John Walter Bradford is a former Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n politician.

Born in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, he was educated at the University of Sydney

University of Sydney

The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...

 and then Sydney College of Advanced Education

Sydney College of Advanced Education

The Sydney College of Advanced Education was an educational institution in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia that existed from 1981 to 1989. The Commonwealth government announced recommendations for a consolidation of higher education provision in March 1981...

, becoming a teacher. He served in the military 1968-1970, returning to become a retail industry executive. After moving to Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

 in 1987, Bradford was National Director of the Shopping Centre Tenants Association of Australia. He was active in local politics in Sydney, sitting on Warringah Shire Council

Warringah Council

Warringah is a local council area in the Northern Beaches region of Sydney, Australia. Warringah Council overlaps with a number of suburbs from the Manly Council area to the south and the Pittwater Council area to the north...

.

In 1990, he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

 as the Liberal

Liberal Party of Australia

The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...

 member for McPherson

Division of McPherson

The Division of McPherson is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. The division was created in 1948 and is named for the McPherson Range, which forms one of the divisional boundaries...

. In 1992 he was one of a group of Coalition members of parliament who founded the Lyons Forum

Lyons Forum

The Lyons Forum was a ginger group or informal political faction comprising some federal members of conservative Australian parliamentary parties. It was formed in the early 1990s and was active both in Liberal Party of Australia parliamentary leadership conflict and on family policy issues. The...

, a conservative ginger group

Ginger group

A ginger group is a formal or informal group within, for example, a political party seeking to inspire the rest with its own enthusiasm and activity....

.

On 7 April 1998, he resigned from the Liberal Party and sat as a member of the Christian Democratic Party

Christian Democratic Party (Australia)

The Christian Democratic Party is a right-wing political party in Australia. Its leader is Fred Nile, a Congregational Church minister and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council.-Formation:...

. In the 1998 federal election, he contested the Senate

Australian Senate

The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...

 in Queensland for the Christian Democrats, but was not elected.

Bradford was endorsed by the Christian Democratic Party in 2000 as the successor to Elaine Nile

Elaine Nile

Elaine Blanche Nile was an Australian politician who represented the Christian Democratic Party in the New South Wales Legislative Council between 1998 and 2002...

 in the New South Wales Legislative Council

New South Wales Legislative Council

The New South Wales Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of New South Wales in Australia. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney. The Assembly is referred to as the lower house and the Council as...

. However, as a result of an internal party dispute due to Bradford's residency, Nile delayed her retirement until 2002 and Gordon Moyes

Gordon Moyes

Gordon Keith Mackenzie Moyes AC is an Australian Christian evangelist, broadcaster and former politician.-Early life and career:...

was ultimately appointed to the Council, ahead of Bradford.