Michael J. Vernon, AM (2 April 1932 – 6 November 1993) was a prominent Australian

consumer rights Consumer protection is the practice of safeguarding buyers of goods and services, and the public, against unfair practices in the marketplace. Consumer protection measures are often established by law. Such laws are intended to prevent business ...

activist. Vernon was born in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in 1932 to John Ernest Vernon (a writer in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

) and Caroline Clark Vernon (later a

cryptologist This is a list of cryptographers. Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties called adversaries. Pre twentieth century * Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi: wrote a (now lost) bo ...

in the Royal Navy). In 1955, he emigrated to Australia, where he settled in Canberra. He was a joint founder of ''Canberra Consumer'' (a consumer activist group and publisher of a quarterly magazine) in 1962 and served on the Executive of ''Canberra Consumer'' until his death in 1993. He was employed by the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

in 1960 and worked on the dating of

moon rocks Moon rock or lunar rock is rock originating from Earth's Moon. This includes lunar material collected during the course of human exploration of the Moon, and rock that has been ejected naturally from the Moon's surface and landed on Earth as ...

returned to earth by the

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label= Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label ...

missions. In 1972 he became the manager of the ''Research School of Earth Sciences'', a position he held until 1988. As an early Australian consumer activist, he was best known for his work on improving condom reliability, banning

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

(Pb) and

cadmium Cadmium is a chemical element with the symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12, zinc and mercury. Like zinc, it demonstrates oxidation state +2 in most of ...

(Cd) in children's toys and house paint throughout Australia, improving car safety, banning certain pesticides in the Asia-Pacific Region, and stopping the dumping of unsafe products into Third World countries. He was appointed Chairman of the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. I ...

Consumer Affairs Council in 1973 by the Minister for Territories,

Kep Enderby Keppel Earl Enderby (25 June 1926 – 7 January 2015) was an Australian politician and judge. Enderby was a member of the House of Representatives, representing the Australian Labor Party between 1970 and 1975 and became a senior cabinet minist ...

MP and held that position until 1993. He helped establish the Australian Federation of Consumer Organizations (AFCO) (now known as the

Consumers' Federation of Australia The Consumers' Federation of Australia (CFA) is Australia's umbrella consumer advocacy group. History In the early 1960s the Australian Consumers Association unsuccessfully attempted to establish state and territory Branches. The first state or t ...

(CFA)) and with Warren Braren of

Consumers Union A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. ...

(USA) he turned the International Organization of Consumer Unions (IOCU) (now known as

Consumers International Consumers International is the membership organization for consumer groups around the world. Founded on 1 April 1960, it has over 250 member organizations in 120 countries. Its head office is situated in London, England, and has numerous region ...

) concept for a worldwide "Consumer Interpol" into a reality. He was a member of the Australian Press Council and held many other positions on Government boards and committees.

Honours

He was made a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gov ...

in 1985 for services to consumer affairs and was also awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977, also for services to consumer affairs.

Personal life and death

Vernon married in 1959 to Jeanette Wilkinson; the couple had two children, one of whom is writer David Vernon. Michael Vernon died, aged 61, from a blood cancer, multiple myeloma, which was attributed to his paid work with radioactive materials at Australia's first major uranium mine in Rum Jungle in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

and later at the

Research School of Physical Sciences and Research School of Earth Sciences."Isotope Danger in Canberra Fire"
''The Age'', 7 July 1960.

References

*''

Who's Who in Australia ''Who's Who in Australia'' (''WWIA'') is an Australian biographical dictionary first published by Fred Johns in 1906 as ''Johns's Notable Australians''. It is used as a resource for summary information on prominent Australians. ''WWIA'' is part of ...

'' (1988); , ''Herald & Weekly Times'', Melbourne * ''In the Consumer Interest - A selected history of consumer affairs in Australia 1945-2000'', 2000, Simon Smith, Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals, Melbourne

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vernon, Michael 1932 births 1993 deaths Australian activists Consumer rights activists People from the Australian Capital Territory British emigrants to Australia Members of the Order of Australia Deaths from cancer in the Australian Capital Territory Deaths from multiple myeloma Australian memoirists 20th-century memoirists