Career in Politics
Kerin worked at the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE) before being elected to the Commonwealth Parliament as the Labor member for Macarthur in the 1972 federal election. He lost his seat in the Labor defeat in the 1975 election and returned to the ABARE. He was re-elected as the ALP member for Werriwa in 1978 following the retirement of former prime minister Gough Whitlam as the member for Werriwa.
Kerin served as Minister for Primary Industries (1983–1987), Minister for Primary Industries and Energy (1987–1991), Minister for Transport and Communications (1991), and Treasurer (1991) in the Labor government of Bob Hawke and later Minister for Trade and Overseas Development (1992–1993) in the Labor Government of Paul Keating.
Kerin replaced Paul Keating as Australian Treasurer in June 1991 after Keating resigned following an unsuccessful challenge to Hawke as Labor leader and Prime Minister, although Bob Hawke himself was treasurer for a day after Paul Keating resigned. Kerin was highly regarded as Minister for Primary Industry but his period as Treasurer was a difficult one, not least because of the ongoing tension between Bob Hawke and Paul Keating. Kerin resigned as Treasurer shortly before Keating's second, successful, bid for leadership in December 1991. Keating later appointed Kerin as Minister for Trade and Overseas Development.
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