Joseph Martin Riordan AO (27 February 193019 November 2012) was an Australian politician and briefly government minister.

Early years

Riordan was born in Sydney, raised as a Catholic, and educated at Patrician Brothers School and Marist Brother College in that city. From 1958 to 1972 he was Federal Secretary of the Federated Clerks' Union (a stronghold of anti-Communist social democrats).

Career

Riordan was elected as 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 t ...

member for 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 ...

seat of

Phillip Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

at the 1972 election, defeating 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 ...

, William Aston. He was Minister for Housing and Construction from June 1975 until the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in November 1975. He was defeated by the Liberals' Jack Birney at the 1975 election. Riordan was Senior Deputy President of the

Australian Industrial Relations Commission The Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC), known from 1956 to 1973 as the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission and from 1973 to 1988 as the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, was a tribunal with powers ...

from 1986 to 1995. He was made an Officer 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 Gov ...

(AO) in January 1995 for "service to industrial relations, to social justice and to the Community".

Death

He died on 19 November 2012, aged 82.Herald Sun, 26 November 2012
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Personal life

He was the nephew of

Darby Riordan David "Darby" Riordan (23 July 1886 – 15 October 1936) was an Australian politician. Riordan was the Australian Labor Party member for Burke in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, winning the seat in 1918. He held Burke till 1929 at which ...

, the Labor member of the House of Representatives for Kennedy from 1929 to 1936.Lumb, Martin (31 October 2012)
Parliamentary relations: political families in the Commonwealth Parliament
Australian Parliamentary Library.

Notes

1930 births 2012 deaths 1975 Australian constitutional crisis Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Phillip Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Cabinet of Australia Officers of the Order of Australia 20th-century Australian politicians {{Australia-Labor-representative-stub