John Raymond Martyr (25 May 1932 – 18 June 2021) was an Australian politician. Born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, he was a political and economic consultant before entering politics. Martyr had a long history of involvement with 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 ...

from his late teens, but due to his involvement with the anti-communist Roman Catholic "Movement" under the aegis of

B. A. Santamaria Bartholomew Augustine Santamaria, usually known as B. A. Santamaria (14 August 1915 – 25 February 1998), was an Australian Roman Catholic anti-Communist political activist and journalist. He was a guiding influence in the founding of the Dem ...

, he was expelled from the ALP. He became an organiser and candidate with the Democratic Labor Party, and on 14 April 1956 married Doris Dent, a local ALP branch secretary and Police Union staffer who was also involved with the Movement. In 1962, John and Doris Martyr moved to Western Australia, where John became State Secretary of the DLP. He eventually joined 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. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

, and in 1975, he was elected to the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members o ...

as the Liberal member for Swan, defeating sitting

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

member

Adrian Bennett Adrian Frank Bennett (21 January 1933 – 9 May 2006) was an Australian politician. Born in Perth, Western Australia, he was educated at Catholic schools before becoming a transport worker. He was secretary of the Transport Workers' Union and a ...

. He held the seat until his defeat by

Kim Beazley Kim Christian Beazley (born 14 December 1948) is an Australian former politician and diplomat. He was leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and leader of the opposition from 1996 to 2001 and 2005 to 2006, having previously been a cabine ...

in 1980. On 11 March 1981, he was appointed to the Australian Senate to fill the

casual vacancy In politics, a casual vacancy (''casual'' in the sense of "by chance") is a situation in which a seat in a deliberative assembly becomes vacant during that assembly's term. Casual vacancies may arise through the death, resignation or disqualifi ...

created by the retirement of

Allan Rocher Allan Charles Rocher (16 February 193618 March 2016), Australian politician, was a Liberal Party of Australia Senator for Western Australia from 1978 to 1981 and member of the Australian House of Representatives Division of Curtin from 1981 to ...

. He was defeated, however, in the 1983 election.

References

1932 births 2021 deaths Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Swan Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian Senate for Western Australia Members of the Australian Senate Democratic Labor Party (historical) politicians 20th-century Australian politicians Politicians from Melbourne {{Australia-Liberal-politician-stub