Barry Cohen AM (3 April 1935 – 18 December 2017) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

(ALP) and served in

federal parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the governor-gen ...

from 1969 to 1990, representing the

Division of Robertson The Division of Robertson is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. Geography Federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined since 1984, at redistributions by a redistribution committee appo ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. He held ministerial office in the Hawke government from 1983 to 1987.

Biography

Cohen was born in

Griffith, New South Wales Griffith is a major regional city in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area that is located in the north-western part of the Riverina region of New South Wales, known commonly as the food bowl of Australia. It is also the seat of the City of Griffith ...

and educated at Griffith High School,

Sydney Grammar School (Praise be to God) , established = , type = Independent, day school , gender = Boys , religious_affiliation = None , slogan = , headmaster = R. B. Malpass , founder = Laurence Hynes Halloran , chairman = ...

and North Sydney Technical High School. He received a Bachelor of Arts from the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

. He was a businessman before entering politics. He was the federal member for the seat of

Robertson Robertson may refer to: People * Robertson (surname) (includes a list of people with this name) * Robertson (given name) * Clan Robertson, a Scottish clan * Robertson, stage name of Belgian magician Étienne-Gaspard Robert (1763–1837) Places ...

from 1969 until his retirement before the 1990 election. Following the

's win under

Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and union organiser who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (A ...

at the 1983 election, he was Minister for

Home Affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

and

the Environment The natural environment or natural world encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally, meaning in this case not artificial. The term is most often applied to the Earth or some parts of Earth. This environment encompasses t ...

from 1983 to 1984 and then Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Environment until 1987. At the

1999 New South Wales state election Elections to the 52nd Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday, 27 March 1999. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election. The Labor Party, led by premier Bob Carr won a ...

he was a candidate for

Gosford Gosford is the city and administrative centre of the Central Coast Council local government area in the heart of the Central Coast region, about north of Sydney and about south of Newcastle. The city centre is situated at the northern extre ...

, losing to the incumbent Liberal member,

Chris Hartcher Christopher "Chris" Peter Hartcher (born 21 December 1946) is an Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1988 to 2015, representing the electorates of Gosford (1988–2007) and Terrigal (2007–2 ...

After politics

Cohen wrote a number of books on political anecdotes, and an autobiography: *''Life with Gough'' (1996) *''From Whitlam to Winston'' (1997) *''The Almost Complete Gough'' (2001) *''The Life of the Party – Political Anecdotes'' (1987) *''How to Become Prime Minister'' (1990) In 2015, Cohen and three other former MPs brought a case before the

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises Original jurisdiction, original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Constitution of Australia, Australia's Constitution. The High Court was established fol ...

, purporting that reductions to their retirement allowances and limitations on the number of "domestic return trips per year" under the Members of Parliament (Life Gold Pass) Act 2002 were unconstitutional under S51(xxxi) of the

Constitution of Australia The Constitution of Australia (or Australian Constitution) is a written constitution, constitutional document that is Constitution, supreme law in Australia. It establishes Australia as a Federation of Australia, federation under a constitutio ...

. They lost the case in 2016, with the court finding that Parliament was entitled to vary the terms of allowances.

Personal

Cohen married Rae McNeill in October 1959 and they had three sons. Although Cohen voted for the decriminalisation of

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

in the 1970s, he spoke out against gay marriage, arguing that "gay marriage and conventional marriage is otthe same thing". Cohen died on 18 December 2017, having been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease several years earlier.

Honours

Cohen was appointed a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 2007, for service to the Australian Parliament and to the community through a range of cultural and environmental roles and contributions to public discussion and debate. A species of fossil marsupial, '' Yalkaparidon coheni'', was named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Barry 1935 births 2017 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Robertson Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Order of Australia Australian businesspeople Jewish Australian politicians 20th-century Australian politicians People from Griffith, New South Wales Neurological disease deaths in Australia Deaths from Alzheimer's disease