Russell Neville Joseph Gorman (20 July 1926 – 3 January 2017) was an Australian politician. He was an

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 ...

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 ...

from 1983 to 1996, representing the electorate of Chifley. Gorman was the last veteran of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

to serve in the House of Representatives. Gorman was born in Kandos, New South Wales. He enlisted in the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

in 1944, reaching the rank of leading aircraftman, and was stationed at

Ultimo, New South Wales Ultimo is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Ultimo is adjacent to the Sydney central business district in the Local government in Australia, local government area of the City of Sydney west of the Darling Harbour area, ...

, Benalla, Victoria,

Oakey, Queensland Oakey is a rural town and locality in the Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. The Museum of Army Aviation is located at Oakey Airport. Geography The town is situated on the eastern side of the Darling Downs and the Toowoomba Region lo ...

and Townsville before his discharge in 1947. He worked as an overseer and personnel officer after the war, and was working for

Blacktown City Council Blacktown City Council is a local government area in Western Sydney, situated on the Cumberland Plain, approximately west of the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1906 as the Blacktow ...

at the time of his election to parliament. Gorman was elected to the House of Representatives at the 1983 federal election. During his first year, he faced criminal charges for domestic violence against his wife, being convicted in August but then having his conviction quashed in December. He denied the allegations, which re-emerged when Liberal Senator

Noel Crichton-Browne Noel Ashley Crichton-Browne (born 2 February 1944 at Wiluna, Western Australia) is a former member of the Australian Senate and political lobbyist. Early life Crichton-Browne was educated at Scotch College, Perth. Before his career in politics, ...

was embroiled in a domestic violence controversy in 1995. In 1984, he transferred to the new seat of Greenway. Gorman rarely spoke in parliament, stating on his retirement that he had only ever made "two major speeches", but he was known to speak his mind and for his colourful language elsewhere. He proposed lowering the pension age to 60 for all people, making mortgage payments tax-deductible for first home buyers, and requiring advertisers to contribute to the cost of cleaning up rubbish. In 1987, he reportedly told

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 ...

Paul Keating during a debate about privatisation "if you blokes would stop stroking your stalks and get out there in the electorate, you'll find out what people really think of you". In 1994, opposing preferential treatment for women in Labor preselection, he publicly lashed Labor minister Bob McMullan as a 'dickhead' and opposed

Carmen Lawrence Carmen Mary Lawrence (born 2 March 1948) is an Australian academic and former politician who was the Premier of Western Australia from 1990 to 1993, the first woman to become the premier of an Australian state. A member of the Labor Party, sh ...

for

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

because she had failed to help former

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

Brian Burke, who had been jailed for corruption. He retired at the 1996 election.

References

1926 births 2017 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Chifley Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Greenway Members of the Australian House of Representatives Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II 20th-century Australian politicians {{Australia-Labor-representative-stub