Barry James Hodge (born 16 February 1944) is a former Australian politician who was a Labor Party member of the Legislative Assembly of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

from 1977 to 1989, representing the seat of Melville. Hodge was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, but moved to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

with his family as a child, where he attended

CBC Fremantle , motto_translation = Goodness is its own reward , established = , type = Independent secondary school , gender = Boys , religion = Catholicism , denomination = Congregation of Christian Brothers , slogan = , principal = Domenic Burgio ...

before going on to Perth Technical College. After leaving school, he worked as a broadcasting technician at various local radio and television stations, including 6IX,

6PR 6PR, known as 882 6PR, is a commercial radio station based in Perth, Western Australia. Owned by Nine Entertainment, its focus is on news, talk and sport, and is Perth's only commercial talkback radio station. It commenced broadcasting on 14 Oc ...

, and TVW. Hodge joined the Labor Party in 1965, and subsequently became involved in the union movement. He served as president of the Hotel and Club Caterers' Union from 1970 to 1972 (a predecessor of the Federated Liquor and Allied Trades Union), and as assistant state secretary of the Labor Party from 1975 to 1977.Barry James Hodge
– Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 6 May 2016. Hodge entered parliament at the 1977 state election, replacing

John Tonkin John Trezise Tonkin AC (2 February 1902 – 20 October 1995), popularly known as "Honest John", was an Australian politician. A member of the Labor Party, he served as a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for a record 44 ...

, a former premier, in the seat of Melville. He retained the seat with an increased majority at the 1980 election. After the 1980 election, Hodge was appointed to the shadow cabinet of Ron Davies. He remained in the shadow cabinet when Brian Burke replaced Davies as party leader in 1981, and following Labor's victory at the 1983 election was appointed

Minister for Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...

in the Burke ministry. The ministry was reshuffled after the 1986 election, with Hodge becoming Minister for the Environment and Minister for Conservation and Land Management. He retained those positions after Burke's retirement in 1988, and was also made Minister for Waterways in the new ministry led by

Peter Dowding Peter McCallum Dowding SC (born 6 October 1943) is an Australian lawyer and former politician who served as the 24th Premier of Western Australia, from 25 February 1988 until his forced resignation on 12 February 1990. He was a member of parli ...

. However, at the 1989 state election, Hodge was defeated in Melville by the

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

candidate, Doug Shave. The two candidates finished equal on the first-preference vote (with 8,159 or 44.3% each), but Shave went on to win by 32 votes (0.2%) on the

two-party-preferred vote In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP ...

. After leaving parliament, Hodge was appointed chairman of the Lands and Forests Commission (a state government agency), serving from 1989 to 1994. He resigned from the Labor Party in 1992, and at the 1993 state election contested the Legislative Council as an independent. Standing for the South Metropolitan region, he received 2.91% of the vote, but was not elected.

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hodge, Barry 1944 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia Australian trade unionists Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly People from Melbourne