Profile

Deborah Kirkman talks with Kevin McCreanor, a retiring Press Council public member.

There is a line in Auntie Mame, which goes "Life is a banquet, and most poor sons-of-bitches are starving to death!" Kevin McCreanor is enjoying the feast.

Kevin was born in Perth, his recollections about which "are not strong as I left there at the age of 10 months", to live and grow up in Adelaide. The young Kevin was obviously clever, finishing secondary school at 15 and starting university the following year. He had no idea of what career to pursue. Educated by the Christian Brothers who had an attitude "that unless you did law or medicine, joined the forces, the diplomatic corps, or became a priest, no other occupation was really suitable", he did medicine because he got into the quota.

During his first year, Kevin was taking out a young lady whose father was Frank Moran QC a leading criminal barrister in Adelaide (he argued the R. v Ireland case). While his daughter was getting ready one evening, the father and the young man got talking. "Frank told me that he thought I would make a very good lawyer. And on the basis of that I applied for law." As simple as that.

A brief, and very boring, time was spent in practice upon graduation. Kevin wanted more, he "wanted to save the world, wanted some adventure." He had read about New Guinea, and it intrigued him. So off to New Guinea he went. All of 20 years of age, he hopped on a plane, landed at Port Moresby and then began to look for lodgings and, hopefully, a job.

Dressed in a suit, he presented himself to Peter Lalor, the Public Solicitor. Kevin describes Peter as "a tall, distinguished looking man, grey hair, moustache. I remember him sitting there at his desk piled high with papers. And he had a pair of sandshoes on, with no laces in them, he had paint-stained trousers, an open-neck shirt. And he gave me a job." It was the beginning of a huge learning curve. In his six years with the Public Solicitor's Office he handled some most interesting cases, including acting on behalf of the Arrawa people in their negotiations with Bougainville Mining, and as part of the defence team acting for the 23 people charged with the murder of the District Commissioner for New Britain, in Rabaul, who had been murdered over land rights discussions.

The trial held racist undercurrents. "We had the experience when we first went to Rabaul, that white people would spit on us as we were acting for the black people. We would walk into a restaurant and they would refuse to serve us. Yet, surprisingly, at the end of the six months period by which time we had, through the court, put forward our individual client's point of view, the people's point of view, we were welcome to the homes of white people. Indeed, one of the lawyers who appeared - Ted Lusher QC - made the claim on one occasion shortly before we had finished the case, 'We would probably win now in front of a white jury'. Such had been the change of attitude."

Such an experience instilled in Kevin "a great respect for truth, a great respect for listening to what other people had to say, and a great respect for knowing there is always another side to everything. That's something that has been with me ever since that time."

After New Guinea, Kevin moved to Brisbane as he wanted to practise solely as a barrister. He knew one person: "Des Sturgess, who was a highly regarded criminal barrister whom I had met in New Guinea. He assisted me, introduced me to a variety of people. He told me that I should have to do a twelve-month course at the Grosvenor School of Law, referring to the Grosvenor Hotel which was directly opposite the court. It was the meeting place for many lawyers, particularly criminal lawyers. I was introduced to a variety of solicitors, and some of them would give me a brief. That's how it started."

Kevin often went up to Cairns on circuit. Encouraged by a number of solicitors up there, who he had met in New Guinea, he set up in the Bar in Cairns. He likes the tropics very much. "I see the tropics as a disease, you get it or you don't. I have it. So, I went to Cairns and have been there ever since."

Asked why he has never taken silk, Kevin explained that it was "on the basis that it really is a commercial decision, and you lock yourself into doing particular kinds of work. I've never really wanted to do that. I like to do crime. I still have this view that individuals - and people who get involved in the criminal system generally speaking are poor, they are often not very articulate, they often come from dysfunctional families, people who are not well able to look after their own interests - in a fair society those people should have somebody to tell their side of things. I get a degree of satisfaction out of knowing that these people do have a level of representation."

Kevin dismisses the suggestion that his decision had something to do with his education by the Christian Brothers, explaining that he "grew up in an atmosphere where reliance upon the State has never been strong. The trust of the State has never been high. The dislike of authority has always been high. Whether that is part of an Irish heritage, I don't really know. I have always preferred the individual as opposed to the organisation or the State. I think the individual is far more interesting and far more worthy of looking after than any institution."

It was through looking after the individual that Kevin became aware of the Press Council. Asked by some Aboriginal groups to provide a potential plan for young Aboriginal kids who had been educated, but had no job prospects, Kevin suggested that some of them could be trained to work in their communities as articled clerks. Needing help with the preparation of a document that was required for funding purposes, he enlisted the aid of an acquaintance - Elizabeth Johnstone. "It was she who told me about the Press Council. Elizabeth was a public member at the time."

"Some months down the track I got a call from Elizabeth who said that the Press Council was calling for expressions of interest from people in Far North Queensland and suggested I apply. I made the short-list, came to Sydney and was interviewed by David Flint and Dorothy Ross and they decided that they would invite me to become an alternate public member."

Remembering the first couple of meetings, Kevin "was in awe of John Morgan and Peter Cole-Adams. They really ran things. There was also Adrian Deamer whose sarcastic barbs came in from time to time. I knew nothing at all about the press. I sat, and I listened, for the first few occasions. I was impressed from the outset. I had never been part of a body that was so democratic, yet at the same time made up of people who were so fiercely independent and opinionated. The arguments were always strong and robust yet there was respect.

"I was also very impressed from the early part in that I anticipated that the industry members would all vote one way, the public members another. That has never been the case. In many respects the Press Council is living proof of the benefits of listening. Its judgments are ultimately fair, and honestly given. It is not perfect, but a whole lot better than a long drawn-out legal process."

Kevin views the Policy Development Committee, the other arm of the Press Council, as its "engine-room". The committee is kept busy, generating "a huge amount of work. We defend freedom of expression, freedom of the press. We can go out as an honest broker and put forth propositions which would be advantageous for the press. For example, FoI needs to be attacked and explained to the public that it is a means whereby governments really are not letting people know what they are doing. The Press Council has a great deal of authority because it is a body that is seen to be quite independent in the sense that it has a large public input and, as a consequence, more credibility and more likely to be listened to."

Now that Kevin is retiring from the Press Council he will have more time for painting, to which he has taken "like a duck to water. I enjoy the creative process." Kevin prefers to paint people, with oils as "they are the flesh and blood of what we all are. We react with them every day. Getting along with them is important. Everyone has inside of them a lot of goodness. People have so much to give to one another, in terms of ideas, encouragement, making life a whole lot better. The nuances and subtleties of people are never ending. No-one can ever truly understand another human being. The voyage of discovery of yourself, and of others, is a continual voyage and, if you have the right attitude, a very happy one."

DEBORAH KIRKMAN

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