Murray Evan Sainsbury (born 14 September 1940) is a former Australian politician. He was a member of the

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 1975 to 1983, representing the

Division of Eden-Monaro The Division of Eden-Monaro is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. The previous member, Mike Kelly resigned due to ill health on 30 April 2020. The seat was filled at a by-election on 4 July 2020. Geography Si ...

as a member of 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 ...

. He was a civil engineer before entering politics.

Early life

Sainsbury was born in

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. He graduated from 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 ...

with the degrees of

Bachelor of Engineering A Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) is an academic undergraduate degree awarded to a student after three to five years of studying engineering at an accredited college or university. In the UK, a Bache ...

and

Bachelor of Economics The Bachelor of Economics (BEc or BEcon), or the "Bachelor of Applied Economics", is a bachelor's degree awarded by many universities and colleges for completion of an undergraduate program in economics, econometrics, or applied economics; the ...

. He was a qualified civil engineer and operated his own building and construction company.

Politics

Sainsbury was elected to federal parliament in the

Coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

's landslide victory at the 1975 federal election, defeating the incumbent

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 labour ...

MP Bob Whan. He was re-elected in

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

and

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

, defeated by Labor's

Jim Snow James Henry Snow (born 15 September 1934) is a former Australian politician. Snow was born in the Melbourne suburb of Surrey Hills, Victoria and graduated in pharmacy from the Victorian College of Pharmacy. He worked as a goat farmer, phar ...

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

and failed in an attempt to regain the seat in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

. According to Paul Kelly, Sainsbury was part of "the vanguard of the free market lobby within the Liberal Party" along with three other backbenchers (

Jim Carlton James Joseph Carlton (13 May 193524 December 2015) was an Australian businessman, politician, and humanitarian. Early life Carlton was born in Sydney and earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of Sydney. Early career Carlton’s ...

John Hyde John Hyde may refer to: Politicians *John Hyde (Australian federal politician) (born 1936), federal politician from Western Australia for the Division of Moore *John Hyde (Australian state politician) (born 1957), state politician from Western Aust ...

, and

Peter Shack Peter Donald Shack (born 20 June 1953) is a former Australian politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1977 to 1983 and from 1984 to 1993. He was a member of the Liberal Party and represented the Division of Tangney ...

). He briefly served as a deputy

government whip A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology o ...

from September to December 1981. In 1982, Sainsbury approached local artist Tom Thompson to depict proceedings of the House of Representatives. Thompson's sketches have been cited as "the first and only occasion that an artist has been permitted to draw in the house", and are now held by the

Museum of Australian Democracy Old Parliament House, formerly known as the Provisional Parliament House, was the seat of the Parliament of Australia from 1927 to 1988. The building began operation on 9 May 1927 after Parliament's relocation from Melbourne to the new capit ...

Later career

In 1991, Sainsbury was appointed CEO of a project management company within the Hindmarsh Group. He had previously worked with the group as a consultant for two years. As of 2014, Sainsbury was the president of the Association of Former Members of the Parliament of Australia. In a submission to a parliamentary committee on behalf of the organisation, he argued against the abolition of the Life Gold Pass Scheme, which provided former MPs and senators with 10 free return airfares within Australia each year.

References

1940 births Living people Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Eden-Monaro 20th-century Australian politicians People from Wollongong Australian civil engineers {{Australia-Liberal-politician-stub