Jim Cairns - Aftermath

Aftermath

Cairns's Labor colleagues found his conduct in the Loans and Morosi affairs intolerable, and his political reputation was destroyed. In 1977 he retired from Parliament. He devoted the next portion of his life to the Counterculture movement, to which he had been introduced by Morosi. He sponsored a series of Down to Earth conference-festivals (known as Confests) at various rural locations, and was photographed taking part in Counterculture inspired activities, such as meditation. Even in the Counterculture movement however, Cairns and Morosi remained the centre of controversy, with disputes soon arising over the organisation and finances of the Down to Earth gatherings.

In 1979 Cairns severed his formal links with the Down to Earth organisers. But he remained legally and financially embroiled with a failed communal settlement at Mount Oak, south of Canberra, until after a messy court case, he cut his losses and ended his involvement with what was left of the movement in 1991. Cairns kept in contact with Morosi and the two remained friends.

Cairns was subject to a great deal of media ridicule for these activities, but displayed his usual firm conviction about the rightness of his causes. In his later years he lived at Narre Warren East near Melbourne. He sold his books outside suburban markets, where he would talk about politics, history or his life. In 2000 he was made a Life Member of the Labor Party. Cairns died of bronchial pneumonia, aged 89, in October 2003. He was accorded a State Funeral at St John's Anglican Church in Toorak.