Kerry Sibraa's career has embraced the highest levels of Australian political life and the cutting edge of business development. He was an ALP Senator for NSW for 19 years and President of the Senate for seven years before retiring from Parliament in 1994 to become Australia's High Commissioner to Zimbabwe and, simultaneously, Ambassador six southern African nations.
He is a former director of Zimbabwe Platinum Mines and World IT (1998-2001) and is currently international liaison for the Australia Africa Business Council, providing him with a continuing relationships with southern Africa. He is also a Board member of the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles rugby league club.
Kerry's career began as an officer of Manly Council from which he secured an appointment with the head office of the Australian Labor Party in NSW, where he was Assistant State Secretary. He was elected to the Senate in 1975 beginning a career that culminated in his serving as President of the Senate for seven years. He was also President of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and Chairman of the Joint Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee.
He represented the Prime Minister on the Australian Political Exchange Council and led Parliamentary delegations to Western and Eastern Europe, the United States, United Kingdom as well as Southern Africa, Asia, the Pacific and the Caribbean. In 1997, the University of Southern Queensland awarded him an honorary doctorate for his services to international relations and to the Australian Parliament. In 1996, he was awarded an Order of Australia.
Kerry's association with Jackson Wells Morris goes back 20 years when he and Keith Jackson served together on various Labor Party committees. In April 2000, he and then Prime Minister John Howard jointly relaunched the company at a ceremony at the old Parliament House in Canberra. Apart from serving as an independent external member of the JWM Board, Mr Sibraa provides JWM clients with government relations and business development counsel.