Tributes

The Honourable Tom Burns AO 1931 - 2007 Honorary President of JKA Australia

Tom Burns AO 1931 - 2007

“It is with deep sadness that I pass on the news that the honorary President of JKA Australia, Mr Tom Burns, passed away unexpectedly yesterday in Brisbane of a suspected heart attack. For over 25 years Tom has been a strong supporter of our Association, attending many Nationals and of course our World Cup in Sydney last year. Takahashi Shihan had become a close friend of Tom, and his wife Angela, over this period of time, and was both shocked and saddened to hear this news.” Announcement from JKAA Chairman John Russo - Monday June 4th 2007

Tom Burns was a great friend of JKA Australia. Despite his “Honorary” title, he was very much connected to the association and he took a genuine interest in the art of Karate and the people in our group. As a prominent politician and active participant in many political and cultural groups, Tom was an extremely busy person, yet he found time for JKA and loved to chat with members at the various events he attended.

Mr Burns was an eminent figure in Australian political circles with outstanding achievements over thirty years of political life. He served for more than twenty years as a parliamentarian in the Queensland State Parliament holding many Ministries, notably the position of State Deputy Premier for over six years.

Tom made a very significant contribution to international relations in the Asia Pacific region. In July 1999, the Queensland Government appointed him Chair of the Queensland-China Council. In January 2001, as part of Australian's national day celebrations, Australia Government awarded Mr Burns one of Australia's most prestigious medals, the AO, officer of the Order of Australia for his contribution to Australia China relations over the past thirty years. In the same year, he received the Gold Magnolia Honorary Award from the Shanghai Government for his contributions to Chinese-Australian relations. He was the first Australian not of Chinese heritage to win this honoured award. In 2003 the Queensland University of Technology awarded Mr Burns an Honorary Doctorate for his work in China.

Tom Burns with the Chinese President

Early in the 1970s, Mr Burns accompanied Gough Whitlam's Australian delegation on a first visit to China. This visit was extremely important in the history of Australian Chinese relations. In the following year, the Whitlam government officially recognised the People's Republic of China. Australia and China then began to build a formal friendly diplomatic relationship. The positive driving role played by Mr Burns was in building the Australian Chinese diplomatic relationship was an outstanding contribution.

Mr Burns became one of the very few Australian political figures to have met four generations of Chinese leaders. In addition to having met late Premiers Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping, he also met Premier Zhu Rongji on many occasions and in September 1999 he accompanied President Jiang Zemin on a tour of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. On his birthday in October 2003, Tom met President Hu Jintao in Cairns, North Queensland, another milestone in Mr Burns' long association with China.

Tom Burns presided over the formative years of JKA Australia, he was a wonderful man and will be fondly remembered and missed by all. JKA Victoria has passed its condolences to the Burns family. A State funeral will be held on Tuesday 12th June at St Johns Cathedral in Brisbane.

The following story appeared in the Gold Coast Bulletin on 5th June 2007

Hero of battlers, Burns dies aged 75

TOM Burns, the man who pulled the Queensland Labor Party back from the brink and successfully battled to bring down the Bjelke-Petersen Government, has died while fishing on his beloved Moreton Bay. The former deputy premier of Queensland from 1989 to 1996 suffered a heart attack in the early hours of yesterday morning while on a houseboat. He had loved boats and fishing, joking while an MP that he could often be found in 'The Electorate' the name of his boat.

Mr Burns' wife Angela has accepted the offer of a state funeral from Premier Peter Beattie. Mr Burns, 75, who was Queensland's Trade Commissioner for China, retired from Parliament in 1996 after the fall of the Goss Government but had continued to play an active role in the community. As opposition leader he had nursed his party back from just 11 to 23 seats during the 1970s and went on to help win government for Labor in 1989 after 32 years of conservative rule.

Mr Burns's death prompted a flow of tributes from both sides of politics yesterday, with Labor identities in mourning and an emotional Nationals MP Vaughan Johnson describing him as his friend. Mr Beattie said Mr Burns's death had been a shock to everybody. "It really is a sad day," he said.

"Tommy was one of those really decent Labor people and he will be sadly missed by the whole movement because he was much loved and respected.”Tommy Burns was certainly larger than life and he was irrepressible. "But he was someone with a heart too, he was one who looked after the battlers, he worried about their housing, he worried about their pay and conditions, he was a true Labor man.”He led the Labor Party in the dark days. "He brought us back from 11 seats in the State Parliament to 23 which really was the building blocks for us to win."

Labor state secretary Milton Dick said the party had lost a workers' hero who had also helped forge a new relationship between China and Australia. "He was the workers' hero who touched the lives of thousands of Queenslanders," he said. "He led the party in some of its most difficult and turbulent times.”As a former state secretary he had to deal with a number of controversies within the party and as a former national president he played a key role with Gough Whitlam in building up international relations, which was another of his lifetime achievements."

Nationals MP Vaughan Johnson said Mr Burns was respected by all sides of politics. "Tom Burns epitomised everything a politician should epitomise," he said. "He stood for the people of Queensland, he loved his party and he was loyal to his family. “Tom Burns was an outstanding citizen, an outstanding Queenslander and a man who I think we could all learn a lot from. "He was a champion for the battler, he was a champion for the underdog and he was a champion for Queensland and Queensland will be a poorer place for his passing.”And I called Tom Burns a friend."

Federal Labor leader Kevin Rudd said he knew Mr Burns for 20 years and was saddened by his passing. "Tom Burns was a great bloke, he was one of the great Queenslanders and a great son of the Australian labour movement," he said. Former Prime Minister Mr Whitlam said: "In February, 1966, when he was secretary of the Queensland branch of the ALP and I was the deputy leader of the federal parliamentary Labor party, Tom deterred the federal executive of the ALP from expelling me."

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