John Michael Spender (2 December 1935 – 13 October 2022) was an Australian politician, diplomat and barrister. He was a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

from 1980 to 1990, representing the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

, and was a shadow minister under Andrew Peacock and

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. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. His eleven-year tenure as prime min ...

. He later served as Ambassador to France from 1996 to 2000.

Early life

Spender was born in Sydney on 2 December 1935. He was the son of Jean (née Henderson) and

Percy Spender Sir Percy Claude Spender (5 October 18973 May 1985) was an Australian politician, diplomat, and judge. He served in the House of Representatives from 1937 to 1951, including as a cabinet minister under Robert Menzies and Arthur Fadden. He was ...

. His mother was a novelist and his father was a politician, diplomat and judge who served as Ambassador to the United States in the 1950s. Spender was educated at

Cranbrook School, Sydney Cranbrook School is an Independent school, independent Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican day school, day and boarding school, boarding school, with multiple campuses in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), eastern suburbs New South Wales, Aus ...

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

and

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

. He returned to Australia and practised as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

in Sydney from 1961 to 1980. He was appointed

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

(QC) in 1974. In 1978, he represented the

Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association (SDA) is a private sector trade union in Australia, representing retail, fast-food and warehousing workers, and has branches in each state and territory. Its membership is predominantly ...

(SDA) in a lawsuit against the

Australian Workers' Union The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoralism, pastoral and mining industries in the late 1880s and it currently has approximately 80,000 ...

(AWU). Spender was commissioned by the Government of New South Wales to report on the collapse of Gollin Holdings Limited. He found that the company's managing director Keith Gale had falsified accounts to cover a $10.8 million loss in 1975, and had also misappropriated company funds. His final report was tabled in state parliament in March 1979, and recommended changes to company laws and practices.

Politics

Spender served as treasurer and metropolitan vice-president of the

Liberal Party of Australia (New South Wales Division) The New South Wales Liberal Party, officially called The Liberal Party of Australia, New South Wales Division, and colloquially known as the NSW Liberals, is the state division of the Liberal Party of Australia in New South Wales. The party is ...

. In 1979, he and state president David Patten conducted an inquiry into Lyenko Urbanchich, a Liberal Party official who had been accused of collaboration with the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

in war-time Slovenia. They found no clear evidence to verify the allegations but recommended he be barred from holding party office with the permission of the state executive. However, the state executive subsequently voted that Urbanchich be expelled from the party. Spender unsuccessfully sought Liberal

preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presel ...

at the 1969 federal election (in

Warringah Warringah ( ) is a name taken from the local Aboriginal word for Middle Harbour, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It may refer to: * Division of Warringah, an electoral division of the Australian House of Representatives created in 1922 * E ...

) and the 1973 Parramatta by-election. He was eventually elected to the House of Representatives at the 1980 federal election, succeeding Bill Graham in

North Sydney North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. And is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney Council. History The Indigenous people on the s ...

. After the Coalition's defeat in 1983, he was appointed to Andrew Peacock's shadow ministry with responsibility for aviation and defence support. He was later removed for opposing the Costigan Commission. Following the 1985 leadership spill, the new opposition leader

appointed Spender as shadow attorney-general. In June 1986, he strongly criticised proposals for a

bill of rights A bill of rights, sometimes called a declaration of rights or a charter of rights, is a list of the most important rights to the citizens of a country. The purpose is to protect those rights against infringement from public officials and pri ...

. In April 1987, he succeeded

Peter Baume Peter Erne Baume, Order of Australia, AC (born 30 January 1935) is a retired Australian doctor and politician. He was a Australian Senate, Senator for New South Wales from 1974 to 1991, representing the Liberal Party of Australia, Liberal Par ...

as the Coalition's spokesman on the status of women, in the absence of any women in the shadow ministry. After the 1987 federal election Spender was given the foreign affairs portfolio. In August 1988, he called for all Australian sanctions against South Africa to be removed, stating they had slowed reform. Spender held the seat until his defeat by prominent

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

Ted Mack at the 1990 election. He lost over 18 percent of his primary vote from 1987, allowing Mack to win when Democrat and

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

preferences flowed overwhelmingly to him.

Ambassador

In 1996, Spender was appointed Australian Ambassador to France, a position he held until 2000. He was also non-resident ambassador to Portugal (1996–1998) and special envoy to Cyprus (1996–2000). He was awarded a Legion D'honneur by the French government for the work he did to build French and Australian relations.

Personal life and death

Spender married fashion designer

Carla Zampatti Carla Maria Zampatti , (19 May 1942 – 3 April 2021) was an Italian-born Australian fashion designer and businesswoman, and executive chair of the fashion label Carla Zampatti Limited. Background Born in Lovero, Italy in 1942, Zampatti se ...

in 1975 and they had two children:

Bianca Bianca is a feminine given name. It means "white" and is an Italian cognate of Blanche. It is known in the Anglosphere as a character in William Shakespeare's ''The Taming of the Shrew''. It came to greater notice in the 1970s, due to public fi ...

and Allegra. Zampatti publicly announced the end of the marriage at an event at her home in April 2010. He then married Catherine Spender. Bianca Spender is a fashion designer. Allegra Spender was elected to the House of Representatives at the 2022 federal election, standing as a teal independent against an incumbent Liberal MP. Her father publicly endorsed her candidacy. Spender died in Sydney on 13 October 2022, at the age of 86.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spender, John 1935 births 2022 deaths Ambassadors of Australia to France Ambassadors of Australia to Algeria Ambassadors of Australia to Portugal Australian barristers Yale Law School alumni Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for North Sydney Members of the Australian House of Representatives Australian King's Counsel 21st-century King's Counsel People educated at Cranbrook School, Sydney Australian MPs 1980–1983 Australian MPs 1983–1984 Australian MPs 1984–1987 Australian MPs 1987–1990