Jones began his career as a schoolteacher at Dandenong High School,where he taught for nine years,before becoming a household name as an Australian quiz champion in the 1960s on Bob Dyer's Pick a Box,a radio show from 1948,televised from 1957. He was known for taking issue with Dyer about certain expected answers,most famously in response to a question about "the first British Governor-General of India",where he pointed out that Warren Hastings was technically only the Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal Presidency. Jones' appearances on Pick a Box lasted from 1960 to 1968.[2]
Jones tried his hand at broadcasting on Melbourne radio and in 1967 was one of the pioneers of talkback radio,working at 3DB in Melbourne.[3] His show Talkback to Barry Jones and Mike Walsh's show on Sydney's 2SM were Australia's first talkback shows.[4] Jones believes that modern talkback shows have a much narrower focus than the original shows. He says "I was trying to convey to people a sense of what they didn't know rather than simply talk about football or pets. My emphasis was on using talkback as an instrument for exposing people to new ideas and challenging them,rather than just reinforcing the ideas they already held."[4] Jones was a panellist on 3DB's popular program,Information Please.[citation needed]
The year before his transfer to federal politics,Jones had unsuccessfully challenged state leader Clyde Holding.[8]
Holding too resigned from state politics to go into federal politics in 1977 and both he and Jones would serve as ministers under Bob Hawke.
He was elected to the House of Representatives at the 1977 Australian federal election as the Labor member for the Federal seat of Lalor in Victoria,which he held until his retirement in 1998. He was Minister for Science in the Hawke government from 1983 to 1990,in which role he ensured the preservation of the CSIRO,and set up the Australia Prize,Questacon and the Commission for the Future. He was also Minister for Small Business 1987-1990 and for Customs 1988–1990. In the 1990 Australian federal election,the ALP lost ten seats in Victoria,the centre-left faction was forced to give up two ministries and Jones lost his place in the ministry.
In 1992,upon the resignation of Stephen Loosley,elected unopposed following a split vote at National Conference in 1991,he was elected National President of the ALP,serving until 2000. He became National President again in 2005–2006.[9]
In 1987 he chaired the OECD Review of the (then) Yugoslavian economy,in Dubrovnik. Jones took part in an international think tank to advise Mikhail Gorbachev on Perestroika,Moscow (June) 1990.
He was the Vice-President of the World Heritage Committee from 1995 to 1996 and a member of the Executive Board of UNESCO in Paris from 1991 until 1995,succeeding Gough Whitlam in both roles.
In 1999 Jones was appointed an adjunct professor at Monash University and became a Vice-Chancellor's Fellow at the University of Melbourne in 2005–2007,and a professorial fellow 2007–.[citation needed]
Later life
Jones chaired the Victorian Schools Innovation Commission from 2001 until 2005.[12] He chaired the Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority from 2000 to 2004,and 2005 to 2012[12] and served on the boards of several medical research institutes. Jones was the founding Chair of the Advisory Board to In2science,a peer mentoring program that builds enthusiasm of Victorian secondary school students for science,technology,engineering and maths (STEM).[13] He chaired Vision2020Australia,the peak eye-health advocacy body,2002–14.
He appeared regularly as a member of the Brains Trust on the television quiz show The Einstein Factor. He mentioned on an episode of the show that he likes to watch his Wikipedia page grow.[14]
On 9 April 2010,the Minister for Innovation,Industry,Science and Research,Senator Kim Carr,announced the formation of the Book Industry Strategy Group (BISG) with Jones as chair.[16] The group submitted its report in September 2011.[17]
Views
Capital punishment
Jones has maintained a long-standing public profile as an outspoken opponent of capital punishment.[18][19] He led the successful Victorian campaign to prevent the hanging of Robert Tait in 1962 but failed with Ronald Ryan in 1967.
Euthanasia
Jones's stated position on voluntary euthanasia in the past has been inconclusive but in the Australian parliament he spoke against specific elements in the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995 enabling laws in the Northern Territory.[20] He has noted that popular support is not of itself a compelling reason for its adoption.[21] In the same frequently cited speech from 1996 he noted that "No other issue has troubled me so much because I am not sure that I am correct".
Climate change
Jones was an early advocate for action on climate change,first advocating for his cabinet colleagues to support action in 1984.[22]
In 2022,Jones was named as an advisor to the fundraising group Climate 200.[23][24]
On 26 January 1993 Jones was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) "For service to the promotion of science,the arts and film,writing and Australian politics".[29][30]
On 1 January 2001 he was awarded the Centenary Medal,"For dedication to Australia as a knowledge nation".[31]
On 9 June 2014 Jones was promoted within the Order of Australia to Companion level (AC),"For eminent service to the community as a leading intellectual in Australian public life,through contributions to scientific,heritage,musical,medical,political and public health organisations,and to the Australian Parliament".[30][32]
Jones' Sleepers,Wake!:Technology and the Future of Work,published in 1982 by Oxford University Press,canvassed the future implications of the information revolution in creating a post-industrial society,and growth of "the Third Age".[citation needed] It went through four editions and 26 impressions,sold 80,000 copies in Australia and was translated into Chinese,Japanese,Korean,Swedish and Braille.[citation needed]Bill Gates read it;and Deng Xiaoping's daughters Deng Rong (in 1988) and Deng Nan (in 1994) told Jones the book had influenced their father's thinking. It was also significant in Korea,Canada and Ireland.[citation needed]
In 1982 in a speech in Hobart he predicted that by the year 2000 there would be more computers than cars in Tasmania. The scepticism provoked by the claim was highlighted by former prime minister Julia Gillard as an example of a lack of imagination about the future.[39] Due to Sleepers,Wake!,in October 1985 he became the only Australian minister ever invited to address a G7 Summit Meeting,held in Meech Lake,Canada.[citation needed]
Other works
Jones has been a prolific author of political and sociological books,including:
Decades of Decision 1860–:A Compendium of Modern History,Sydney:Horwitz,1965;London,Horwitz,1965.
The Penalty is Death:Capital Punishment in the Twentieth Century,Retentionist and Abolitionist Arguments with Special Reference to Australia,Barry Jones,comp.,Melbourne:Sun Books in association with the Anti-Hanging Council of Victoria,1968.
Jones, Barry, ed. (2022). The penalty is death: state power, law and justice (Updateded.). Melbourne: Scribe Publications.[40]
Joseph II: Enlightenment in Politics, West Melbourne: Victorian Historical Association, ca. 1960–69.
Age of Apocalypse: Compendium of History 1860 to the Present Day (also titled: Barry Jones' Guide to Modern History: Age of Apocalypse), South Melbourne: Macmillan Company of Australia, 1975.
The Macmillan Dictionary of Biography, edited by Barry Jones and M. V. Dixon, London: Macmillan; Adelaide: Mary Martin, 1981; South Melbourne: Macmillan, Papermac series, revised and updated edition, 1986; South Melbourne: Macmillan, 3rd edition, 1989.
Sir Redmond Barry, was an Irish-born judge in the Australian colony of Victoria. A major figure in the early civic life of Melbourne, Barry was instrumental in founding several key institutions in the city, including the University of Melbourne and State Library Victoria, outside of which a statue of him stands. He is also well known for presiding over the trial of the Eureka rebels, as well as having sentenced the bushranger and outlaw Ned Kelly to death.
The Democratic Labor Party (DLP) was an Australian political party. The party came into existence following the 1955 ALP split as the Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist), and was renamed the Democratic Labor Party in 1957. In 1962, the Queensland Labor Party, a breakaway party of the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party, became the Queensland branch of the DLP.
John Dorman Elliott was an Australian businessman and state and federal president of the Liberal Party. He had also been president of the Carlton Football Club. He frequently provoked controversy due to his political affiliations, his brushes with the law, and his abrasive personal style.
Jennifer Louise Macklin is an Australian former politician. She was elected to federal parliament at the 1996 federal election and served as the deputy leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 2001 to 2006, under opposition leaders Simon Crean, Mark Latham and Kim Beazley. After the ALP won government at the 2007 election, she held ministerial office under Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, serving as Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (2007–2013) and Minister for Disability Reform (2011–2013). She retired from parliament at the 2019 election.
Christian John Zahra was an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from October 1998 to October 2004, representing the regional seat of McMillan, Victoria.
Kim John Carr is an Australian former politician who served as a Senator for Victoria between 1993 and 2022. Representing the Labor Party, he was a minister in the Rudd and Gillard governments.
Robert Michael Manne is an Emeritus Professor of politics and Vice-Chancellor's Fellow at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. He is a leading Australian public intellectual.
Johnstone William "John" Thwaites is an Australian former politician, and served as Deputy Premier of the state of Victoria from 1999 to 2007.
Geoffrey Norman Blainey, is an Australian historian, academic, best selling author and commentator.
Mark Alexander Birrell is a company director and a former Cabinet Minister in the Australian state of Victoria.
Stuart Forbes Macintyre was an Australian historian, and Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne from 1999 to 2008. He was voted one of Australia's most influential historians.
Margaret Elaine Gardner is an Australian academic, economist and university executive serving as the 30th and current governor of Victoria since August 2023. She was previously the vice-chancellor of Monash University from 2014 to 2023 and the president and vice-chancellor of RMIT University from 2005 to 2014.
Julian Gardner is an Australian lawyer renowned for his promotion of human rights through the practice of law. In 2015 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia for "significant service to the community through leadership roles with social welfare, mental health, legal aid and other legal organisations".
Alan George Lewers Shaw was an Australian historian and author of several text books and historiographies on Australian and Victorian history. He taught at the University of Melbourne and the University of Sydney, and was professor of history at Monash University from 1964 until his retirement in 1981.
Ian Freckelton is an Australian barrister, former judge of the Supreme Court of Nauru, international academic, and high-profile legal scholar and jurist. He is known for his extensive writing and speaking in more than 30 countries on issues related to health law, expert evidence, criminal law, tort law, therapeutic jurisprudence and research integrity. Freckelton is a member of the Victorian Bar Association, the Tasmanian Bar Association, and the Northern Territory Bar Association in Australia.
Daniel Mulino is an Australian politician. He was a Labor member of the Victorian Legislative Council, representing the Eastern Victoria Region from 2014 to 2018. In the 2019 federal election he was elected as the inaugural Member for the Division of Fraser.
Francis Robert Bongiorno is an Australian historian, academic and author. He is a professor of history at the Australian National University, and was head of the university's history department from 2018 to 2020. Bongiorno is the President of the Australian Historical Association.
Kevin John Donnelly is an Australian educator, author and commentator. He is Senior Fellow at the Australian Catholic University's PM Glynn Institute
Linda White was an Australian politician. She was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and was elected to the Senate as the party's lead candidate in Victoria at the 2022 federal election, to a term beginning on 1 July 2022. She was a lawyer and trade unionist before entering politics, including serving as the assistant national secretary of the Australian Services Union (ASU) from 1995 till 2020.
Cox, Eva; Lloyd, C. J.; Hogan, Michael; Stokes, Geoff; Smith, R. F. I.; Curtain, Richard; Dunkley, Graham; Cain, Frank; Gerritsen, Rolf; Bennett, Scott; Orchard, Lionel; Cole, Kathryn; Hood, Cheryl; Jupp, James; Saha, L. J. (May 1983). "Reviews". Politics. 18 (1): 131–156. doi:10.1080/00323268308401881. ISSN0032-3268.
Leivesley, R. (1993). "Barry Jones, "Sleepers, Wake! Technology and the Future of Work" (Book Review)". Australian Journal of Political Science. 28 (1). Adelaide: Australasian Political Studies Association: 168. eISSN1363-030X. ISSN1036-1146.
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