He refused to be in a party faction, which reportedly cost him the chairmanship of the foreign affairs and trade committee in 1984.

Although a backbencher, he made significant policy contributions in the areas of reforming corporations law and the regulation of the insurance industry.

[3][4] In 1987, as knowledge of Jacobi's condition of lymphatic cancer became known, nearly all members of the House of Representatives signed a petition for his appointment of the Order of Australia; it was included in the Queen's Birthday Honours, 1987.

[5][3] After leaving politics, he was chair of the Advisory Council of the National Archives of Australia from 1988 to 1991.

This article about an Australian Labor Party member of the House of Representatives is a stub.