Richard Emanuel Klugman (18 January 1924 – 21 February 2011) was an Australian doctor, activist and 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 the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

from 1969 to 1990, representing the

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 ...

seat of

Prospect Prospect may refer to: General * Prospect (marketing), a marketing term describing a potential customer * Prospect (sports), any player whose rights are owned by a professional team, but who has yet to play a game for the team * Prospect (mining ...

Early life

Klugman was born in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

on 18 January 1924, the son of Ella and Bernard Klugman. His father was a Jewish businessman and the family left the country in 1938 to escape antisemitism. He attended

Hurlstone Agricultural High School , motto_translation = For my country , location = Glenfield, Sydney, Macarthur region, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Australia Sydney , pushpin_image = ...

and the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

, where he studied science and medicine. He worked part-time as a builder's labourer and clerk while at university. He was the president of the Sydney University Labor Club and the Australian Student Labor Federation. In 1947 he was charged with using indecent language, assaulting a policeman, and resisting arrest in relation with a demonstration outside the Dutch consulate during the

Indonesian War of Independence The Indonesian National Revolution, or the Indonesian War of Independence, was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch Empire and an internal social revolution during postwar and postcoloni ...

. He pleaded not guilty and alleged that he was a victim of police brutality. After graduating, Klugman practised as a doctor in the Sydney suburbs of

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

and Villawood. He was an honorary officer at

Liverpool Hospital Liverpool Hospital is located in the South Western Sydney suburb of Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia and is a 50-minute drive from the Sydney CBD. It is the second largest hospital in New South Wales (behind Westmead Hospital) and one of th ...

, Parramatta Hospital and

Royal North Shore Hospital The Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH) is a major public teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia, located in St Leonards. It serves as a teaching hospital for Sydney Medical School at the University of Sydney and has over 600 beds. It is the prin ...

Politics and activism

In 1969, Klugman was elected to the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...

as the

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

member for the new seat of

, a western-Sydney constituency. Klugman held the seat of Prospect until his retirement in 1990. During his time as a Member of Parliament he did not hold any ministerial offices. A firm anti-communist, he was one of the few federal parliamentarians who in 1976 boycotted the House of Representatives' tributes to the recently deceased

Chairman Mao Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC ...

Personal life

Klugman married Karin Joseph in 1953, with whom he had one daughter. He re-married in 1964 to Kristine Barnard, with whom he had another three daughters. Their daughter Jeni was the first female

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

from New South Wales. His third marriage was to Margaret Healy. Klugman died in Sydney on 21 February 2011.

References

Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Prospect Members of the Australian House of Representatives Jewish emigrants from Austria to Australia after the Anschluss 1924 births 2011 deaths 20th-century Australian politicians {{Australia-Labor-representative-stub