Jim Bacon
|
The Honourable Jim Bacon AC LLD (honoris causa) |
|
|---|---|
| 41st Premier of Tasmania | |
|
In office 14 September 1998 – 21 March 2004 |
|
| Deputy | Paul Lennon |
| Preceded by | Tony Rundle |
| Succeeded by | Paul Lennon |
| Constituency | Denison |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
15 May 1950 Melbourne |
| Died | 20 June 2004 (aged 54) Hobart, Tasmania |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Political party | Australian Labor Party |
| Spouse(s) | Honey Bacon |
James Alexander Bacon, AC (15 May 1950 – 20 June 2004) was Premier of Tasmania from 1998 to 2004.
Bacon was born on 15 May 1950 in Melbourne; his father Frank, a doctor, died when Jim was twelve, leaving him to be raised by his mother Joan. He was educated at Scotch College and later studied politics at Monash University, but did not graduate. At Monash Bacon was a Maoist student leader. Bacon moved to Western Australia and, after going back on the job as a labourer, became an official of the Builders Labourers Federation, which then sent him to Tasmania as an organiser. He later became leader of the trade union movement as Secretary of the Tasmanian Trades & Labor Council.
Having abandoned communism and joined the Australian Labor Party, Bacon was elected as a Member of the House of Assembly in 1996. He became leader of the Tasmanian Labor Party in 1997 and narrowly won the state election in 1998, defeating the Liberal Party government under Tony Rundle. It was the first Labor majority since 1982. His government was re-elected in 2002 in a landslide victory for his party.
Bacon's time in office was said to have been hugely successful, for the state economy as a whole, for his popularity with the people of the state, and also for tourism with the introduction of two more Bass Strait ferries, and beginning a ferry run between Devonport and Sydney. (However, the Sydney service has since proven unsuccessful and was discontinued in 2006 due to the majority of New South Wales people not wanting to drive into the heart of Sydney.) He controversially appointed Richard Butler to the office Governor of Tasmania in 2003. One of the Bacon Government's most notable achievements was to wipe out a $1.6 billion state net debt in only six years. Other achievements included huge increases in tourist numbers, leading social policies, partnerships between state and local governments, turning Tasmanian Government entities, such as Hydro Tasmania, into profit-generating businesses (one of the election-winning strategies was to propose this as opposed to selling them), bringing two Australian Football League (AFL) clubs to play regular home and away matches in Tasmania (Hawthorn Football Club and St Kilda Football Club) and improving the general feeling of confidence in individuals and businesses within the state of Tasmania.
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