Now he feels vindicated.
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the volatile nature of global supply chains as Australia struggled to secure basic items such as masks, gloves, hand sanitizers and medical equipment, and then the country struggled to acquire and making vaccines.
In March 2021, Labor pledged a $ 15 billion National Reconstruction Fund to provide secured loans and capital to support projects.
Carr says Australia’s manufacturing sector cannot be revived simply by throwing money at it and says the work needs to be much more ambitious when it comes to articulating its values.
The party needs to be bolder, reformist and make a difference, he says, adding that “it has never been a fan of small-scale strategies.”
“We have to do a lot more than just offer loans and grants,” Carr says.
Then-Prime Minister John Brumby, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Kim Carr at Toyota’s Altona plant in 2008. Credit: Jessica Shapiro
“There are a number of system-wide reforms that are required from everything from construction, research training, to ensuring that we have robust supply chains for international markets … It’s not just about ‘access to finance, there is a whole integrated ecosystem’.
Former right-wing powerbroker Stephen Conroy, who worked closely with Carr in the 1990s and 2000s, said Carr was a champion of manufacturing and science “before it became fashionable.”
“He was relentless in his pursuit of the space industry; we now have an Australian Space Agency. But because he was such a tough fighter and because he created enemies along the way, it meant he wasn’t always able to get support around the cabinet table. ”
Loading
Just before the 2019 federal election, tough Labor leaders re-evaluated Kim Carr’s future. If Bill Shorten won, as expected, they knew it would be almost impossible to get rid of Carr because the pair were close. But Shorten lost and Anthony Albanese, Carr’s long-term rival, was elected Labor leader, sealing the fate of the then-63-year-old, whose six-year term ended in 2022.
“The conventional wisdom among the left caucus was that he had a good career and that his time was up,” says a Labor figure.
Senators Kim Carr and Kimberley Kitching discuss during the debate in March 2018. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Carr, who had negotiated several stability pacts with party power agents, found himself blocked from the latter. His enemies had been circling. And on March 27, Carr announced that he would retire. The Socialist Left supported Linda White as her replacement.
“It’s a difficult decision to retire, when he arrives, but the circumstances surrounding him [Labor Senator] Kimberley Kitching’s death made me think a lot about what was going on, ”Carr says.
Carr played a lot in politics. He helped Julia Gillard’s successful coup against Kevin Rudd in 2010 and then helped end his career. He supported Jane Garrett’s elevation to state parliament and then blocked her bid for a safe seat in the upper house.
“It has been typified in a way that has been negative; people didn’t want to see him as a politician as much as a politician, ”says Shaun Carney, a political commentator who has known Carr since the 1980s.
Loading
“But focusing only on that part of him is unfair because there were many more sophisticated aspects of his political personality and political mission.”
Carr is now working on an autobiography to be published next year. He doesn’t intend to put himself in the face with his enemies, he says, but he wants to make things clear.
The morning edition newsletter is our guide to the most important and interesting stories, analysis and knowledge of the day. Register here.