Ian Marshall Baillieu (born 6 June 1937) is a former Australian politician. He is a prominent member of the wealthy Baillieu family of

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 ...

and until 2013 chaired the family investment company. He served in 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 1980, representing the Victorian seat of La Trobe 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 ...

Early life

Baillieu was born in

on 6 June 1937, the son of Nancy Elizabeth "Betty" () and Marshal Lawrence "Bill" Baillieu. His father was the nephew of entrepreneur William Lawrence Baillieu. An article in ''

The Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in ...

'' prior to his election to parliament described him as "a

Beaconsfield Beaconsfield ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, west-northwest of central London and south-southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High W ...

market gardener and agricultural engineer".

Politics

Baillieu was elected to parliament at the 1975 federal election, winning the

Division of La Trobe The Division of La Trobe is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Victoria. It is located in the outer eastern/south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. It includes the suburbs of Berwick, Beaconsfield, Officer and Pakenham, and the tow ...

from the incumbent

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 the f ...

(ALP) member

Tony Lamb Antony Hamilton Lamb (born 7 March 1939) is an Australian former politician. Born in Horsham, Victoria, he was the son of Victorian Country Party politician Hamilton Lamb. He was educated at the University of Melbourne graduating on 14 August 1 ...

. He was re-elected in 1977 but was defeated by the Labor candidate

Peter Milton Peter Winslow Milton (born 1930) is a colorblind American artist who was diagnosed with deuteranopia after hearing a comment about the pink in his landscapes. Milton's black and white etchings and engravings often display photorealistic detail wi ...

at the 1980 election. Prior to the vote he had been given the highest rating by the Victorian Right To Life Association and Milton had been given the lowest. It was later reported that Prime Minister

Malcolm Fraser John Malcolm Fraser (; 21 May 1930 – 20 March 2015) was an Australian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Australia from 1975 to 1983, holding office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Fraser was raised on hi ...

had

pork barrel ''Pork barrel'', or simply ''pork'', is a metaphor for the appropriation of government spending for localized projects secured solely or primarily to bring money to a representative's district. The usage originated in American English, and i ...

ed La Trobe in an attempt to secure Baillieu's re-election, granting a local textile manufacturer relief from

tariff A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and poli ...

reforms.

Other activities

Baillieu served as the chairman of Mutual Trust, a company established in 1951 to manage his family's wealth. He retired in 2013 and was granted the title of "chairman emeritus". The family's wealth was estimated at $568 million in the 2014

Financial Review Rich List The ''Financial Review Rich List'', formerly known as the ''BRW Rich 200'', is a list of Australia's two hundred wealthiest individuals and families, ranked by personal net worth published annually in ''The Australian Financial Review Magazine' ...

. As of 2016, Baillieu lived on Minta Farm, a farming property of in

Berwick, Victoria Berwick () is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's central business district, located within the City of Casey local government area. Berwick recorded a population of 50,298 at the 2021 census. It was named ...

, which has been in the family since 1920. He sold to developer

Stockland Stockland Corporation Limited is a diversified Australian property development company. It has business in shopping centres, housing estates, industrial estates and retirement villages. History Stockland was founded in 1952 by Albert Scheinb ...

in December 2016 for a sum reportedly between $150–200 million. The remaining northern portion of the farm was retained by the family.

Personal life

Baillieu is a

second cousin Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, ...

of former Victorian premier

Ted Baillieu Edward Norman Baillieu (born 31 July 1953) is a former Australian politician who was Premier of Victoria from 2010 to 2013. He was a Liberal Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1999 to 2014, representing the electorate of ...

. In 2012, during his cousin's premiership, he issued a statement apologising for giving

the finger In Western culture, "the finger", or the middle finger (as in giving someone the (middle) finger, the bird or flipping someone off) is an obscene hand gesture. The gesture communicates moderate to extreme contempt, and is roughly equivalent i ...

to a group of nurses protesting government policies outside a book launch at the

Baillieu Library The Baillieu Library is the largest of the eleven branches which constitute the University of Melbourne Library. Its impressive collections are central to teaching, learning, and research in the arts, humanities and social sciences. It is located ...

. Baillieu is a member of the

Melbourne Club The Melbourne Club is a private social club established in 1838 and located at 36 Collins Street, Melbourne. The club is a symbol of Australia's British social heritage and was established at a gathering of 23 gentlemen on Saturday, 17 Decembe ...

. He reportedly campaigned for the club presidency in 2012 but subsequently withdrew.

References

Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for La Trobe Members of the Australian House of Representatives Politicians from Melbourne 1937 births Living people 20th-century Australian politicians {{Australia-Liberal-politician-stub