Australian politician
Lewis "Bata" Kent
(born
Lajco Kapolnai
; 8 September 1927 ? 22 June 2014) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the
Australian Labor Party
(ALP) and represented the
Division of Hotham
in federal parliament from 1980 to 1990. He was born in Yugoslavia and came to Australia via Israel after the Second World War.
Early life
[
edit
]
Kent was born on 8 September 1927 in
Subotica
,
Yugoslavia
, in present-day
Serbia
.
[1]
His birth name was
Lajco Kapolnai
, which he later anglicised.
[2]
Of Jewish origin, he grew up in the town of
Sombor
, where all but five of his high school classmates were killed when the
Axis powers
invaded in 1941. He recalled seeing "Hungarian troops blow a retired teacher's brains out with a grenade as the teacher answered a call at his front door".
[3]
He later narrowly escaped being captured by the
SS
, and due to curfews and bombings was unable to continue assisting an elderly relative, who starved to death.
[4]
Kent and his cousin escaped to Hungary towards the end of the war, where they received false identity papers that listed them as Hungarian nationals. They were treated as such by the Soviet Army, which made them participate in an 11-day forced march to a prison camp. His cousin died of typhoid in the camp, but he was able to escape after a few months and made his way to
Belgrade
. He had difficulties in post-war Yugoslavia and eventually left for Israel, where he joined the
Israeli Communist Party
and stood unsuccessfully for public office.
[4]
Move to Australia
[
edit
]
After moving to Australia, Kent worked on the railways for 26 years and attained the rank of
stationmaster
.
[4]
He joined the
Australian Labor Party (Victorian Branch)
and in the late 1960s served as president of the party's New Australian Committee. He expressed concerns that the party's platform was still sympathetic to the
White Australia policy
and called for non-discriminatory immigration to be made an explicit policy plank.
[5]
[6]
Kent also served as chairman of the Yugoslav Welfare Society. In December 1977, he attributed the bombing of the
Jat Airways
offices in Melbourne to Croatian separatists in the
Usta?e
. He warned of possible inter-ethnic violence if the police did not intervene, stating "ninety percent of Croats are good citizens but a small percentage are terrorist types".
[7]
Parliament
[
edit
]
Kent was elected to parliament at the
1980 federal election
, defeating the incumbent
Liberal
member
Roger Johnston
in the
Division of Hotham
.
[8]
He was re-elected at the
1983
,
1984
and
1987 elections
. He served on several parliamentary committees and joined a number of parliamentary delegations to other countries.
[1]
Kent was a member of the
Labor Left
faction and came into conflict with the
Hawke government
on a number of occasions. In 1986, he walked out of
Paul Keating
's budget speech, along with
Peter Milton
and
John Scott
, when it was announced that the government would resume uranium sales to France.
[9]
During the debate over the introduction of the
Australia Card
, Kent said that it was
un-Australian
and that it would be more appropriate to call it a Hitlercard or Stalincard.
[10]
In November 1989,
Liberal
MPs
Ken Aldred
and
Jim Short
alleged that Kent was "an agent of a foreign power" and had ties to the
UDBA
, the Yugoslav secret police. Their allegations were based on a statutory declaration from a member of Melbourne's Yugoslav community. Kent vigorously denied their claims, describing them as a smear campaign. He was suspended from parliament for 24 hours for using
unparliamentary language
.
[11]
The House of Representatives later voted on party lines to suspend Aldred for two days, following a report from the privileges committee.
[12]
Kent's political career ended at the
1990 federal election
, when he attempted to transfer to the newly created
Division of Corinella
. He was defeated by the Liberal candidate
Russell Broadbent
.
[13]
Later life
[
edit
]
Kent died in June 2014.
[14]
He had two children with his wife Vera, who died a few years earlier.
[4]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Biography for KENT, Lewis"
. Parliament of Australia
. Retrieved
15 June
2020
.
- ^
Wright, Tony (13 March 2010).
"Harry's Truman Show on the air"
.
Sydney Morning Herald
. Retrieved
9 June
2016
.
- ^
"MP gives names of 'war criminals'
"
.
The Sydney Morning Herald
. 27 November 1987.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Griffin, Alan (17 July 2014).
"Kent, Mr Lewis and Mrs Vera"
.
Hansard
. Parliament of Australia
. Retrieved
15 June
2020
.
- ^
"Immigration policy based 'on race'
"
.
The Canberra Times
. 11 November 1968.
- ^
"Policy change wanted in ALP"
.
The Canberra Times
. 12 May 1969.
- ^
"Yugoslavs' spokesman warns of violence"
.
The Canberra Times
. 5 December 1977.
- ^
Lyle Allan (1985), 'Ethnic Politics in the ALP,' in P.R.Hay, J. Halligan, J.Warhurst and B.Costar (eds.),
Essays on Victorian Politics
, Warrnambool Institute Press, Warrnambool, Victoria, page 141.
ISBN
0-949759-06-6
- ^
"Ryan, Kelly condemned on uranium"
.
The Canberra Times
. 10 September 1986.
- ^
"Role reversal in Australia Card debate"
.
The Canberra Times
. 13 December 1986.
- ^
"Labor MP 'agent of foreign power'
"
.
The Canberra Times
. 24 November 1989.
- ^
"Aldred banned for two days"
.
The Canberra Times
. 22 December 1989.
- ^
Carr, Adam (2008).
"Australian Election Archive"
.
Psephos, Adam Carr's Election Archive
. Archived from
the original
on 17 July 2007
. Retrieved
15 June
2008
.
- ^
"Lewis Kent Obituary"
The Age. Retrieved 30 July 2014.