Barry Cohen

Barry Cohen AM (born 3 April 1935) is a former Australian Labor politician. He was a minister in the government of Bob Hawke.

Biography

Cohen was born in Griffith, New South Wales and educated at Griffith High School, Sydney Grammar School and North Sydney Technical High School. He received a Bachelor of Arts from the Australian National University. He was a businessman before entering politics.

He was the federal member for the seat of Robertson from 1969 until his retirement before the 1990 election. Following the Australian Labor Party's win under Bob Hawke at the 1983 election, he was Minister for Home Affairs and the Environment from 1983 to 1984 and then Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Environment until 1987.^[1]

After politics

Cohen has written a number of books on political anecdotes, and an autobiography:^[2]

• Life with Gough (1996)
• From Whitlam to Winston (1997)
• The Almost Complete Gough (2001)
• The Life Of The Party – Political Anecdotes (1987)

Personal

Cohen married Rae Mc'Neill in October 1959 and they have three sons.^[3]

Although Cohen voted for the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the 1970s, he has spoken out against gay marriage, arguing that "gay marriage and conventional marriage is [not] the same thing".^[4]

Honours

Cohen was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 2007, for service to the Australian Parliament and to the community through a range of cultural and environmental roles and contributions to public discussion and debate.^[5]

References