Eric Lance Bedford (18 February 1928 – 8 July 2006) was an Australian politician, affiliated with the Labor Party and elected as a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

. Bedford was born at Concord, NSW, and attended

Fort Street Boys High School Fort Street High School (FSHS) is a Education in Australia#Government schools, government-funded Mixed-sex school, co-educational Selective school (New South Wales), academically selective secondary school, secondary day school, located in Petersh ...

before studying at Sydney Teachers College and embarking on a teaching career in country areas. He took an Arts degree through external study and returned to teach at Liverpool Boys High School and later Bankstown Girls High School. After high school, he went to the University of New England . While at Liverpool Boys High, Bedford met

Gough Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. The longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1967 to 1977, he was notable for being the he ...

and enquired about rejoining the Labor Party, of which he had been a member in his youth. He later served as Gough Whitlam's campaign director at the 1966 election, and Whitlam persuaded Eric to stand for state parliament in the seat of Fairfield, which was vacant as a result of a redistribution. Bedford won the seat and served as the Member for Fairfield between 1968 and 1981 and then represented the seat of

Cabramatta Cabramatta ('Cabra') is a suburb in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Cabramatta is located south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Fairfield. Cabramat ...

. He served as the Minister for Education in the Wran Government from May 1976 to February 1980. He then served as Minister for Planning and the Environment, Minister for Industry and Minister for Small Business until the end of his political career in 1985. He received the

Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal The Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal (french: link=no, Médaille du jubilé d'argent de la reine Elizabeth II) is a commemorative medal created in 1977 to mark the 25th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession in 1952. The medal is p ...

in 1977 and was invested with the Red Danice Hrvatske (Order of the Croatian Daystar) for services to education. In 1986 he was granted permission to retain the title "

The Honourable ''The Honourable'' (British English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific style that is used as a prefix before the names or titles of certain ...

". Bedford died in Sydney on .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bedford, Eric Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 1928 births 2006 deaths People educated at Fort Street High School 20th-century Australian politicians