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Aden Ridgeway
Aden Derek Ridgeway (born 18 September 1962) is an Australian former politician.''The Age'' (2006)Present politics Retrieved 6 July 2006. He was a member of the Australian Senate for New South Wales from 1999 to 2005, representing the Australian Democrats. During his term he was the only Aboriginal member of the Australian Parliament. He is currently a spokesperson for Recognise, the movement to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait peoples in the Australian Constitution. Personal life Ridgeway was born on the Bellwood Aboriginal Reserve near Nambucca Heads (close to Macksville, New South Wales), as one of the Gumbaynggirr people. He was educated at Bellwood and St John's College, Woodlawn in Lismore. Early career After leaving school in Year 11, he worked as a boilermaker. He then became involved in the public service, engaging in a number of careers, including being a park ranger, and working in several New South Wales government departments. In 1990, Ridgeway was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australian Democrats
The Australian Democrats is a centrist political party in Australia. Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party dissenting splinter groups, it was Australia's largest minor party from its formation in 1977 through to 2004 and frequently held the balance of power in the Senate during that time. The Democrats' inaugural leader was Don Chipp, a former Liberal cabinet minister, who famously promised to "keep the bastards honest". At the 1977 federal election, the Democrats polled 11.1 percent of the Senate vote and secured two seats. The party would retain a presence in the Senate for the next 30 years, at its peak (between 1999 and 2002) holding nine out of 76 seats, though never securing a seat in the lower house. Due to the party's numbers in the Senate, both Liberal and Labor governments required the assistance of the Democrats to pass contentious legislation. Ideologically, the Democrats w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parliament Of Australia
The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislature, legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the Governor-General of Australia, governor-general), the Australian Senate, Senate and the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives.Constitution of Australia, Section 1 of the Constitution of Australia, section 1. The combination of two elected chambers, in which the members of the Senate represent the States and territories of Australia, states and territories while the members of the House represent electoral divisions according to population, is modelled on the United States Congress. Through both chambers, however, there is a Fusion of powers, fused executive, drawn from the Westminster system.. The upper house, the Senate, consists of 76 members: twelve for each state, and two each for the territories, Northern Terr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2004 Australian Federal Election
The 2004 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 9 October 2004. All 150 seats in the House of Representatives and 40 seats in the 76-member Senate were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Prime Minister of Australia John Howard and coalition partner the National Party of Australia led by John Anderson defeated the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Mark Latham. Until 2019, this was the most recent federal election in which the leader of the winning party would complete a full term of Parliament as Prime Minister. Future Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull entered Parliament in this election. Pre-election issues In the wake of the 2002 Bali Bombings and the 2001 World Trade Center attacks, the Howard government along with the Blair and Bush governments, initiated combat operations in Afghanistan and an alliance for invading Iraq, these issues divided Labor voters who were disproportionately anti-war, flipping those votes from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrew Bartlett
Andrew John Julian Bartlett (born 4 August 1964) is an Australian politician, social worker, academic, and social campaigner who served as a Senator for Queensland from 1997 to 2008 and from 2017 to 2018. He represented the Australian Democrats in his first stint in the Senate, including as party leader from 2002 to 2004 and deputy leader from 2004 to 2008. In November 2017, he returned to the Senate as a member of the Australian Greens, replacing Larissa Waters after her disqualification during the parliamentary eligibility crisis. He resigned from the Senate in August 2018 in an unsuccessful attempt to win the House of Representatives seat of Brisbane, allowing Waters to fill his seat in advance of the 2019 election. Early life and background Bartlett was born in Brisbane, where he has lived all his life. He is of Irish, Swiss, English and Greek origins – his great-great-grandfather, who is claimed to be the first Greek settler in Australia, arrived in Adelaide in 1840. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrew Murray (Australian Politician)
Andrew James Marshall Murray (born 29 January 1947) is an Australian politician. He was an Australian Democrats member of the Australian Senate from 1996 to 2008, representing Western Australia. In 2013, Murray was appointed a Royal Commissioner on the Australian Government Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Background and early years Murray was born in Hove, in the United Kingdom. In 1951 he was sent as a child migrant to the British colony of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where he was educated before graduating from Rhodes University in South Africa with degrees in English and History. He continued his education at University of Oxford ( Rhodes Scholar 1971), where he graduated with a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. Returning to Africa, Murray worked as an executive in large corporations, then ran his own businesses. He also worked as a consultant, lecturer and industry journalist and served in the Rhodesian Air Force. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Cherry (Australian Politician)
John Clifford Cherry (born 22 May 1965) was an Australian Democrats senator from 2001 to 2005, representing the state of Queensland and the Queensland Democrats. In March 2005 he became CEO of the Queensland Farmers Federation. Cherry was born in Kilcoy, Queensland. He studied law and economics at the University of Queensland, culminating in a master's degree in public administration. While at university, he joined the Australian Labor Party. He spent two years as a journalist with the ''Townsville Bulletin'', then worked as an industrial officer with the State Public Services Federation until 1993, when he was appointed economics adviser first to Senator Cheryl Kernot, the then Senate leader of the Australian Democrats, and to her successor Meg Lees. As an adviser to the latter, Cherry was a principal player in negotiations for the 1999 introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), a measure which was a triumph for the Coalition government led by John Howard but which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meg Lees
Meg Heather Lees (née Francis, born 19 October 1948) is a former member of the Australian Senate from 1990 to 2005, representing the state of South Australia. She represented the Australian Democrats from 1990 to 2002, and was her party's leader from 1997 – 2001. After being deposed by Natasha Stott Despoja, she quit the party to sit as an independent senator in 2002, adopting the party designation Australian Progressive Alliance from 2003 until her electoral defeat in 2005. As party leader, she controversially facilitated passage of the Howard Government's Goods and Services Tax (GST). Family life Lees was born in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. She became a teacher at Ingleburn High School and married Keith Lees, a fellow teacher, in about 1971. In 1974 they moved to Mount Gambier, where their two daughters were born. After both Keith and Meg became involved in the Australian Democrats, they moved to Adelaide, but the pressures of political activity led to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1998 Australian Federal Election
The 1998 Australian federal election was held to determine the members of the 39th Parliament of Australia. It was held on 3 October 1998. All 148 seats of the House of Representatives and 40 seats of the 76-seat Senate were up for election. The incumbent centre-right Liberal/National Coalition government led by Prime Minister John Howard of the Liberal Party and coalition partner Tim Fischer of the National Party defeated the centre-left Australian Labor Party opposition led by Opposition Leader Kim Beazley, despite losing the nationwide popular and two-party preferred vote. Entering parliament at this election were future Prime Ministers Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, future Liberal deputy leader and future Minister of Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop, and future Speaker Anna Burke. Background The election returned the Member of the House of Representatives for its 1998–2001 term and half of Australia's senators, who then served in the 1999–2002 Senate. Despite winning a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council
The NSW Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC) is the peak representative body of Aboriginal Australians in New South Wales. It has the mandate, under the ''Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983'' (NSW), to develop land rights among Aboriginal people in New South Wales through its network of 120 Local Aboriginal Land Councils (LALCs). Its functions include the creation of an economic base for Aboriginal communities, as well as the continued passing and enhancement of Aboriginal culture, identity and heritage through the management of traditional sites and other cultural materials within NSW. It acts as an advisor to governments and others to ensure the preservation of Aboriginal land rights. History A non-statutory NSW Aboriginal Land Council was created in 1977, to assist in the protests by Aboriginal people for their land rights. It was the result of a conference held in October 1977 at the Black Theatre in Redfern to discuss land rights. It called for abolition of the Aboriginal Lands T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ATSIC
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) (1990–2005) was the Australian Government body through which Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders were formally involved in the processes of government affecting their lives, established under the Hawke government in 1990. A number of Indigenous programs and organisations fell under the overall umbrella of ATSIC. The agency was dismantled in 2004 in the aftermath of corruption allegations and litigation involving its chairperson, Geoff Clark. History ATSIC was established by the Hawke government through the ''Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Act 1989'' (the ATSIC Act), which took effect on 5 March 1990. It superseded the Aboriginal Development Commission (ADC), a statutory authority created by the Fraser government in July 1980. In 1990 Minister for Aboriginal Affairs minister Gerry Hand proposed merging the functions of the ADC into the newly-created ATSIC, by establishing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
