Ian McManus (born 23 August 1945) is an Australian politician. He was a Labor Party 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 ...

from 1987 to 2003, representing the electorates of

Heathcote Heathcote may refer to: Places in Australia *Heathcote, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney **Electoral district of Heathcote, a seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly **Heathcote National Park ** Parish of Heathcote a parish of Cumberla ...

(1987–88, 1999–2003), Burragorang (1988–1991) and Bulli (1991–99). He was a parliamentary secretary in the first two terms of the Carr Labor government. McManus was born in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, and his family migrated to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

when he was a child. He attended Helensburgh Primary School, St Patrick's College in

Sutherland Sutherland ( gd, Cataibh) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the Highlands of Scotland. Its county town is Dornoch. Sutherland borders Caithness and Moray Firth to the east, Ross-shire and Cromartyshire (later ...

and St George Technical College in

Kogarah Kogarah () is a suburb of Southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Kogarah is located 14 kilometres (9 miles) south-west of the Sydney central business district and is considered to be the centre of the St George area. Loca ...

. He worked as a junior postal officer after leaving school, before joining the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

, where he served as a sonar operator from 1963 to 1971, serving in

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

, the

Malacca Straits The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, 500 mi (800 km) long and from 40 to 155 mi (65–250 km) wide, between the Malay Peninsula (Peninsular Malaysia) to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connec ...

and

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. He won the United States Unit Commendation for his service during

Operation Sea Dragon Operation Sea Dragon was a series of American-led naval operations during the Vietnam War They began in October 1966 to interdict sea lines of communications and supply going south from North Vietnam to South Vietnam, and to destroy land targe ...

in the

Gulf of Tonkin The Gulf of Tonkin is a gulf at the northwestern portion of the South China Sea, located off the coasts of Tonkin (northern Vietnam) and South China. It has a total surface area of . It is defined in the west and northwest by the northern ...

during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. He left the Navy in 1971, and worked as a senior inspector with his local water board until his election to parliament. He was also an alderman with the

City of Wollongong The City of Wollongong is a local government area in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The area is situated adjacent to the Tasman Sea, the Princes Motorway and the Illawarra railway line. Located south of Sydney central busi ...

council and Illawarra County Council from 1977 until 1983. McManus entered state politics in 1987 after winning Labor endorsement for a difficult by-election, sparked by the resignation of former Labor minister Rex Jackson amidst a serious corruption scandal which would later lead to Jackson's imprisonment. The race was made further difficult for Labor due to Jackson's surprise decision to run as an independent, but McManus survived a severe anti-Labor swing to take the seat ahead of Liberal candidate Allan Andrews. After a hostile electoral redistribution, McManus shifted to the safer seat of Burragorang at the 1988 general election, where Andrews won Heathcote at his second attempt. McManus again shifted to the newly revived seat of Bulli at the 1991 election, and was re-elected in 1995 with the election of the Carr Labor government. McManus served as a parliamentary secretary in the first two terms of the Carr government, and retired in 2003. He has worked as a consultant since leaving politics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McManus, Ian 1945 births Living people Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 21st-century Australian politicians