Maurice Neil

Maurice James Neil (born 29 May 1944) was an Australian politician, soldier and lawyer. Born in Manchester, England, he migrated to Australia and attended the University of Sydney. He became a barrister and also served as a migration officer for New South Wales in London. He served in the military 1966-75, including voluntary time in Vietnam as a Platoon Commander in the Royal Australian Infantry.
He was a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Australian War Memorial from 31.8.1976 to 30.6.1980 and a Member of the Council of Trustees of the Australian War Memorial from 1.7.1980 to 30.6.1981. He also served on the NSW Council for the Ageing, the NSW Council for Civil Liberties and the Australian branch of the International Commission of Jurists.

Parliamentary Career

In 1975, he was pre-selected as Liberal Party candidate for the Labour held federal seat of St.George, in Sydney's Southern suburbs, from a strong field of eleven candidates. In the subsequent federal election, in December 1975, he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Liberal member for St George, narrowly defeating Labor's Bill Morrison by 56 votes, after distribution of preferences.
In the 1977 federal election, despite an adverse electorate boundary redistribution, he withstood a challenge from the previous member for Grayndler, Tony Whitlam, to retain St.George with an increased majority of 2665 votes, after distribution of preferences.
Neil was defeated by Morrison in the 1980 election.^[1]

References