Hon Dr Barry Jones AO

CERA Board Member Hon Dr Barry Jones AO has been a public servant, high school teacher, television and radio performer, university lecturer and lawyer. He took a leading role in campaigns to abolish the death penalty and revive the Australian film industry and achieved some reputation as a quiz champion.

Member of Parliament for Melbourne in the Victorian Legislative Assembly 1972-77, he transferred to the Commonwealth Parliament as Member for Lalor 1977-1998 and was Minister for Science 1983-90, Prices and Consumer Affairs 1987, Small Business 1987-90 and Customs 1988-90. He served on the Executive Board of UNESCO in Paris 1991-95 and was Vice President of the World Heritage Authority 1995-96. He became National President of the Australian Labour Party 1992-2000, Deputy Chairman of the Constitutional Convention 1998 and a Visiting Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge.

His books include Dictionary of World Biography (1998) and he edited The Penalty is Death (1968). Sleepers, Wake!: Technology and the Future of Work was published by Oxford University Press in 1982, was a best seller, translated into Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Swedish and Braille.

He was awarded an AO in 1993 for service to the promotion of science, the arts and film, writing and Australian Politics.

He chaired the Victorian Schools Innovation Commission, chairs the Port Arthur Authority and sits on six medical research boards. He is currently the Vice-Chancellor's Fellow at the University of Melbourne and Chairman of Vision 2020 Australia.