Patrick John (Paddy) O'Brien (12 January 1937, Wodonga, Victoria – 1998, Perth, Western Australia), was an Australian political scientist and author, teaching in the political science department of the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

from 1969 until his death. He was a vocal critic of WA Inc corruption and the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

(WA) in the 1980s, was embroiled in a university controversy, and was elected to the 1998 Australian Commonwealth Government's People's Constitutional Convention shortly before he died, in the same year''Obituary for UWA lecturer in politics.''O'Brien, Patrick, 1937-1998. UWA leader, 24 Aug. 1998, p. 15,

Biography

O'Brien's parents were John Cornelius O'Brien and Monica Augusta Coore. He was educated at St Mary's Primary School, Ringwood, St John's Marist Brothers School, Hawthorn and St Kevin's Christian Brothers College,

Toorak Toorak () is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington local government area. Toorak recorded a population of 12,817 at the 2021 census. The name ...

. He graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1967 (BA with combined honours in history and political science).Sacks M A (ed) ''The WAY 79 Who is Who: synoptic biographies of Western Australians ''Crawley Publishers, Western Australia, 1980. (Patrick O'Brien monograph on p.291) In 1961, he married Valerie Joy Prowse, with whom he had one son and two daughters. Prior to embarking on his academic career at the

(UWA) in 1969, he had worked as a press and radio journalist for four years and gained eight years' experience of teaching in primary, secondary and senior technical education. At UWA, he became an associate professor in political science "with a particular focus on twentieth century totalitarianism and was best known publicly for his involvement in two high-profile campaigns, as a leading critic of the Western Australian Burke Labor government ... and as a vocal direct-election republican". After his death, UWA established a Patrick O'Brien Foundation "in honour of his outstanding contribution to issues of public policy and political debate in Australia" with funds donated by colleagues, friends and admirers.

Bibliography

*(Ed.) O'Brien, P and Webb, M ''The Executive State—WA Inc & The Constitution'' Constitutional Press, Perth (1991): *O'Brien, P ''The Saviours: An Intellectual History of the Left in Australia'' Drummond, Victoria, Australia 1977. *O'Brien, P ''Constitutional Conflict in Australia'' *O'Brien, P ''The Liberals: Factions, Feuds and Fancies'' Viking, Melbourne, 1985. *(Ed.) O'Brien, P ''The Burke Ambush: Corporatism and Society in Western Australia'' Apollo Press, Perth, WA, 1986. *O'Brien, P ''Burke's Shambles: Parliamentary Contempt in the Wild West'' Burke Press, Melbourne, 1987. *O'Brien, P ''The People's Case: Democratic and Antidemocratic Ideas in Australia's Constitutional Debate'' Australian Scholarly Publications, Collingwood, Vic, Australia, 1995.

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:OBrien, Patrick 1937 births 1998 deaths University of Melbourne alumni Australian political scientists Academic staff of the University of Western Australia 20th-century political scientists

Biography

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