Philip Ruddock

The Honourable Philip Ruddock MP
Father of the Australian House of Representatives
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 September 1998
Preceded by	Ian Sinclair
Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs
In office 11 March 1996 – 7 October 2003
Prime Minister	John Howard
Preceded by	Nick Bolkus
Succeeded by	Amanda Vanstone
Attorney-General of Australia
In office 7 October 2003 – 3 December 2007
Prime Minister	John Howard
Preceded by	Daryl Williams
Succeeded by	Robert McClelland
Chief Government Whip in the House of Representatives
In office 18 September 2013 – 13 February 2015
Prime Minister	Tony Abbott
Preceded by	Chris Hayes
Succeeded by	Scott Buchholz
Member of the Australian Parliament for Berowra
Incumbent
Assumed office 13 March 1993
Preceded by	Harry Edwards
Majority	19.07% (2013)[1]
Member of the Australian Parliament for Dundas
In office 10 December 1977 – 13 March 1993
Preceded by	Seat Created
Succeeded by	Seat Abolished
Member of the Australian Parliament for Parramatta
In office 22 September 1973 – 10 December 1977
Preceded by	Nigel Bowen
Succeeded by	John Brown
Personal details
Born	(1943-03-12) 12 March 1943 Canberra, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Liberal Party of Australia
Residence	Pennant Hills
Alma mater	University of Sydney
Profession	Lawyer Politician
Religion	Anglican

Philip Maxwell Ruddock (born 12 March 1943) is an Australian politician who is currently a member of the House of Representatives representing the Division of Berowra, New South Wales, for the Liberal Party of Australia. First elected in a 1973 by-election, he is the only Member of Parliament from the period of the Whitlam government (1972–75) and the Fraser government (1975–83) still serving. He has been the Father of the House of Representatives since 1998. He is currently the third longest-serving Member of the House of Representatives, and the third longest-serving parliamentarian, in the history of the Australian Parliament. Ruddock served continuously in federal cabinet during the Howard Government, as Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs from 1996 to 2003, and then Attorney-General from 2003 to 2007.

Biography

Ruddock was born in Canberra and was the son of Emmie (née Chappell) and Max Ruddock, a Liberal member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly between 1962 and 1976. He was educated at Barker College in the Sydney suburb of Hornsby before entering University of Sydney, after which he practised as a solicitor. He was articled to the firm Berne, Murray and Tout and was promoted to partner.

On 22 September 1973, Ruddock was elected to the House of Representatives at a by-election for the seat of Parramatta. He narrowly held it at the 1974 general election, but was returned with a large swing in 1975. A redistribution ahead of the 1977 election, however, erased Ruddock's majority and turned it into a notional Labor seat. Ruddock shifted to the new seat of Dundas, which included most of the Liberal-friendly areas of his old seat, and held the electorate until its abolition in 1993. Ruddock then transferred to the equally safe seat of Berowra, a seat he holds to the present day.

Ruddock was a member of the Opposition Shadow Ministry from 1983 to 1985 and from 1989 to 1996. In the 1980s and early 1990s, he was an active member of the parliamentary group of Amnesty International. In 2000, Ruddock was disavowed by Amnesty International due to the treatment of refugees by the Howard Government and asked not to wear his Amnesty International badge whilst performing ministerial duties.^[2]

In August 1988, while Ruddock was still a backbencher, the Leader of the Opposition, John Howard, commented that he believed the rate of Asian immigration was too high. The Hawke Labor government sought to embarrass Howard and introduced a bill to Parliament to ensure that immigration did not discriminate on the basis of race. Ruddock along with fellow Liberals Steele Hall and Ian Macphee crossed the floor to support the Labor motion.^[3][4] In 1989, following Andrew Peacock's ascension to the leadership, Ruddock became Shadow Minister for Immigration and proposed a settlement scheme for Australia's far north.^[5]

Ruddock is Vice-Chairman of the Global Panel Foundation – Australasia – a NGO that works behind the scenes in crisis areas around the world. The Australasia Chair is the Rt. Hon. Don McKinnon, former Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand, and Commonwealth Secretary General. The Global Panel Foundation has offices and satellites in Berlin, Copenhagen, New York, Prague, Sydney and Toronto.

Minister

Following the Coalition's rise to government at the 1996 election, Ruddock was appointed to the Cabinet as Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. In this role, he administered the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs and presided over the Howard government's policies on asylum seekers. Many Australians feel that Ruddock's policies became significantly more conservative during this period of time, and that earlier political viewpoints had been abandoned, in an attempt to maintain favour with Prime Minister John Howard. During his time in office, the previous Keating Labor Government's practice of mandatory detention of asylum seekers was continued and extended. In October 1999, the Australian government introduced Temporary Protection Visas for persons who applied for refugee status after making an unauthorised arrival in Australia, and was the main type of visa issued to refugees when released from Australian immigration detention facilities. Many Afghan and Iraqi refugees who are not Australian citizens were affected by this policy.

In 2001 Ruddock was also appointed to the role of Minister for Indigenous Affairs. By 2001 he had become a high-profile figure enjoying considerable support within the Liberal Party, while being strongly opposed by left-wing activists and some human rights advocates. His "Pacific Solution" – which prevented asylum seekers receiving legal access – was condemned by Human Rights Watch as contravening international law, as being a human rights violation: Oxfam and the UNHCR (United Nations refugee agency) agreed with this viewpoint.^[6] At one point he was one of the few senior ministers (besides the prime minister) to have needed personal security details.

Areas in Ruddock's portfolio and some of his decisions were highly controversial in Australian politics, and led to Amnesty International's public attempt to distance the organisation from him by asking him to remove his lapel badge.^[7] In 2003, Ruddock was accused by the Labor immigration spokesperson, Julia Gillard, of personally intervening to give a Filipino with a criminal record, Dante Tan, favourable treatment in exchange for donations to the Liberal Party.^[8] Ruddock denied that there was a connection between the donations and his actions, and noted that the donation had been properly declared.^[9] In 2004 an Australian Federal Police investigation cleared Ruddock of any wrongdoing, and a Senate inquiry, composed of a majority of Labor members, found that "there was no way to determine whether Mr Ruddock was influenced by money to grant visas."^[10]

In 2003, Ruddock became Attorney-General in a cabinet reshuffle. On 27 May 2004, Ruddock introduced the Marriage Legislation Amendment Bill to prevent any possible court rulings allowing same-sex marriages or civil unions.^[11]

In July 2007, referring to DVDs of the pro-jihad sermons of Australian Muslim preacher Feiz Mohammad, he said that Australia needed better laws to deal with items that encourage people to commit terrorist attacks, and that "Waiting for a terrorist attack to happen is unacceptable."^[12] He added: "People who may be susceptible to carrying out a terrorist act ought not to be instructed in how to do it, how to use household products to produce a bomb, or be encouraged to think about violent jihad and taking their own life."^[12]

In opposition

Following the Howard government's defeat at the November 2007 election, Ruddock did not seek a shadow cabinet role. He returned to the frontbench as Shadow Cabinet Secretary after Tony Abbott captured the Opposition leadership in December 2009.

Chief government whip

Ruddock was named the Chief Government Whip in the House of Representatives in the Abbott Government, which took office on 18 September 2013. Ruddock was replaced as Chief Government Whip by Queensland MP Scott Buchholz on 13 February 2015.^[13][14]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Philip Ruddock.

• Australian Story transcript