John Martin Hyde (born 2 February 1936) 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
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
. He was elected as the member for the
Division of Moore
The Division of Moore is an Australian electoral division in the state of Western Australia.
History
The Division was named after George Fletcher Moore, the first Advocate-General of Western Australia, and is at present a safe Liberal sea ...
in
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
for the
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.
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This is a li ...
.
Biography
Hyde was born and educated in Western Australia before farming wheat and sheep at
Dalwallinu. He lost his right arm as a result of a farming accident. A successful farmer, he was a councillor and deputy-President of the
Shire of Dalwallinu
The Shire of Dalwallinu is a local government area in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, about NNE of Perth, the state capital. The Shire covers an area of and its seat of government is the town of Dalwallinu.
History
Initially, ...
and won the federal seat of
Moore
Moore may refer to:
People
* Moore (surname)
** List of people with surname Moore
* Moore Crosthwaite (1907–1989), a British diplomat and ambassador
* Moore Disney (1765–1846), a senior officer in the British Army
* Moore Powell (died c. 1573 ...
in 1974, holding it until he was defeated in 1983. With three other MPs he formed "the Dries" which were then a backbench group which advocated economic conservatism and soundness in public finances and rejected short-term populism. He opposed the economic policies of the
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 ...
Government which was dismissed in November 1975, and also many of the policies of the succeeding
Fraser Fraser may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Fraser Point, South Orkney Islands
Australia
* Fraser, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb in the Canberra district of Belconnen
* Division of Fraser (Australian Capital Territory), a former federal ele ...
Coalition Government which he considered to be in many ways hardly if at all better.
Among his campaigns was to stop the two-airline monopoly and various subsidies to the aircraft, shipping and car industries (former Navy Minister and "Dry"
Bert Kelly
Charles Robert "Bert" Kelly CMG (22 June 1912 – 17 January 1997), was an Australian politician and government minister. He was influential in moving Australian political parties away from support for high-tariff policies.
Early life
Kelly ...
, author of "The Modest Member" and "The Modest Farmer" columns in various papers, had described the aircraft and shipping industries in Australia as "Our flying and floating feather beds."). Hyde's central concern was the harm being done to the Australian economy, particularly to the export industries, by tariffs and other trade-barriers, and he approved Whitlam's 25% across-the-board tariff cut, though it was unpopular with much of his own party, or at least seen by them as something to be used against Labor. Indeed, although a competent and professional politician and a hard-working electorate member, his outspoken and independent attitude and readiness to express his strong economic convictions, probably affected his career within the Liberal Party adversely. Despite his undoubted high abilities, his frequent outspoken opposition to Fraser probably prevented him being considered for the Ministry which his intelligence and grasp of affairs would ordinarily have warranted.
Upon his defeat in 1983, with the
Clough family, he developed the
Australian Institute for Public Policy in
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
and was its Executive Director until it merged with the
, a rather similar "dry" and pro-free-enterprise
think tank
A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...
. He had joined the IPA on a part-time basis in 1988, and he took it over from the Kemp brothers (also Liberal MPs) and ran it from 1991 to 1995. His wife Helen also worked there.
Political Scientist Professor Patrick O'Brien of the
University of Western Australia
The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...
described him as: "The only ex-politician I know who continues to do sane and useful work." A feature of the AIPP was a weekly "Soviet" where new ideas could be put forward by all staff and discussed.
A disciple of Bert Kelly, he wrote a long series of articles in ''
The Australian
''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...
'' and elsewhere, mainly on economic topics. In 2002 he wrote a book, ''Dry'',
published by the IPA and mainly concerned with the fight for public economic conservatism during the years of the Fraser Government, and the elimination of uneconomic tariffs and bounties. Although critical of some of Prime Minister
John Howard
John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the s ...
's policies, he wrote of him warmly in ''Dry'' as "a man of more than ordinary decency."
He and his wife Helen are notable growers of roses. They wrote the book ''Ellenbee: A Tale of Roses Among Gum Trees'' in 2006.
References
External links
IPA Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hyde, John
1936 births
Living people
Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia
Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Moore
People from Dalwallinu, Western Australia
Australian amputees
20th-century Australian politicians