Charles Keith Jones AO (12 September 19177 August 2003) was an Australian politician and government minister. He was Minister for Transport (19 December 197212 June 1974) and Minister for Civil Aviation (19 December 197230 November 1973) in the Second Whitlam ministry and Minister for Transport (12 June 197411 November 1975) in the Third Whitlam ministry.

Biography

Commonly known as "Charlie", Jones was born in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

and was educated at

Cooks Hill Cooks Hill is an inner city suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It is typified by its tree lined streets, rows of Victorian terrace housing, turn of the century timber cottages and corner pubs. Cooks Hill ...

High School to the equivalent of 7th grade. He then completed an apprenticeship in

boilermaking A boilermaker is a tradesperson who fabricates steel, iron, or copper into boilers and other large containers intended to hold hot gas or liquid, as well as maintains and repairs boilers and boiler systems.Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Dep ...

at the

BHP BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

steelworks and Newcastle Technical College. In 1939 he married Doreen Wright. Jones first became politically active as a member of the Boilermakers Union and, subsequently, the various metal trade unions. In the early 1940s he became a union official and a delegate to the Newcastle Trades Hall Council. In 1946, Jones was elected to the

Newcastle City Council Newcastle City Council is the local government authority for the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne. The council consists of 78 councillors, three for each of the 26 wards in the city. It is currently controlled by the Labou ...

. Ten years later, at the age of 39, he became the youngest-ever Lord Mayor of Newcastle, a position he held until he was elected to the

Division of Newcastle The Division of Newcastle is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. Geography Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committe ...

at the 1958 election. He held the seat until he retired in 1983. In the Federal Australian Labor Party, Jones was associated with the Left faction, and was a close associate of

Jim Cairns James Ford Cairns (4 October 191412 October 2003) was an Australian politician who was prominent in the Labor movement through the 1960s and 1970s, and was briefly Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister in the Whitlam government. He is best re ...

and

Tom Uren Thomas Uren (28 May 1921 – 26 January 2015) was an Australian politician and Deputy Leader of the Australian Labor Party from 1975 to 1977. Uren served as the Member for Reid in the Australian House of Representatives from 1958 to 1990, bei ...

. He became the shadow minister for Transport and Civil Aviation following Labor's crushing defeat at the 1966 election. Jones was commissioned as a minister with the election of the Whitlam government in 1972 and served as the

Minister for Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government ag ...

until that government was dismissed on 11 November 1975. Despite Newcastle's status as a Labor bastion (it has been in Labor hands since Federation), Jones is the only person in the seat's history to have been promoted to cabinet. During this period, Jones attempted to improve the co-ordination of Australia's transport systems. Under the Australian constitution, intrastate transport is a responsibility of the various state governments. Consequently, Australian transport had a significant degree of systemic inefficiency. Jones proposed a model urban train carriage that could be used in the train systems of the major capitals and also attempted to inaugurate an

Inter-State Commission The Inter-State Commission, or Interstate Commission, is a defunct constitutional body under Australian law. The envisaged chief functions of the Inter-State Commission were to administer and adjudicate matters relating to interstate trade. The ...

as proposed by Section 101 of the

Australian Constitution The Constitution of Australia (or Australian Constitution) is a constitutional document that is supreme law in Australia. It establishes Australia as a federation under a constitutional monarchy and outlines the structure and powers of the ...

. In addition, Jones was involved in providing air services to

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

when that nation became independent in 1975. After he had left the federal parliament, he was appointed an Officer of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

for service to politics and government in the

1984 Australia Day Honours The 1984 Australia Day Honours were announced on 26 January 1984 by the Governor General of Australia, Sir Ninian Stephen. The Australia Day Honours are the first of the two major annual honours lists, announced on Australia Day Australia ...

list. In 2001 he was presented with a

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or go ...

for service to the Australian community. {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Charles 1917 births 2003 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Australian boilermakers Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Newcastle Members of the Cabinet of Australia Officers of the Order of Australia 1975 Australian constitutional crisis 20th-century Australian politicians Mayors and Lord Mayors of Newcastle