Christopher Cleland Schacht (born 6 December 1946) is a former Australian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and member of the South Australian branch of 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 ...

(ALP). He was born in Melbourne and educated at the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

and Wattle Park Teachers College.

Career

Schacht's political career started as a state party official in 1969 during the

Don Dunstan Donald Allan Dunstan (21 September 1926 – 6 February 1999) was an Australian politician who served as the 35th premier of South Australia from 1967 to 1968, and again from 1970 to 1979. He was a member of the House of Assembly (MHA) for th ...

era. In 1987, he entered

Federal Parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the governor-gen ...

as a Labor Party

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

for South Australia. He was Minister for Science and

Small Business Small businesses are types of corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships which have fewer employees and/or less annual revenue than a regular-sized business or corporation. Businesses are defined as "small" in terms of being able to ap ...

and Minister assisting the Prime Minister for Science in the Keating Labor Government from March 1993 to March 1994 and then Minister for Small Business,

Customs Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs ...

and

Construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...

until Labor's defeat at the 1996 election. He left the parliament in June 2002 after 15 years as a Senator and 33 years in Australian politics.

Post-parliamentary career

In 2006, Senator Robert Ray said of Schacht's "long-winded critiques" of factionalism within the Labor party that "no-one practised factionalism harder than he did. But once he lost influence in his own faction, he condemned all factions." Schacht has openly criticised the influence that he believes trade unions have within the Labor party. Schacht has supported

uranium mining Uranium mining is the process of extraction of uranium ore from the ground. Over 50 thousand tons of uranium were produced in 2019. Kazakhstan, Canada, and Australia were the top three uranium producers, respectively, and together account f ...

and the prospect of nuclear waste storage in South Australia. He told ABC's '' Stateline'' in 2006 that storing the world's nuclear waste "may be the safest thing we can do for the world. Secondly, the world will pay a large amount of money in the future for some place like Australia or outback South Australia to store nuclear waste safely in a safe, in a geologically sound area, with a stable political system." In 2008 Schacht was appointed as a Director of

Marathon Resources The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road running, road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also w ...

. The company's exploration for

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

Arkaroola Arkaroola is the common name for the ''Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary'', a wildlife sanctuary situated on of freehold and pastoral lease land in South Australia. It is located north of the Adelaide city centre in the Northern Flinders Rang ...

later became a subject of controversy. A series of environmental breaches resulted in the revocation of the company's exploration license and the establishment of the Arkaroola Protection Zone. As of 2015, Schacht is a registered political lobbyist in South Australia. His clients include Pilatus Australia, Liebherr Australia, PMB Defence and Basetec Services. Former clients include VIPAC Engineers and Scientists. Schacht is also the chairman of the Australia China Development Company and an ambassador for the National Secular Lobby. Schacht is the President of the

Australian Volleyball Federation The Volleyball Australia, formerly known as Australian Volleyball Federation, is the national governing body for volleyball in Australia. Founded in 1963, the AVF is responsible for maintaining national Volleyball competitions, alongside state le ...

. In October 2006, he was elected to the Legal Commission of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball for a four-year term.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schacht, Chris Members of the Australian Senate Members of the Australian Senate for South Australia Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia 1946 births Living people Australian people of German descent Australian lobbyists 21st-century Australian politicians 20th-century Australian politicians