Rupert Hamer

Rupert Hamer

Sir Rupert James "Dick" Hamer AC KCMG ED (born July 29, 1916 in Kew , Melbourne , Victoria ; † March 23, 2004 ibid) was an Australian politician of the Liberal Party of Australia (LPA), who was 39th between 1972 and 1981 . Prime Minister of Victoria was.

Life

Degree, solicitor and officer

Hamer was the son of the immigrant solicitor Hubert Hamer from England and his wife Elizabeth Anne MacLuckie. His younger brother David Hamer was also a Liberal Party politician and between 1969 and 1974 and again between 1975 and 1977 a member of the Australian House of Representatives for the constituency of Isaacs and then from 1978 to 1990 a member of the Australian Senate as representative of the state of Victoria .

After attending the Grammar Schools in Melbourne and Geelong, he completed a law degree at the University of Melbourne , from which he graduated with a Master of Laws (LL. M.). After being admitted to the bar in 1940, he also started working as a solicitor.

However, he initially gave up this activity during World War II to serve in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) between 1940 and 1945 . He subsequently took part in the battles at Tobruk , the first and second battles of El Alamein , the battles for New Guinea , Operation Overlord and the plans to cross the Rhine towards the end of the Second World War and was most recently promoted to major .

After the war he resumed his work as a solictor and became a partner in the law firm Smith & Emmerton . In addition, he was director of various companies such as Gas Supply Co. Ltd , General Foods Corporation Ltd , Molded Products Australasia Ltd , Nylex Corporation Ltd and Yorkshire Chemical Co. At the same time, Hamer was Vice President of Swinburne Technical College between 1948 and 1972 and from 1948 to 1972 member of the advisory board of the Royal Children's Hospital .

Moreover, Hamer was the military Connected and was 1954-1958 Commanding Officer of the Citizens Military Forces belonging Victorian Scottish Regiment . For his many years of service in this reserve army, he was awarded the Efficiency Decoration (ED).

Member of the Legislative Council and Minister

His political career began with Hamer, who joined the Liberal Country Party in South Camberwell in 1947 when he became a member of the Legislative Council on June 21, 1958 , the Upper House of Victoria , and represented it until he resigned on March 17, 1971 the interests of East Yarra .

At the beginning of his membership in parliament he was a member of the library committee and the qualification committee between 1958 and 1961, and then from 1961 to 1962 a member of the legal statutes revision committee. At the same time he served as a member of the Advisory Board of the University of Melbourne from 1958 to 1970 and as Vice-Chairman of the Canterbury Committee on Child Welfare between 1958 and 1972 .

In September 1962, Prime Minister Henry Bolte appointed Minister of Immigration and Vice-Secretary-General of the Cabinet and Vice-Attorney General in the government of the state of Victoria and held these offices until July 1964. As part of a cabinet reshuffle, he then took over the post of Minister for Local Government in July 1964 , which he held until April 1971.

Member of the Legislative Assembly and Vice Prime Minister

In a by -election , Hamer was elected on April 17, 1971 in the constituency of Kew as a member of the Legislative Assembly , the lower house of the Parliament of Victoria, and belonged to this until his resignation on July 17, 1981.

At the same time he became Vice Prime Minister and Chief Secretary in the government of Prime Minister Bolte in April 1972 and at the same time took over the function of deputy chairman of the Liberal Party of Victoria.

Prime Minister of Victoria 1972 to 1981

After Henry Bolte's resignation, Hamer succeeded him as Prime Minister on August 23, 1972 and held this office until his resignation on June 5, 1981. At the same time, he took over the office of chairman of the Liberal Party and held this position until his resignation on June 5, 1981. In his government, between August 1972 and May 1979, he also took over the offices of finance minister (treasurer) and minister for the arts (Minister of the Arts) .

Victory in 1973 and 1976

In the elections of May 19, 1973, Hamer, who was also trustee of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) between 1974 and 1997 , was able to improve the Liberal Party's election results compared to the last election on May 30, 1970. The Liberal Party achieved 803,382 votes (42.34 percent) and thus had 46 mandates with an increase of 5.64 percentage points and a gain of 4 seats and thus a clear absolute majority in the 73-member legislative assembly.

The Australian Labor Party under Clyde Holding got 789,561 votes (41.61 percent) and lost four seats, despite a small increase of 0.19 percentage points, so that they could only have 18 MPs. In third place came the Country Party of Peter Ross-Edwards , which got 144,818 votes (5.96 percent) and still had eight MPs, while one more mandate went to a non-party .

The elections of March 20, 1976 confirmed the supremacy of Hamer's Liberal Party more than clearly: With 939,481 votes (45.87 percent), it won a further six seats with an increase of 3.53 percentage points and now had 52 MPs in the 81 Extended Legislative Assembly mandates.

Holdings Labor Party received 869,021 votes (42.43 percent) and came with a slight increase of 0.82 percentage points to 21 seats, so that they could now have three more MPs. The National Party under Ross-Edwards got 144,818 votes (7.07 percent), exactly the same result as in 1973, but lost one of its MPs despite an increase of 1.13 percentage points, so that it was represented with only seven seats. One mandate went to an independent politician.

During this time, in 1976, Hamer appointed Richard McGarvie , who served as governor of Victoria from 1992 to 1997 , as a judge at the Supreme Court of Victoria .

Victory in 1979 and resignation as Prime Minister in 1981

The elections of May 5, 1979 led to considerable losses on the part of the Liberal Party von Hamer: This time it got 881,366 votes (41.44 percent) and lost eleven of their seats at 4.44 percentage points and, due to the current electoral law, had 41 of them 81 MPs in the legislative assembly only have a very small majority of one vote.

The Labor Party under its new chairman Frank Wilkes won 962,123 votes (45.23 percentage points) and with an increase of 2.80 percentage points also eleven seats, but only had 32 members because of the number of votes. Peter Ross-Edwards' National Party received 119,385 votes (5.61 percent), but despite a loss of 1.46 percentage points, it had one more MP, or eight more.

After the election, Hamer also took over the office of Minister of State Development, Decentralization and Tourism between May 1979 and February 1981 , which he took over again in March 1981. At the same time he held the office of Minister for Economic Development (Minister of Economic Development) in March 1981 .

On June 5, 1981, Hamer resigned as Prime Minister after almost nine years in office and handed this office over to the previous Vice Prime Minister Lindsay Thompson , who also became the new chairman of the Liberal Party.

Withdrawal from political life and later engagement

After retiring from political life, he took on a role in business and was CEO of the Burns Philp shipping company since 1981 and of the Queensland- based company Jojoba International Ltd since 1982 .

In addition, Hamer, who was made Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (KCMG) in 1982 and from then on bore the suffix "Sir" and received an honorary doctorate in law (Hon. LL.D.) from Melbourne, was also involved, from 1981 to 1995 as President and Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Victorian Opera in Melbourne, between 1982 and 1984 as Vice-Chairman of Werribee Park and since 1982 was also a Fellow of Trinity College, Melbourne University.

He was also President of the Victorian College of the Arts from 1982, President of the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition from 1988 and President of the Australian Association of Save the Children International from 1989 to 1992 . Furthermore, Hamer, who became Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 1992 and also received an honorary doctorate (Hon. D. Univ.) From Swinburne University of Technology, has been the President of the Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne since 1992 1994 President of the Advisory Board on Cancer and Heart Diseases, President of the National Heritage Foundation since 1995, and Chairman of the National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA), founded in 1995, since 1999 .

The Sir Rupert Hamer Garden , an exhibition complex of the Heide Museum of Modern Art, was named in his honor.

His marriage to April Felicity Mackintosh on March 4, 1944 resulted in three sons and two daughters.

Web links

• Entry on the homepage of the Parliament of Victoria (accessed June 5, 2015)