Doug McClelland

Douglas (Doug) McClelland, AC (born 5 August 1926) was elected to the Australian Senate as a member of the Australian Labor Party at the 1961 election, representing New South Wales.

McClelland was born in the Sydney suburb of Wentworthville and he served in the second Australian Imperial Force from June 1946 to January 1947 in the in Northern Territory. He was a reporter before entering Parliament.^[1]

McClelland was the manager of Government Business in the Senate from 9 July 1974, Minister for the Media in the Whitlam Government until 6 June 1975, and then Special Minister of State, he also served as President of the Senate from 21 April 1983 until his resignation on 23 January 1987.^[1] From 1981 until his resignation he was the Father of the Senate. He went on to serve as Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.

McClelland was awarded the Douglas Wilkie Medal for services to non-football in 1973 by the Anti-Football League. The accolade was presented after McClelland introduced a points system for television programming, which was to have an unfavourable effect on football coverage.

McClelland married Lorna McNeill and they have one son—Robert McClelland, member for Barton—and two daughters.^[2] He was made a Companion of the Order of Australia in June 1987.^[3]

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