He made sure that European stonemasons of great skill came to Australia and to New South Wales and trained up a whole new generation of stonemasons. The Department of Public Works even managed to sequester huge supplies of old stone from all over the place, which we are still using to restore our buildings today.
Jack also played a role in a number of other important areas. I recall one particular meeting I had with Jack Ferguson—which was probably fairly typical of him—when I and a number of other people from Drummoyne were fighting to prevent the establishment of a very large marina in Drummoyne. Jack took the view that we had no right to be arguing this, because as far as he was concerned working-class people from suburbs such as Merrylands had a total right to have a boat and they had a total right to put their boats in the water in middle-class suburbs like Drummoyne. He certainly meant every word he said, but on the other hand the marina was never built. I would like to extend my condolences to Jack's widow, Mary, and to Laurie, Martin, Deborah, Andrew and Jennifer, and other members of his family. I am speaking on behalf of a number of my colleagues, since the Leader of the House has reminded me that, by tradition, we do not have a debate in this House in relation to condolences for members of the other place.