John Thomas Kane (23 July 1908 – 27 October 1988) was an Australian politician. Born in

Burraga Burraga is located in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, 47 kilometres south west of Oberon and about south of Bathurst. It is within Oberon Shire. At the , Burraga had a population of 91, declining to 82 in 2021. History Aborigina ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, he was educated at

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schools in Lithgow, after which he became a coalminer. He was vice-president of the Transport Workers' Union 1952–1956 and Assistant General Secretary of the New South Wales Labor Party 1952–1955. In 1955, he was expelled from the Labor Party together with many other members, joining with them to form the

Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist) 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 Qu ...

, which became the Democratic Labor Party (DLP). He was the NSW DLP General Secretary 1956–1971 and the Federal Secretary 1957–1971. In 1970, he was elected to the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives. The powers, role and composition of the Senate are set out in Chap ...

as a DLP Senator for New South Wales. Kane's election to the Senate resulted from a decision of the New South Wales Branch of the ALP to allocate preferences in favour of the DLP ticket rather than to the lead candidate of the

Australia Party The Australia Party was a minor centrist political party in Australia from 1969 to 1986. It was most influential in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The party was established in 1969 under the leadership of Senator Reg Turnbull, as a merger o ...

, television presenter Diana Ward.Lyle Allan (2011), "Historical parallels: ALP preferences and the resurgent DLP," in ''Recorder'' (Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, Melbourne Branch) No. 270, July, pp. 6–7. He was defeated (along with all the other DLP Senators) in the double dissolution election of 1974 and the DLP did not hold a Senate seat again until 2011. He died in 1988. The Jack Kane memorial dinner was set up in 2011 by the NSW branch of the DLP. His son John Kane remains active in the party.

References

1908 births 1988 deaths Democratic Labour Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate for New South Wales 20th-century Australian politicians Australian anti-communists {{Australia-politician-stub