[4] Kennedy spent his early years in Tasmania, attending a Catholic primary school in Ulverstone.

[1] In parliament, Kennedy spoke frequently on education matters and was an advocate for a regional university to be established in Bendigo.

[7] He was critical of the McMahon government's Capital Aid Scheme, which gave government grants to private schools for capital works programs,[8] and in May 1972 released a list of private schools formerly attended by cabinet ministers which had received grants under the scheme.

[9] Kennedy accused the government of "squandering large sums of public money on building more refuges for the rich" and that it had produced a "two-class system of education apartheid".

[9][11] Kennedy was defeated by the Liberal candidate John Bourchier at the 1972 election, which saw the ALP return to government for the first time since 1949.

[13] Kennedy worked as press secretary to overseas trade minister Jim Cairns for a period after his defeat.

[15] A redistribution prior to the 1992 election gave Bendigo West a notional National Party majority,[16] and Kennedy was ultimately defeated by the Liberal candidate Max Turner.

He later helped established Bendigo community radio station Phoenix FM and celebrated his program's 30th anniversary in 2016.