Manufacturing News

Former industry minister, John Button, passes away

Former Hawke government minister John Button died in Melbourne overnight, aged 74.

Speaking at AusPharma 2008 conference in Canberra today, industry minister Senator Kim Carr praised the former industry minister saying Australia is in mourning today with the loss of John Button.

“His achievements in modernising old industries and developing new ones are unsurpassed.

“Hawke and Keating captured the headlines in the 1980s with their bold macroeconomic reforms. But go into any factory in Australia and you’ll find that it’s Button’s contribution people remember.

“It is him, more than anyone else, we should thank for all that Australia has achieved in manufacturing over the last two decades.

“John was a mentor and an inspiration to me, and it is an honour to dedicate my work in this portfolio to his memory,” Carr said.

Heather Ridout, Chief Executive of the Australian Industry Group, also paid her respects saying, “All of us within the Australian Industry Group and throughout industry are deeply saddened on hearing the news of his death, who was respected across the industrial divide.

“In his decade as Industry Minister he made an enormous contribution to industry’s future in Australia, for which he will always be remembered.

“He was a man of great strength of conviction, intellectually agile and a genuinely independent thinker. He was always great company and a pleasure to work with,” Ridout said.

“As the Hawke/Keating Government’s Industry Minister, John Button heralded a new era of industry policy which rejected the old notions of protectionism and made a huge difference in setting the direction for Australian industry’s engagement in a fast emerging, globalised market place.

“The ‘Button Plans’, which helped to provide structural change in such critical sectors as steel and automotive, set down a blueprint for the manner in which Government and industry could work together in the best interests of industry, the workforce and the nation.

“John Button will be greatly missed and Ai Group extends our deepest sympathies to the Button family,” Ridout said.

Button served as industry minister and Senate leader during his years in parliament. He retired from politics in 1993, but continued to lead trade missions and went on to become a professorial fellow at Monash University. He had been battling pancreatic cancer in recent months.

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