Ben Humphreys

The Honourable Ben Humphreys AM

Member of the Australian Parliament for Griffith
In office 10 December 1977 – 29 January 1996
Preceded by	Don Cameron
Succeeded by	Graeme McDougall

Personal details
Born	(1934-08-17) 17 August 1934 Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Australian Labor Party

Benjamin Charles Humphreys AM (born 17 August 1934), Australian politician, is a former Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives representing the Division of Griffith, Queensland from 1977 to 1996.

Humphreys served a six-year term as Minister for Veterans' Affairs in the ministries of Bob Hawke and Paul Keating. In May 1992, that ministry and Humphreys along with it was promoted to Cabinet, and Humphreys also took over the duties of Minister assisting the Prime Minister for Northern Australia from Senator Bob Collins. Humphreys' elevation to Cabinet was because he was a Queenslander and there was a push to get at least one other Queenslander to Cabinet as Queensland in Cabinet prior to the May 1992 reshuffle was underrepresented. Despite this promotion to Cabinet, Humphreys was not reselected for a place in the ministry by the ALP caucus after the ALP's 1993 election victory ten months later.

After 18 years in parliament, Humphreys intended to leave politics in 1994, but delayed his retirement when the man he considered his ideal successor was ready to stand for preselection for Griffith – Kevin Rudd in 1995, later to become leader of the ALP and Prime Minister of Australia, lost the 1996 election to Liberal candidate Graeme McDougall but later won the seat in 1998.^[1]

Humphreys would perhaps have retired from Parliament in 1995 after Kevin Rudd's preselection in Griffith but decided against it as that would have meant an unwanted by-election not long after the ALP's loss of the seat of Canberra in a by-election earlier that year.

Humphreys was known for his close contact with Australia's South Pacific neighbours, and in August 2001 he was part of a Commonwealth Observer Group sent to oversee the 2001 election in Fiji.^[2]

Honours

26 January 2000: Member of the Order of Australia for service to the Federal Parliament, particularly in the area of veterans' affairs.^[3]
1 January 2001: Centenary Medal for distinguished service to the Commonwealth Parliament and politics^[4]

References

↑ Gordon, Michael: "One determined bastard", The Age, 19 April 2003.
↑ Media Release: Australia Welcomes Commencement of Fiji Elections Archived 12 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine., Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia), 24 August 2001.
↑ It's an Honour, Australian Government.
↑ It's an Honour, Australian Government.

Political offices
Preceded by Arthur Gietzelt	Minister for Veterans' Affairs 1987–93	Succeeded by John Faulkner
Preceded by Bob Collins	Minister assisting the Prime Minister for Northern Australia 1992–93	Abolished
Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Don Cameron	Member for Griffith 1977–96	Succeeded by Graeme McDougall

First Keating Ministry (1991–93)
Prime Minister: Paul Keating
Cabinet	Kim Beazley Neal Blewett Nick Bolkus John Button Bob Collins Peter Cook Simon Crean John Dawkins Michael Duffy Gareth Evans Alan Griffiths Gerry Hand Brian Howe Ben Humphreys Ros Kelly John Kerin Robert Ray Graham Richardson Ralph Willis
Outer Ministry	Peter Baldwin Neal Blewett David Beddall Gordon Bilney Bob Brown Wendy Fatin Ross Free Jeannette McHugh David Simmons Peter Staples Michael Tate Robert Tickner
Parliamentary Secretaries	Laurie Brereton Peter Duncan Gary Johns Stephen Martin Bob McMullan Roger Price Con Sciacca Warren Snowdon

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