Updated earlier today at 7:42amMon 26 Jan
2015, 7:42am
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VIDEO: ALP icon Tom Uren dies aged 93 (ABC
News)
PHOTO: Tom Uren aspired to be a professional
boxer, but became best known for fighting the system. (AFP)
MAP: Australia
One of the Australian Labor Party's most
iconic and prominent left-wing figures, Tom Uren, has died at the age of 93.
The ALP stalwart and former prisoner-of-war
was one of the ALP's most respected politicians, known for helping to establish
the heritage and conservation movement in Australia.
A member of Mr Uren's family said he had met
his death "with the same character and courage he faced the rest of his
life".
They said a memorial service would be held in
Sydney next week.
Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten
described Mr Uren as a "Labor giant".
"Tom Uren was a giant of Australia, a
giant of Labor - from his incredibly tough times as a prisoner of war through
to his remarkable career as a Labor representative [and] a leading
conservationist," he said.
"Our thoughts are with his family. My
thoughts are with my Labor colleagues who knew him really well."
Tributes also came from the other side of
politics, with Treasurer Joe Hockey saying he was "very sad to hear of Tom
Uren's passing. He was widely admired as a very decent man, a beacon of
integrity and a genuine true believer".
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Mr Uren had
"served Australia throughout his adult life" and said flags would be
flown at half-mast on the day of his memorial service.
Wartime experiences propelled Uren into
political activism
The former Whitlam and Hawke government
minister famously took on big developers, politicians and media heavyweights.
Growing up in Sydney, Mr Uren aspired to be a
professional boxer and fought for the Australian heavyweight title at the age
of 20, but went on to be best known for fighting the system.
Tanya Plibersek pays tribute to Tom Uren, a
politician who was always ready to speak out for the voiceless and the
dispossessed.
Born on May 28, 1921 in the then
working-class suburb of Balmain, he experienced the poverty of the Depression
first hand.
A member of the Second Australian Imperial
Force (AIF), Mr Uren was deployed to Timor during World War II.
Taken by the Japanese as a POW, he worked on
the Thai-Burma Railway and later witnessed the atomic bombing of Nagasaki from
his POW camp in 1945.
"It reminded me of those beautiful
crimson skies of sunsets in central Australia but magnified about 10 times
stronger," Mr Uren said in a 2008 interview with the ABC's Talking Heads.
PHOTO: Tom Uren (second from left) poses with
WWII veterans and former POWs at Hellfire pass, a cutting on the Thai-Burma
Railway. (Greg Jennett: ABC News)
His wartime experiences propelled him into a
life of political activism and shaped his strong anti-nuclear views.
Mr Uren took to the streets in opposition to
nuclear weapons and Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War.
Unafraid to challenge authority, he took a
police officer to court for shoving him at a rally in Sydney, but the case was
thrown out.
Instead of paying an $80 fine, Mr Uren chose
to serve 40 days in jail.
History repeated in 1978 when he refused to
accept bail after taking part in an illegal civil liberties rally in Brisbane.
"Going to jail was a part of the protest
against the immoral and unjust anti-march laws," Mr Uren said.
Uren defied but also created legislation
But Mr Uren did not just defy legislation, he
set out to create it too.
In 1958, he was elected to Parliament as the
member for Reid and went on to serve the Sydney electorate for 32 years.
When a Sydney newspaper suggested he had been
asking questions in Parliament on behalf of the Russian ambassador, Mr Uren
sued media tycoon Frank Packer.
It sparked a six-and-a-half-year legal battle
with Mr Packer who eventually settled out of court.
Mr Uren spoke to Talking Heads about that
time in his life.
“What made me? I think, really, the great
strength of my mother.”
Former Labor minister, Tom Uren
"First of all, it put a lot of grey
hairs on my head and the costs were enormous back in those days too, and that
used to worry me and I'd get depressed," he said.
With the election of the Whitlam Government
in 1972, Mr Uren became minister for urban and regional development.
He created new national parks and set up the
Register of the National Estate, which recognised natural, Indigenous and
historic heritage places.
"My position on the National Estate was
that we should preserve things that were unique and beautiful and that we
should retain it for posterity - things that were created by humans or by
nature," Mr Uren said.
He was deputy leader of the Opposition from
1976 to 1977 but was replaced by Lionel Bowen when Bill Hayden was elected
leader.
Under the Hawke Government, Mr Uren was left
out of Cabinet and instead given the junior portfolio of Territories and Local
Government.
Activism continued after Parliament
Mr Uren retired from Parliament in 1990 and
continued his anti-war activities amid the Gulf War.
PHOTO: Mirra Whale's portrait of Tom Uren, a
finalist in the 2014 Archibald Prize. (AGNSW/Mirra Whale)
He visited the Iraqi capital Baghdad to
discuss the plight of Australians detained by Iraqi authorities and urged
compromise to solve the impasse between Iraq and the United Nations following
the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
In 2013, Mr Uren received the Companion of
the Order of Australia in the Australia Day Honours List, for his work helping
veterans and preserving sites of historic and environmental significance.
Mr Uren is survived by his two children,
Michael and Heather, and his second wife Christine.
His first wife, Patricia Palmer, died of
cancer in 1981.
Mr Uren considered the breakdown of that
relationship to be one of the biggest regrets of his life.
When Talking Heads asked Mr Uren what made
the man, he replied: "What made me? I think, really, the great strength of
my mother, the principles that she put in me and the compassion she gave
me".
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