John Joseph Fahey AC (10 January 194512 September 2020) was an Australian politician who served as

Premier of New South Wales The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislature. ...

from 1992 to 1995 and as the federal

Minister for Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

from 1996 to 2001. He was a member of 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 1984 to 1996 and the federal

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 ...

from 1996 to 2001. Fahey also served as president of the

World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; french: Agence mondiale antidopage, AMA) is a foundation initiated by the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against drugs in sports. The agency's key ...

and later became

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

of the

Australian Catholic University Australian Catholic University (ACU) is a public university in Australia. It has seven Australian campuses and also maintains a campus in Rome. History Australian Catholic University was opened on 1 January 1991 following the amalgamatio ...

Early life

Fahey was born in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, New Zealand, the son of Stephen Fahey, a farmer, and his wife Annie Fahey of Galway, Ireland. In 1956, Fahey migrated with his family to

Picton, New South Wales Picton is a small town in the Macarthur Region of New South Wales, Australia, in the Wollondilly Shire, in south-western Sydney. The town is located approximately 90 kilometres south-west of Sydney, close to Camden and Campbelltown. It is a ...

. He was educated at

Chevalier College , motto_translation = Strong in Faith , established = , type = Independent co-educational secondary day school , denomination = Roman Catholic , religious_affiliation = Missionaries of the Sacred Heart , affiliations = Independent Sch ...

in Bowral and the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

. He married Colleen Maree McGurren in 1968 and they had two daughters and one son. He became a

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the i ...

Australian in 1973. Fahey also played 37 lower grade matches for the

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilita ...

in the

NSWRL The New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was ...

State politics

Fahey won the seat of

electoral district of Camden Camden is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales in Sydney's south-west. It is currently represented by Peter Sidgreaves of the Liberal Party. It currently includes the suburbs of Austra ...

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. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

in 1984. Fahey was elected member for Southern Highlands at the

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

general election, and re-elected at the

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

and

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

state elections. During this period, Fahey was Minister for Industrial Relations from March 1988 and Minister for Further Education, Training and Employment from July 1990 in the Premier Nick Greiner led coalition government. In June 1992, Fahey was appointed

after Greiner was forced to resign as a result of an Independent Commission Against Corruption of New South Wales investigation. Among those that Fahey defeated for the Liberal leadership in order to become premier was

Bruce Baird Bruce George Baird, AM (born 28 February 1942), is a former Australian politician whose career included a stint as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party in New South Wales. Early life Baird was born in Sydney, and was educated at the University ...

, who was then elected as Fahey's Liberal deputy and whose son

Mike Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and docume ...

would become premier in 2014. On the day that he had replaced Greiner, Fahey described it as "the saddest day of his life". In 1994, NSW Parliament was prorogued on 7 December when the Fahey government was attempting to stop a committee's work. In March 1995, Fahey's government was narrowly defeated in a state election by the

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 ...

opposition, led by

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 ...

. Fahey is noted for having thwarted an assassination attempt on

Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

. On

Australia Day Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove and raising of the Union Flag by Arthur Phillip following days of exploration of Port Ja ...

1994, Prince Charles was about to commence handing out awards at a ceremony in Sydney's

Darling Harbour Darling Harbour is a harbour adjacent to the city centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia that is made up of a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central business district. Origin ...

when a former

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

student,

David Kang David Kang (born 1970) is an Australian barrister. In January 1994 he fired two blank shots from a starting pistol at Charles, Prince of Wales in protest at the treatment of several hundred Cambodian asylum seekers held in detention camps in Au ...

, lunged onto the stage towards the prince, simultaneously firing two shots from a starter's pistol. Fahey, sitting next to the prince, subsequently assisted by the then

Australian of the Year The Australian of the Year is a national award conferred on an Australian citizen by the National Australia Day Council, a not-for-profit Australian Governmentowned social enterprise. Similar awards are also conferred at the State and Territo ...

Ian Kiernan Ian Bruce Carrick Kiernan (4 October 1940 – 16 October 2018) was an Australian yachtsman, property developer, builder, and environmental campaigner, known for co-founding with Kim McKay the not-for-profit ''Clean Up Australia'' campaign in 19 ...

, tackled Kang and wrestled him to the ground, after which Kang was subdued and arrested. Although the attack proved less dangerous than it was first thought to be, Fahey was nonetheless widely praised for his unthinking bravery. Fahey played a key role in the bidding process for the

Sydney 2000 Olympic Games The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

and is also noted for his reaction when Sydney won, jumping up and down enthusiastically.

Federal politics

Fahey resigned from state politics just under a year after his state government was defeated at the polls and successfully sought endorsement for the Liberal Party, to serve in the federal House of Representatives in the seat of Macarthur. Fahey was elected at the 1996 federal election and served as Minister for Finance and Administration in the Howard government. A redistribution in late 2000 radically altered Macarthur, cutting out most of the Southern Highlands and turning it into a notionally Labor seat centered on southwest Sydney. Believing this made Macarthur impossible to hold, Fahey sought to contest neighbouring Hume, which had absorbed much of his old Southern Highlands base. Hume was held by first-term MP

Alby Schultz Albert John "Alby" Schultz (29 May 193914 July 2015) was an Australian politician. He was a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives from October 1998 to August 2013, representing the Division of Hume in New South Wales. Biogra ...

, a fellow Liberal who had also served in state parliament alongside Fahey. As a minister, Fahey was entitled to a seat under internal party convention. However, Schultz refused to hand Hume to Fahey, triggering a fight between the two. 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 ...

ordered an end to the feud. Soon afterward, Fahey announced in May 2001 that he was retiring, citing family, personal and health reasons, after having one of his lungs removed in February due to cancer. He retired in October 2001, prior to the November 2001 election.

Career after politics

Fahey became director of the Bradman Foundation when he left politics in 2001. On 17 October 2007, he was confirmed as the next president of the

, a position that he held until November 2013. In 2010, Fahey gave the 12th annual

Tom Brock Lecture The Tom Brock Lecture is an annual scholarly lecture organised by the Australian Society for Sports History at the bequest of Australian sports historian Tom Brock. The topic of the lecture is the history of rugby league football. It has been give ...

. Fahey was appointed as the fourth

of the

in Sydney for a five-year term from 4 September 2014. He was appointed to a second five-year term in May 2019, but died in September 2020.

Personal life and death

A devout

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, he was married to a former Anglican, Colleen, and stirred some controversy when he declared his opposition to both abortion and birth control. John and Colleen Fahey's daughter, Tiffany, was killed in a road accident, at the age of 27, on 26 December 2006. John and Colleen Fahey became the legal guardians of Tiffany's children, Campbell and Amber. His son, the eldest of three children, is Matthew Fahey and his elder daughter is Melanie Fahey. Fahey died on the morning of 12 September 2020 after a battle with

leukaemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

. He was 75 years old. The

Government of New South Wales The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party. The Governmen ...

said it would hold a

state funeral A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of Etiquette, protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive ...

for the former premier. It was celebrated on 25 September by Archbishop Anthony Fisher at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney.

Honours

Fahey was appointed

Companion 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 ...

in 2002 for service to the Australian and New South Wales Parliaments, particularly through landmark reform of industrial relations, facilitation of high technology and industry growth, and for raising the international profile of Australia as Chairman of the Bid for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

made him a Knight Grand Cross of the

Order of St Gregory the Great The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great ( la, Ordo Sancti Gregorii Magni; it, Ordine di San Gregorio Magno) was established on 1 September 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election as Pope. The order is one of ...

in 2019. In 2016, Fahey was also awarded the Esprit du Chevalier Medal by his alma mater

, that institution's highest public honour.

References

External links

WADA Executive Committee Members
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fahey, John (Politician) 1945 births 2020 deaths 20th-century Australian lawyers Australian Roman Catholics Australian people of Irish descent New Zealand emigrants to Australia Companions of the Order of Australia Government ministers of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Macarthur Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Members of the Cabinet of Australia People from Wellington City Premiers of New South Wales University of Sydney alumni Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Treasurers of New South Wales Australian sports executives and administrators World Anti-Doping Agency members 21st-century Australian politicians 20th-century Australian politicians Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Gregory the Great