John Gilbert Brogden (born 28 March 1969) is an Australian mental health and suicide prevention advocate, suicide survivor, businessman and former NSW politician. Brogden is the President o LifeLine International Patron and former Chairman o Lifeline Australia Chair of AusPayNet, Director of Colonial First State Superannuation, Chair of the Urban Property Group Advisory Board and Chairman of Furlough House Retirement Village.
He was Leader of the Opposition in New South Wales from 2002 to 2005. He was a
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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Member for
Pittwater
Pittwater is a semi-mature tide dominated drowned valley estuary, located about north of the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia; being one of the bodies of water that separate greater Metropolitan Sydney from the Ce ...
in the Legislative Assembly of NSW, Australia, from May 1996 until his resignation in August 2005. After politics, he served as the Chair and CEO of various organisations in the financial services and property sectors.
On Australia Day 2014 he was made a
Member 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 Gove ...
for significant service to the community, particularly to Lifeline, to the business and financial sectors, and to the Parliament of New South Wales.
Early life and family
Brogden was born in Balmain and raised in Sydney. His father Gilbert Arthur Brogden, a carpenter, was born in Taranaki, New Zealand in 1933 and emigrated to Australia in 1960. His mother, Judith Anne (née Bourne) (1941 – 2021) was born in Balmain and worked as a School Secretary. He was educated at St Joan of Arc, Haberfield, St Patrick's College, Strathfield and the University of Sydney where he gained a Master of Public Affairs (MP
His wife Lucy Brogden AM is an organisational psychologist and national mental health and suicide prevention advocate, a carer, a Patron of Partners in Depression, Patron of the Sydney Women's Fund and Lifeline Northern Beaches, Chair of the Diabetes Australia Research Trust, a, Director of the National Film and Sound Archives and of Be Kind Australia. She is Governor of Queenwood School for Girls. From 2017 To 2022 she was th Chair of the National Mental Health Commission advising the Prime Minister and Minister for Health on mental health policy. They have three children.
Political career
John Brogden joined the Liberal Party in his final year of high school in 1986. Between 1989 and 1994 he was an adviser to Attorney General
John Hannaford
John Planta Hannaford (born 21 January 1949) is a former Australian politician. Born in Goulburn, the son of William Henry Planta and Amy Frances Hannaford, he became a lawyer, having studied at the Australian National University in Canberra. He ...
Ted Pickering
Edward Phillip Pickering (born 1 November 1939) is a former Australian politician. He was a Liberal Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1976 to 1995.
Pickering was born in Newcastle, and studied for a Bachelor of Science m ...
. From 1992 to 1993 he was President of the NSW Division of the Young Libera Movement and a member of the NSW Division's State Executive. In 1994, he served a year as Treasurer of the Movement and ran unsuccessfully for preselection in the state seat of
Vaucluse
Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019. The Liberals ', Episode I,
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...
, 1994. He rejoined the State Executive in 1995 elected as a Metropolitan Representative.
From 1994 to 1995 Brogden was a consultant at public affairs company Cosway Australia. From 1995 to 1996 he was a Senior Adviser at the Credit Union Services Corporation (CUSCAL).
Brogden was elected to the NSW Legislative Assembly as the Member for Pittwater in May 1996 in a by election following the resignation of former Fahey Government Minister
Jim Longley
James Alan Longley (born 28 July 1958) is a former Australian politician and banking executive. As a member of the Liberal Party, he served as the Member of Parliament for Pittwater in the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales (NSW) from 1 ...
. In 1999 he was promoted to the Shadow Ministry as the Shadow Minister for Urban Affairs and Planning, Sydney Water and Youth Affairs.
In the leadup to the 2003 election, Opposition Leader
Kerry Chikarovski
Kerry Anne Chikarovski (née Bartels; 4 April 1956) is a former Australian politician who served as leader of the Liberal Party in New South Wales and Leader of the Opposition between 1998 and 2002, the first woman to hold the post.
Early li ...
was struggling in the polls against Premier
Bob Carr
Robert John Carr (born 28 September 1947) is an Australian retired politician and journalist who served as the 39th Premier of New South Wales from 1995 to 2005, as the leader of the NSW Branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He later en ...
. On 25 March 2002, Brogden announced a challenge. Three days later on 28 March 2002, his 33rd birthday, he succeeded in a 15–14 vote, becoming the youngest ever leader of a state or federal Libera Party
At the 2003 election the Liberals won one seat from Labor and lost one to Labor. Notwithstanding the electoral defeat, Brogden improved his and the party's standing in the polls over the next two years. For part of 2005 the Coalition was in front of Labor , with many people believing that Brogden would win the 2007 election, especially when Bob Carr resigned from politics and
Morris Iemma
Morris Iemma (; born 21 July 1961) is a former Australian politician who was the 40th Premier of New South Wales. He served from 3 August 2005 to 5 September 2008. From Sydney, Iemma attended the University of Sydney and the University of Techno ...
was elected as the new Premier.
Brogden confronted the government over a number of issues, often focussing on health and police corruption. He aggressively pursued the Carr government over its involvement in the
Orange Grove affair
The Orange Grove affair was a political scandal in Australia concerning the dealings of the New South Wales state Australian Labor Party government with multinational corporation The Westfield Group. It resulted from a court decision in 2004 to ...
, in which a shopping centre was shut down, allegedly for zoning reasons, amidst claims of political pressure from
The Westfield Group
Westfield Group was an Australian shopping centre company that existed from 1960 to 2014, when it split into two independent companies: Scentre Group, which owns and operates the Australian and New Zealand Westfield shopping centre portfolio; ...
, which ran a neighbouring shopping centre. Brogden also pursued scandals relating to patient care at Camden and Campbelltown Hospitals.
Despite the improvement in the opposition's opinion-poll ratings during 2004 and early 2005, Brogden's hopes that he would gain the premiership in 2007 were not to be fulfilled. He became embroiled in controversy for his behaviour at a function in Sydney on 29 Jul 2005
As a result of the controversy, Brogden resigned as Leader of the NSW Opposition on 29 August. Nevertheless, he announced his intention to remain as the Member for Pittwater.
The next day however, 30 August, police attended Brogden's electorate office at around 10.30 pm, after concerns were raised by members of his family. They found him unconscious in a back room, having attempted suicide. When the ''
Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...
'' called Brogden's deputy
Barry O'Farrell
Barry Robert O'Farrell (born 24 May 1959) is a former Australian politician who has been Australia's High Commissioner to India and non-resident Ambassador to Bhutan since May 2020. O'Farrell was the 43rd Premier of New South Wales and Minis ...
at about 11 pm to question him about possible leadership contention, he told them, "Excuse me if I say I don't care about the leadership at the moment, but I am following an ambulance with John Brogden inside. He has attempted self-harm. It sort of puts things in perspective, doesn't it?". Brogden was taken to
Royal North Shore Hospital
The Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH) is a major public teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia, located in St Leonards. It serves as a teaching hospital for Sydney Medical School at the University of Sydney and has over 600 beds. It is the prin ...
that night, and discharged the following day into
respite care
__NOTOC__
Respite care is planned or emergency temporary care provided to caregivers of a child or adult.
Respite programs provide planned short-term and time-limited breaks for families and other unpaid caregivers of children with a developmenta ...
at the Northside Clinic. On 1 September, Brogden and his wife issued a short statement thanking people who had sent messages of support, and inviting people wishing to help further to donate to
beyondblue
Beyond Blue is an Australian mental health and wellbeing support organisation. They provide support programs to address issues related to depression, suicide, anxiety disorders and other related mental illnesses.
The organisation works in pa ...
, an organisation dedicated to supporting people with depression, anxiety and suicide related experiences.
Brogden resigned from parliament on 28 September. A by-election was held for the seat of Pittwater, which, in a backlash to the Liberal Party and media treatment of Brogden, was won by
Pittwater Council
Pittwater Council was a local government area on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It covered a region adjacent to the Tasman Sea about north of the Sydney central business district. The area is named ...
mayor
Alex McTaggart
Alexander John McTaggart (born 24 January 1949) is an Australian politician who was an independent (politician), independent member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Electoral district of Pittwater, Pittwater between 2005 and 2007. ...
, running as an independent. At the 2007 state election, McTaggart was defeated by Liberal candidate
Rob Stokes
Robert Gordon Stokes (born 17 January 1975) is an Australian politician. Stokes is the New South Wales Minister for Infrastructure, the Minister for Cities, and the Minister for Active Transport in the Perrottet ministry since 21 December 20 ...
, a former adviser to Brogden.
Business career
Brogden is currently the President o LifeLine International In May 2018, Brogden was appointed as Chief Executive Officer at Landcom. Prior to this appointment, he was Chairman of the Board at UrbanGrowth NSW/Landcom from 2012 to 2018. Prior to this he was the Managing Director & CEO of the Australian Institute of Company Directors from 2015 to 2017, the CEO of the Financial Services Council from 2009 to 2015 and the CEO of Manchester Unity from 2006 to 2008.
He also holds also holds honorary positions as the Patron of Kookaburra Kids, Sailability Pittwater, Bilgola Surf Lifesaving Club and Avalon Beach Surf Lifesaving Club.
Brogden's previous non-executive directorships include Abacus Australian Mutuals (Chairman) from 2006 to 2009, BBI – The Australian Institute of Theological Education (Chairman), NIA Pty Limited (health.com.au) from 2011 to 2015, Sydney Ports Corporation from 2010 to 2012, Australian Private Health Insurance Association and the Australian Friendly Societies Association.