Michael John Lee (born 24 March 1957) is an Australian

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 ...

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 ...

1984–2001, a minister in

Paul Keating Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is an Australian former politician and unionist who served as the 24th prime minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He previously serv ...

's government, and a member of the

City of Sydney The City of Sydney is the local government area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the greater metropolitan area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established by Act of Parliament in 1842, th ...

Council 2004–08.

Early life and education

Lee was born in

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

where he grew up in the beachside suburb of

Cronulla Cronulla is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Boasting numerous surf beaches and swimming spots, the suburb attracts both tourists and Greater Sydney residents. Cronulla is located 26 kilometres south of the Sydney ...

. Here, he attended

De La Salle College, Cronulla , motto_translation = With God As Leader , established = , type = Independent comprehensive co-educational secondary day school , denomination = Roman Catholic , oversight = Catholic Education Office, Archdiocese of Sydney , rel ...

. His immediate classmates included

Steve Hutchins Stephen Patrick Hutchins (22 April 1956 – 24 November 2017) was an Australian politician and a member of the Australian Senate for the state of New South Wales (NSW) between October 1998 and June 2011, representing the Australian Labor Party. ...

, a former Australian Senator, and

John Della Bosca John Joseph Della Bosca (born 18 July 1956) is an Australian former politician, representing the Labor Party in the New South Wales Legislative Council. From 1999 to 2009, Della Bosca served a range of ministerial portfolios, including Ministe ...

, formerly the NSW Minister for Health. After graduating in electrical engineering from the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

, Lee was employed as an engineer at the Munmorah Power Station and Vales Point Power Station on the Central Coast of

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 ...

Political career

He was subsequently elected as a

member of the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...

for the seat of

Dobell Dobell is a surname. Notable people with the surname include * Bertram Dobell (1842–1914), English bookseller, literary scholar, editor and author * Charles Macpherson Dobell (1869–1954), Canadian soldier *Clifford Dobell (1886–1949), British ...

, at the 1984 election, serving until being defeated at the 2001 election by Liberal candidate

Ken Ticehurst Kenneth (Ken) Vincent Ticehurst (born 22 January 1945) is a former Australian politician, and was a member of the Australian House of Representatives from November 2001 to 2007, representing the Division of Dobell in New South Wales for the Lib ...

. In March 1993, Lee was appointed Minister for Tourism and Minister for Resources in the second Keating Ministry. In December 1993, he replaced Bob Collins and David Beddall as Minister for Communications. In January 1994, he gained responsibility for the arts. As Arts Minister, his first shadow was Opposition Leader John Hewson who had also been the Shadow Arts Minister. He lost his ministerial responsibility with the defeat of the Keating government at the 1996 election. He was Shadow Minister for Health from 1996 to 1998 and shadow Minister for Education from 1998 to 2001. Following his defeat in 2001, he ran as the Labor candidate for

Lord Mayor of Sydney The Right Honourable the Lord Mayor of Sydney is the head of the Council of the City of Sydney, which is the local government area covering the central business district of Sydney in the State of New South Wales, Australia. The Lord Mayor has be ...

in 2004, and was defeated by

Clover Moore Clover Margaret Moore (née Collins, born 22 October 1945) is an Australian politician. She has been the List of Mayors and Lord Mayors of Sydney, Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney since 2004 and is currently the longest serving Lord Mayor of Syd ...

, but was elected to the Council. Lee became President of the New South Wales branch of the Australian Labor Party in 2010, following the resignation of Bernie Riordan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Michael 1957 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Dobell Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Cabinet of Australia Central Coast (New South Wales) University of New South Wales alumni Politicians from Sydney People from the Sutherland Shire 21st-century Australian politicians 20th-century Australian politicians People educated at De La Salle College, Cronulla