Sir Phillip Reginald Lynch
KCMG (27 July 1933 – 19 June 1984) was an Australian politician who served in the
House of Representatives from 1966 to 1982. He was deputy leader of the
Liberal Party from 1972 to 1982, and served as a government minister under three prime ministers.
Lynch was born in
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 worked as a schoolteacher and management consultant before entering politics. He was elected to parliament at the
1966 federal election. Lynch was appointed to cabinet at the age of 34, and served as
Minister for the Army (1968–1969),
Minister for Immigration (1969–1971), and
Minister for Labour and National Service
The Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations is a position currently held by Tony Burke in the Albanese ministry since 1 June 2022, following the Australian federal election in 2022.
In the Government of Australia, the minister admini ...
(1971–1972) under
John Gorton and
William McMahon
Sir William McMahon (23 February 190831 March 1988) was an Australian politician who served as the 20th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1971 to 1972 as leader of the Liberal Party. He was a government minister for over 21 years, t ...
. He was elected deputy leader of the Liberal Party in 1972, serving first under
Billy Snedden
Sir Billy Mackie Snedden, (31 December 1926 – 27 June 1987) was an Australian politician who served as the leader of the Liberal Party from 1972 to 1975. He was also a cabinet minister from 1964 to 1972, and Speaker of the House of Represe ...
and later under
Malcolm Fraser. Lynch became
Treasurer
A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance.
Government
The treasury o ...
when the Liberals returned to power in 1975, but had to resign after two years due to a perceived conflict of interest. He was then
Minister for Industry and Commerce until his retirement due to ill health in 1982. He died of cancer a few years later, aged 50.
Early life
Lynch was born in
Carlton, Melbourne, Victoria, the oldest child of Dorothy Louise () and Reginald Thomas Lynch. His father was a
fitter. Lynch grew up in the suburb of
Kew
Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...
and attended Catholic schools, initially a
Marist Brothers school in
Hawthorn
Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to:
Plants
* '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae
* ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...
and then
Xavier College. He went on to study at the
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...
, graduating with a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
in 1955 and a diploma in education in 1964. He was active in student politics, and campaigned against the
White Australia policy. After graduating, Lynch worked as a schoolteacher for about a year, mostly at Collingwood Technical School. He then joined Manpower (Australia) Pty Ltd, a management consulting firm of which he eventually became managing director. He married Leah Brigid O'Toole in 1958, with whom he had three sons.
Community
Lynch joined the Junior Chamber of Commerce in 1959; he became the Melbourne vice-president (1962) and president (1963), and then national president (1966).
He has a foundation member of the Frankston
Rostrum Club 41 in 1967 and was a sought after speaker at their events.
Early years in politics
As a university student, Lynch considered joining the
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 ...
, but was alienated by the party's left wing. His decision to join the Liberal Party was unusual for someone from a working-class Catholic background, and throughout his career he was one of the party's few Catholic MPs. Lynch first stood for parliament at the
1955 federal election, aged 22, running in the safe Labor seat of
Scullin. He was state president of the
Young Liberals from 1956 to 1958, and served on the party's state executive from 1956 to 1963. Lynch was eventually elected to the
House of Representatives at the
1966 election. He won Liberal preselection for the
Division of Flinders
The Division of Flinders is an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. The division is one of the original 65 divisions contested at the first federal election. It is named for Matthew Flinders, the first man to circumnavigate Australia, ...
against a large field of other candidates.
[
]
Government minister
Between 1968 and 1972, Lynch served variously as Minister for the Army, Minister for Immigration, and Minister for Labour and National Service
The Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations is a position currently held by Tony Burke in the Albanese ministry since 1 June 2022, following the Australian federal election in 2022.
In the Government of Australia, the minister admini ...
, under Prime Ministers John Gorton and William McMahon
Sir William McMahon (23 February 190831 March 1988) was an Australian politician who served as the 20th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1971 to 1972 as leader of the Liberal Party. He was a government minister for over 21 years, t ...
. In opposition from 1972 to 1975, he was Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party. He was also the Deputy Leader of the Opposition as then Liberal leader Billy Snedden
Sir Billy Mackie Snedden, (31 December 1926 – 27 June 1987) was an Australian politician who served as the leader of the Liberal Party from 1972 to 1975. He was also a cabinet minister from 1964 to 1972, and Speaker of the House of Represe ...
had refused to give the title to the Country Party leader
Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets vi ...
Doug Anthony. After his party won back government in 1975, Lynch continued as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party until his retirement in 1982.
Opposed to the “white Australia policy” and Australia's restrictive immigration regime, as Minister for Immigration in 1970 he toured Europe in a successful drive to recruit workers for Australia’s underpopulated workforce, meeting with the leaders of several nations and Pope Paul VI. A conciliating presence between opposing factions both within and outside his party, he was also partly responsible for exposing the Khemlani loans affair that, although Lynch was not actively involved, was to contribute to the dismissal of the Whitlam government and election of Malcolm Fraser as Prime Minister in 1975.
Malcolm Fraser appointed Lynch Treasurer
A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance.
Government
The treasury o ...
in 1975. When the Treasury portfolio was split into Treasury and Finance
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...
in December 1976, Lynch held both portfolios. He is noted for using the expression "rubbery" to describe some of the estimates in his 1977 Budget Speech, leading to the use of the expression "rubbery figures" in Australian political debate. He was forced to resign from the ministry on 19 November 1977 when it became known that he was using a family trust to minimise his tax obligations, which was perceived as a conflict of interest
A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...
. He was replaced as Treasurer by 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 ...
and as Minister for Finance by Eric Robinson. An official inquiry found that he had done nothing illegal or improper, and he returned to the ministry in December, as Minister for Industry and Commerce after facing a challenge for the deputy leadership from Defence Minister
A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...
James Killen
Sir Denis James "Jim" Killen, (23 November 1925 – 12 January 2007) was an Australian politician and a Liberal Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from December 1955 to August 1983, representing the Division of Moreton in Q ...
, which he defeated by 71 votes to 20.
After the 1980 election, Fraser formed the Committee of Review of Government Functions, popularly known as the " Razor Gang", which Lynch chaired.
He was also challenged again for the deputy leadership this time by Minister for Foreign Affairs Andrew Peacock, who he defeated by 47 votes to 35.
Honours and family life
Lynch was named a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III.
It is named in honour ...
in the 1981 New Year Honours
The New Year Honours 1981 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countries ...
. He was also made a Privy Councillor
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...
in 1977, allowing him to use the pre-nominal letters The Right Honourable. He resigned his parliamentary seat on the grounds of ill-health in 1982, and died of stomach cancer in 1984. Sir Phillip's wife, Leah O'Toole, had been a boarder A boarder may be a person who:
*snowboards
*skateboards
*bodyboards
* surfs
*stays at a boarding house
*attends a boarding school
*takes part in a boarding attack
The Boarder may also refer to:
* ''The Boarder'' (1953 film), a 1953 Soviet drama ...
at St Ann's Ladies' College, Warrnambool and later worked as an occupational therapist and as company secretary and director of Denistoun Pty Ltd. Sir Phillip and Lady Leah Lynch had three sons. Lady Lynch, known for her charity work, died in 2007.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynch, Phillip
1933 births
1984 deaths
Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia
Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Flinders
Members of the Australian House of Representatives
Members of the Cabinet of Australia
Treasurers of Australia
Australian Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
Australian politicians awarded knighthoods
Deaths from stomach cancer
People educated at Xavier College
20th-century Australian politicians
Australian members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Government ministers of Australia
Deaths from cancer in Victoria (Australia)
People from Kew, Victoria
Politicians from Melbourne