Ron Hoenig (born 21 April 1953)Mr Ron HOENIG, ''Who's Who in Australia 2017'', ConnectWeb, 2017. is an Australian barrister who served as Mayor of the

City of Botany Bay The City of Botany Bay was a local government area in the eastern region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The area encompassed the suburbs to the north of Botany Bay, such as Botany. First proclaimed in 1888 as the "Boro ...

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 ...

from 1981 to 2012, a record 31 years, before standing down and winning the 25 August Heffron by-election in the state parliament for the Labor Party.2012 Heffron by-election: Antony Green ABC
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Legal career

Hoenig was a practising barrister and public defender, who acted as the counsel assisting the inquiry into the

death of Dianne Brimble Dianne Elizabeth Brimble (10 April 1960 – 24 September 2002) died aboard a P&O Cruises cruise ship of a drug overdose. She is alleged to have been neglected and received callous treatment at the hands of passengers, and to have been given the ...

, where he made recommendations that up to three of the persons assisting the inquiry could face

prosecution A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...

. He defended David Dinh, who was accused of killing New South Wales MP John Newman. Dinh was acquitted by a jury. Hoenig later had to step back from performing public defender duties once he took office in the Legislative Assembly.

Local council

After being elected as an

Alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members t ...

of the Municipality of Botany in September 1980, Hoenig was elected mayor in 1981 and became the first popularly-elected mayor of the council in 1983, with 85% of the vote. He was re-elected mayor in 1987 (unopposed), 1991 (80%), 1995 (88%), 1999 (unopposed), 2004 and 2008. Hoenig was mayor when Botany was proclaimed the City of Botany Bay on 11 May 1996. During his time as mayor, Hoenig campaigned on various issues such as heritage protection, where he supported the establishment of the Botany Historical Trust in 1994 and commissioned the Botany Bay Heritage Study in 1996, as well as the non-expansion of both the Botany Port and Sydney Airport. He did not seek re-election at the 2012 local government elections.

State parliament

Hoenig was preselected as the Labor candidate for 25 August 2012 Heffron

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

in the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

, following the parliamentary resignation of former Premier and state Labor MLA

Kristina Keneally Kristina Marie Kerscher Keneally (born 19 December 1968) is an American-born Australian politician who was a Labor Senator for New South Wales from February 2018 until April 2022, when she resigned to unsuccessfully contest the House of Repres ...

. Hoenig drew top spot on the

ballot paper A ballot is a device used to cast votes in an election and may be found as a piece of paper or a small ball used in secret voting. It was originally a small ball (see blackballing) used to record decisions made by voters in Italy around the 16t ...

, with three other candidates from the CDP, Greens and Democrats. Hoenig won with a 60 percent primary and 70 percent

two-candidate-preferred In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP, ...

vote. On 11 June 2021, Hoenig was appointed as the Manager of Opposition Business by Leader of the Opposition

Chris Minns Christopher John Minns (born 17 September 1979) is an Australian politician who is the leader of the NSW Labor Party. He was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the member for Kogarah for the Labor Party at the 2015 New Sout ...

Personal life

Hoenig's parents Ernest and Edith migrated to Australia after World War II. Edith was a

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

survivor born in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

and Ernest was born in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. Hoenig is married to Christine and has two sons; Benjamin and Matthew. Hoenig is a member of the Maroubra Synagogue.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoenig, Ron 1953 births Living people Mayors of Botany and Botany Bay Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales Australian barristers New South Wales local councillors Australian people of Austrian-Jewish descent Australian people of Czech-Jewish descent Jewish Australian politicians 21st-century Australian politicians Public defenders