John Edward Akister (born 6 November 1937) is a former

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 ...

n politician. He was the Labor Party member for

Electoral district of Monaro Monaro, also known as Maneroo (1856–1858), Monara (1858–1879) and Manaro (1894–1904) is an New South Wales Legislative Assembly electoral districts, electoral district of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly in th ...

in 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 1976 to 1988, and served as a minister from 1984 to 1988. Akister was born in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and was educated at Staveley Public School and Windermere Grammar School in

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...

, and Salford Technical College. Trained as an electrical fitter and electrical draughtsman, he worked for the

Metropolitan-Vickers Metropolitan-Vickers, Metrovick, or Metrovicks, was a British heavy electrical engineering company of the early-to-mid 20th century formerly known as British Westinghouse. Highly diversified, it was particularly well known for its industrial el ...

company from 1954 to 1959, when he began

national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

as a private in the 1st Battalion of the

Lancashire Regiment The Lancashire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Volunteers) was an infantry regiment of the British Army that had a very short existence. History The regiment was formed, as a consequence of defence cuts instigated by the 1957 Defence White Paper, by ...

. He returned to Vickers in 1961. He migrated to Australia in 1963, becoming a draughtsman at A.E.I. Pty Ltd in 1963. He married Brenda Ann Pye on 18 December 1965 in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and moved to Cooma as senior draughtsman with the Snowy Mountains Authority in 1966. He joined the Labor Party in 1969 and served as secretary of the oomabranch, New South Wales from 1970 to 1976. In 1974, Akister was selected as the Labor candidate for the marginal

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

seat of

in the

. Sitting MP

Steve Mauger Stephen George Mauger (17 June 1920 – 12 March 1976) was an Australian politician. He was the Liberal member for Monaro in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1965 to 1976, and was Minister for Youth, Ethnic and Community Affair ...

had resigned before the election, leaving the seat vacant, and Akister was narrowly elected in a three-cornered contest with the Liberal and Country parties. In 1984, he became Minister for Corrective Services, as well as holding junior ministries on Rural Matters and assisting the Agriculture Minister. In 1986 he was given additional responsibility as Assistant Minister for Transport. However, in 1988 the

Unsworth Unsworth is a village and residential area of the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, in Greater Manchester, England. The population of Unsworth Ward, as of the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census is 9,492. The village sits approximately north of ...

Government was defeated at the polls, and Akister was one of the members who lost his seat (to National Party candidate Peter Cochran). He became a businessman after leaving politics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akister, John 1937 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly People educated at Windermere Grammar School English emigrants to Australia