John Brogden

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John Brogden
John Brogden
Born 28 March 1969
Sydney, Australia

John Gilbert Brogden (born 28 March 1969) is a former Australian politician. He was a Liberal Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from May 1996-2005, representing the electorate of Pittwater, where he is locally very popular. He was formerly New South Wales Opposition Leader and Shadow Minister for Planning, Infrastructure and Ethnic Affairs. Brogden resigned from leadership of his party in August 2005, following public outcry over alleged sexual harassment and a remark calling the Malaysian-born wife of Bob Carr (the ex-Premier of NSW), a "mail-order bride". Soon after his resignation he is reported to have engaged in self-harm, which is widely reported to have been a suicide attempt. He soon after resigned from parliament. He is currently CEO of Manchester Unity, an Australian health services company.

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[edit] Career

Brogden was born and raised in Sydney. He joined the Liberal Party in his final year of high school at St Patrick's College Strathfield, and after graduating worked as an adviser to then-Attorney-General John Hannaford, then-Premier John Fahey and Legislative Council member Ted Pickering. In 1992, he became President of the state branch of the Young Liberal Movement, and a member of the party's state executive. In 1994, he served a year as Treasurer of the federal movement. During this period, he also worked as a public relations consultant for several years.

Brogden was elected to the Legislative Assembly in May 1996, but it was not until 1999 that he was promoted to the shadow ministry, when he became the Shadow Minister for Youth Affairs, Urban Affairs, Planning and Sydney Water. In the leadup to the 2002 election, then-Opposition Leader Kerry Chikarovski was struggling in the polls against Premier Bob Carr. On March 25, 2002, Brogden announced a challenge. Three days later, he succeeded in a 15-14 vote, becoming the youngest ever leader of a state or federal Liberal Party. On becoming Opposition Leader, he resigned from his previous portfolios, taking on the new ministries of Ethnic Affairs and Treasury.

However he was unable to defeat Bob Carr at the 2003 election. He led the party to a terrible loss, but kept his position. Since that election loss he improved his standing in the polls and at some stages in 2005 the Coalition was in front of Labor, with many people believing that he would win the next state election, espically when Bob Carr resigned from politics and Morris Iemma was elected as his replacement.

After becoming party leader, he took to confronting the government over a number of issues, often focusing on health and police corruption. He aggressively pursued the Carr government over its involvement in the Orange Grove affair, in which a shopping centre was shut down, allegedly for zoning reasons, amidst claims of political pressure from The Westfield Group, who ran a neighbouring shopping centre. In October 2004, Westfield launched defamation action against Brogden as a result of comments he made about the affair. Brogden has vowed to vigorously defend the case.

On 21 July it was announced that John Brogden would return to public life as the CEO of Manchester Unity (MU), a health and financial services company. His appointment became effective as at 14 August, 2006.

[edit] Liberal views

While the Australian Liberal party is generally politically conservative, Brogden has a number of political views considered by some to be social liberal. For example, he supports a change to an Australian republic and gay rights. This has alienated some members of the Liberal party.

[edit] Controversy and resignation

John Brogden came under fire for offensive behaviour at a 29 July 2005 function in Sydney. He described Helena Carr, the Malaysian-born wife of former NSW premier, Bob Carr, as a "mail-order bride" (the couple met in Tahiti in 1972 and were married in 1973). Fully, Brogden said Bob Carr could "ship his mail-order bride back to where she came from, for all I care". Brogden has publicly apologised for this remark. He has also been accused of unwelcome sexual advances to two female journalists at the same function (ABC's Lateline reported that he propositioned one journalist, and pinched another on the bottom).

As a consequence of the controversy, John Brogden resigned as leader of the NSW Opposition on 29 August 2005, but was expected to remain Member for Pittwater until at least the next state election. Barry O'Farrell pulled out of the race in the name of party unity (widely reported in the media on 31 August 2005). He initially announced his intention to remain as the member for Pittwater, but resigned from politics altogether on September 28.

During the by-election campaign for the seat he vacated, Brogden was reported to be not actively supporting the new Liberal party candidate, Paul Nicolau. Many believe that his failure to do so was a major contributor to the seat being won by an independent candidate, Alex McTaggart.

[edit] Incident of self harm

At around 10.30pm on 30 August 2005, police attended Brogden's electorate office, after concerns were raised by members of his family. They found him apparently unconscious in a back room, having slit his wrists, apparently in a drug and alcohol induced stupor. When The Sydney Morning Herald called Barry O'Farrell at about 11pm to question him about possible leadership contention he told them, "Excuse me if I say I don't care about the leadership at the moment, but I am following an ambulance with John Brogden inside. He has attempted self-harm. It sort of puts things in perspective, doesn't it?" [1] He was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital that night, and discharged the following day into respite care in a North Shore psychiatric facility. It has been widely reported that Brogden's actions were a suicide attempt, however whether this is the case (or whether his actions were some other form of self-harm) is yet to be officially confirmed. On 1 September, Brogden and his wife issued a short statement thanking people who had sent messages of support, and inviting people wishing to help further to donate to beyondblue, an anti-depression organisation. [2]

[edit] Notes

  1. ↑  "Brogden prepares for return to politics", The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 March 2006.
  2. ↑  "Shattered Brogden's suicide bid", The Sydney Morning Herald, 31 August 2005.

[edit] References

Upon Carr's resignation
Brogden's resignation
Episode of self-harm
Succession
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