Early Life
Bacon was born 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 at Monash University, but he did not graduate. At Monash he was a Maoist student leader. Jim moved to Western Australia and after going back on the job as a labourer again became an official of the Builders Labourers Federation, which later 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 won the state election in 1998, defeating the Liberal Party government under Tony Rundle. His government was re-elected in 2002 in a landslide victory for his party.
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