James Leslie McMahon: As He Sees It

James Leslie McMahon, known as Les McMahon, was a politician but by trade a hardworking shirtsleeve plumber, gasfitter and drainer. He was elected to Sydney City Council in 1967, Leichhardt City Council in 1968 and then again in 1971. In 1975, he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Labor member for Sydney, a position he held until his retirement from politics in 1983. Later in 1983, Les became a Commissioner at the NSW Conciliation and Arbitration Commission until he retired in 1993. The elevation of McMahon to national office eventually led to this examination of his life. His story is told pretty much in his own words from his perspective because the Commonwealth Parliament Oral History Project interviewed McMahon in 1989 at the age of 59, just six years after his retirement. In this candid account McMahon reveals a life lived with honor, humility and forbearance. Just as importantly, however, McMahon’s words are a portrait of a political way of doing things for others that political commentators believe has been lost at least for a time to “professional” paid politicians – who are commonly referred to as the “new politicians”.