Neil Brown (Australian politician)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Neil Anthony Brown, QC (b. 22 February 1940) is an Australian lawyer, arbitrator and former politician.

He was a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives for the Division of Diamond Valley from 1969 to 1972, and 1975 to 1983, and the Division of Menzies (both in Victoria) from 1984 to 1991. He was Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party under John Howard from 1985 to 1987, Minister for Employment and Youth Affairs from 1981 to 1982, Minister for Business and Consumer Affairs in 1982 and Minister for Communications from 1982 to 1983.

He studied law at the University of Melbourne, and was admitted to the Bar in Victoria in 1964. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1980.

As Minister for Communications, Brown made a now-embarrassing gaffe when he told a delegation from Telecom Australia who were applying to the government for mobile phone spectrum that such devices would "never take off".^[1]

Brown now arbitrates Internet domain name disputes.^[2][3]

[edit] Honours

• 1 January 2001: Centenary Medal for service to the Commonwealth Parliament and Government from 1969 to 1991^[4]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• neilbrownqc.com (personal website)

Political offices
Preceded by Ian Viner	Minister for Employment and Youth Affairs 1981 – 1982	Succeeded by Ian Macphee
Preceded by John Moore	Minister for Business and Consumer Affairs 1982	Succeeded by Andrew Peacock (Industry and Commerce)
Preceded by Ian Sinclair	Minister for Communications 1982 – 1983	Succeeded by Michael Duffy
Parliament of Australia
New division	Member for Diamond Valley 1969 – 1972	Succeeded by David McKenzie
Preceded by David McKenzie	Member for Diamond Valley 1975 – 1983	Succeeded by Peter Staples
New division	Member for Menzies 1984 – 1991	Succeeded by Kevin Andrews
Party political offices
Preceded by John Howard	Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party 1985 – 1987	Succeeded by Andrew Peacock