John Joseph Madigan (21 July 196616 June 2020) was an Australian blacksmith and politician.
He served as a
Senator for
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
from 2011 to 2016. He was elected to the Senate at the
2010 federal election as a member of the
Democratic Labour Party (DLP).
[Red-leather day for the DLP](_blank)
''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 ...
'', 12 September 2010. He resigned from the DLP to become an
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
in September 2014, and later launched "John Madigan's Manufacturing and Farming Party" in 2015.
He failed to be re-elected at the
2016 double dissolution election, and the Manufacturing and Farming Party was voluntarily deregistered on 13 September 2016.
Early life
Born into a
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
family, Madigan belonged to a youth group run by the
National Civic Council founder,
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 Demo ...
, in Melbourne.
[Ex-blacksmith may be needed to hammer out Senate deals]
''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 ...
'', 16 August 2011 Madigan was a blacksmith and boilermaker from 1983 to 2011, self-employed in his own engineering workshop in
Hepburn Springs, Victoria. He has an apprenticeship in Structural Steel Fabrication from Newport TAFE. He lived in
Ballarat and was married with two children.
Politics
Madigan served as vice-president of the Victorian DLP from 2008 to 2009 and was elected to the Senate at the
2010 election. Madigan resigned from the DLP and became an
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
Senator on 4 September 2014, citing long-term internal party tensions.
2010 federal election
Madigan won the sixth and last Victorian Senate seat at the
2010 federal election. The primary DLP vote in Victoria of 2.3 percent (75,000 votes) was boosted to the 14.3 percent quota required by gaining
One Nation,
Christian Democratic and
Building Australia preferences. That gave Madigan a 0.2 percent lead over
Steve Fielding of the
Family First Party
The Family First Party was a conservative political party in Australia which existed from 2002 to 2017. It was founded in South Australia where it enjoyed its greatest electoral support. Since the demise of the Australian Conservatives into wh ...
, whose preferences then flowed to Madigan. When the
Australian Sex Party
The Australian Sex Party was an Australian political party founded in 2009 in response to concerns over the purported increasing influence of religion in Australian politics. The party was born out of an adult-industry lobby group, the Eros Asso ...
candidate was excluded, the DLP gained
Liberal Democratic Party preferences, overtaking the third
Liberal/National candidate and gaining those preferences to win the last seat.
Madigan became the first DLP senator from Victoria since
Frank McManus and
Jack Little, who were both defeated at the
double-dissolution election in 1974.
He took his seat in the Senate on 1 July 2011. 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 ...
government of the time held 31 seats, eight short of a majority, with the
Greens holding nine seats, giving them the
balance of power. Madigan's vote was unlikely to be a decider in any Senate division because the votes of Greens bloc, paired with either Labor or the
Coalition, were enough to win any Senate vote.
2016 election
Due to a
double dissolution of parliament in 2016, Madigan was unable to serve his full term in parliament. The Manufacturing and Farming party supported Madigan and Mark George as Senate candidates for Victoria in the
2016 federal election.
He was not re-elected, gaining 0.15% of the total Senate vote in the state. John Madigan's Manufacturing and Farming Party was voluntarily deregistered by the Australian Electoral Commission on 13 September 2016.
Later years and death
Madigan joined the
Australian Country Party in September 2016.
In December 2018, Madigan announced that he had liver and bowel cancer. He died on 16 June 2020, aged 53, at a palliative care facility near his home in
Ballarat Victoria Australia . Former prime minister
Tony Abbott
Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia.
Abbott was born in Londo ...
eulogised Madigan as "a fine representative of a worthy political tradition" with an "old-fashioned sense of courtesy and respect for others".
Political views
Madigan took a strong stance for implementing refugee and protection conventions and gambling reforms.
Madigan campaigned against wind turbines, chairing the 2015 Select Committee on Wind Turbines, advocating the removal of government incentives from the industry, and promoting the idea of "
wind turbine syndrome". From 2011 onward, Madigan's chief of staff was
Brendan Gullifer, a journalist and writer who has published articles against wind power.
Madigan described himself as "unashamedly
pro-life
Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respon ...
".
As a representative of the DLP, he opposed legislation on same-sex marriage;
the sale of public infrastructure;
the implementation of a
carbon tax
A carbon tax is a tax levied on the carbon emissions required to produce goods and services. Carbon taxes are intended to make visible the "hidden" social costs of carbon emissions, which are otherwise felt only in indirect ways like more sev ...
(stating "We're not in favour of a carbon tax because we believe it's a tax on people and a tax on life");
and the limiting of weekend trading hours.
He addressed the Inaugural
Jack Kane Dinner in July 2011, where he advocated
Chifley-style protectionist economics.
In his maiden speech to the Senate, Madigan denounced Victoria's "inhumane" abortion laws and committed to help restore Australia's dwindling manufacturing sector. He called for a "good Labor government that will bring something better to the people". He said that the DLP and ALP differed in a number of ways, stating:
Madigan also praised fellow crossbench Senator
Nick Xenophon
Nick Xenophon ( Nicholas Xenophou; born 29 January 1959) is an Australian politician and lawyer who was a Senator for South Australia from 2008 to 2017. He was the leader of two political parties: Nick Xenophon Team federally, and Nick Xenophon ...
in his maiden speech, saying he had "done his best to address the plight of the Australian worker and the Australian family".
He shared views on gambling reform and wind turbines with Xenophon, with the pair helping to establish a Select Committee on Wind Turbines.
Fanning fear: the wind farm nocebo effect
27 November 2012
References
External links
Biography: Australian Parliament website
Maiden Senate speech 25 August 2011: Australian Parliament website
Summary of parliamentary voting for Senator John Madigan on TheyVoteForYou.org.au
{{DEFAULTSORT:Madigan, John
1966 births
Australian blacksmiths
Democratic Labour Party members of the Parliament of Australia
2020 deaths
Members of the Australian Senate
Members of the Australian Senate for Victoria
Australian Roman Catholics
Australian anti-abortion activists
Independent members of the Parliament of Australia
21st-century Australian politicians
Deaths from cancer in Victoria (Australia)