John Dawkins
John Sydney Dawkins AO (born March 2, 1947 in Perth , Western Australia , Australia ) is an Australian politician .
Life
After attending school, Dawkins studied economics at the University of Western Australia and began his political career in 1974 as a candidate for the Australian Labor Party (ALP) with the first election to the Australian House of Representatives , to which he represented the constituency of Tangney however only belonged until his defeat in the following election in 1975. In the 1977 elections he was re-elected as a member of the House of Representatives, where he represented the constituency of Freemantle until 1994 .
Following the ALP's election victory, Prime Minister Bob Hawke made him Minister of Finance and Public Service in March 1983 . After a cabinet reshuffle, he became Minister of Trade and Youth Affairs in 1984 and then, most recently, after another government reshuffle, Minister of Employment, Education and Training between 1987 and 1991.
Under Hawke's successor as Prime Minister Paul Keating , he was appointed Treasurer of the government in December 1991. Its high international standing was marred shortly afterwards in 1992 when the British press resumed its attacks on Conservative Party policies . Dawkins believed that the conditions created in Britain by Prime Minister John Major would repeat itself as a model for Australia if the Conservative Liberal Party of Australia were to win the elections. In a lively debate in the House of Representatives, he said in the direction of the Conservatives:
“At about 5 o'clock every evening there is a rush to see who can occupy the doorways of Australia House in London in order to have somewhere to sleep at night. You can see the results of your policies every day in Britain as people go around looking for a doorway in which to huddle and go into subways to beg for some kind of support that their government will not give them. "
“At 5pm there is a rush every evening to see who is occupying the doorways of Australia House in London (the seat of the Commonwealth High Commissioner ) to get a place to sleep for the night. You can see the results of their policies every day in the UK, with people walking around looking for an entrance to duck into, and people taking the tube to beg for some help theirs Government does not give them. "
As treasury minister , he adhered to a tight economic policy and forced renegade ministers to resign if they left the official party line and criticized the party's internal orthodoxy .
In November 1992, at the request of the opposition , the Australian Senate ordered an investigation into the government's credit practices. It was alleged that Dawkins had allegedly kept an increase in the borrowing of 1.3 billion Australian dollars of the previous ALP government of Prime Minister Joan Kirner in the state of Victoria secret so as not to endanger the party's victory in the October 1992 election. Although the Labor Party suffered a nationwide election defeat and Jeff Kennett of the Liberal Party became Victoria's new Prime Minister, the controversy escalated and contributed to the weakening of the Australian dollar.
In December 1993 he resigned as Treasury Secretary and left Prime Minister Keating's government.
After the end of his political career, he went into the private sector and was also an advisor to the World Bank and the OECD .
For his services he was awarded the title of Officer of the Order of Australia . He has also received honorary doctorates from the University of South Australia and the Queensland University of Technology .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ It's an Honor. Australia Government, accessed July 22, 2010 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Dawkins, John |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Dawkins, John Sydney |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Australian politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 2, 1947 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Perth , Western Australia, Australia |