Philip Ruddock
Encyclopedia
Philip Maxwell Ruddock is an Australian politician who is currently a member of the House of Representatives
representing the Division of Berowra
, New South Wales, for the Liberal Party of Australia
. First elected in a 1973 by-election
, he is the only Member of Parliament from the period of the Whitlam
government (1972–75) and the Fraser
government (1975–83) still serving. He has been the Father of the House of Representatives since 1998. He is currently the third longest-serving Member of the House of Representatives, and the third longest-serving parliamentarian, in the history of the Australian Parliament
. During the Howard Government
(1996–2007), Ruddock served continuously in the Coalition
Ministry, taking on various portfolios, most notably those of Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs from 1996 until 2003, and Attorney-General from 2003 until 2007.
and was the son of Max Ruddock
, a Liberal
member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
between 1962 and 1976, and the former Emmie Chappell. He was educated at Barker College
in the Sydney suburb of Hornsby
before entering University of Sydney
, after which he practised as a solicitor. He was articled to the firm Berne, Murray and Tout and was promoted to partner.
On 22 September 1973, Ruddock was elected to the House of Representatives
at a by-election
for the seat of Parramatta
. He shifted to the seat of Dundas
in 1977
and to Berowra
in 1993. In the 1980s and early 1990s, he was an active member of the parliamentary group of Amnesty International
.
Ruddock was a member of the Opposition Shadow Ministry from 1983 to 1985 and from 1989 to 1996.
In August 1988, while Ruddock was still a backbencher
, the Leader of the Opposition, John Howard
, commented that he believed the rate of Asian
immigration was too high. The Hawke
Labor
government sought to embarrass Howard and introduced a bill to Parliament to ensure that immigration did not discriminate on the basis of race. Ruddock along with fellow Liberals Steele Hall
and Ian Macphee
crossed the floor
to support the Labor motion. In 1989, following Andrew Peacock
's ascension to the leadership, Ruddock became Shadow Minister for Immigration and proposed a settlement scheme for Australia's far north.
as Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs
. In this role, he presided over the Howard government's policies on asylum seekers. Many Australians feel that Ruddock's policies became significantly more conservative during this period of time, and that earlier political viewpoints had been abandoned, in an attempt to maintain favour with Prime Minister John Howard. During his time in office, the previous Keating
Labor Government's practice of mandatory detention
of asylum seekers was continued and extended. In October 1999, the Australian government introduced Temporary Protection Visas for persons who applied for refugee status after making an unauthorised arrival in Australia, and was the main type of visa issued to refugees when released from Australian immigration detention facilities. Many Afghan and Iraqi refugees who are no Australian citizens were affected by this policy.
In 2001 Ruddock was also appointed to the role of Minister for Indigenous Affairs. By 2001 he had become a high-profile figure enjoying considerable support within the Liberal Party, while being strongly opposed by left-wing activists and some human rights
advocates. At one point he was one of the few senior ministers (besides the prime minister) to have needed personal security details.
Areas in Ruddock's portfolio and some of his decisions were highly controversial in Australian politics, and led to Amnesty International
's public attempt to distance the organisation from him by asking him to remove his lapel badge. In 2003, Ruddock was accused by the Labor
immigration spokesperson, Julia Gillard
, of personally intervening to give a Filipino with a criminal record, Dante Tan, favourable treatment in exchange for donations to the Liberal Party. Ruddock acknowledged his role in representing a constituent but strongly denied any linkage between his actions and any financial support for the Liberal Party. In 2003, Ruddock became Attorney-General in a cabinet reshuffle.
after Tony Abbott
captured the Opposition leadership in December 2009.
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....
representing the Division of Berowra
Division of Berowra
The Division of Berowra is an Australian Electoral Division in New South Wales. The division was created in 1969 and is named for the suburb of Berowra. Its boundaries have changed little since it was created, and it includes all or parts of the suburbs of Arcadia, Berowra, Brooklyn, Cheltenham,...
, New South Wales, for the Liberal Party of Australia
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...
. First elected in a 1973 by-election
Parramatta by-election, 1973
A by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Parramatta on 22 September 1973. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of former Liberal Party long servng Attorney General and Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Honourable Nigel Bowen who accepted an appointment...
, he is the only Member of Parliament from the period of the Whitlam
Gough Whitlam
Edward Gough Whitlam, AC, QC , known as Gough Whitlam , served as the 21st Prime Minister of Australia. Whitlam led the Australian Labor Party to power at the 1972 election and retained government at the 1974 election, before being dismissed by Governor-General Sir John Kerr at the climax of the...
government (1972–75) and the Fraser
Malcolm Fraser
John Malcolm Fraser AC, CH, GCL, PC is a former Australian Liberal Party politician who was the 22nd Prime Minister of Australia. He came to power in the 1975 election following the dismissal of the Whitlam Labor government, in which he played a key role...
government (1975–83) still serving. He has been the Father of the House of Representatives since 1998. He is currently the third longest-serving Member of the House of Representatives, and the third longest-serving parliamentarian, in the history of the Australian Parliament
Parliament of Australia
The Parliament of Australia, also known as the Commonwealth Parliament or Federal Parliament, is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It is bicameral, largely modelled in the Westminster tradition, but with some influences from the United States Congress...
. During the Howard Government
Howard Government
The Howard Government refers to the federal Executive Government of Australia led by Prime Minister John Howard. It was made up of members of the Liberal–National Coalition, which won a majority of seats in the Australian House of Representatives at four successive elections. The Howard Government...
(1996–2007), Ruddock served continuously in the Coalition
Coalition (Australia)
The Coalition in Australian politics refers to a group of centre-right parties that has existed in the form of a coalition agreement since 1922...
Ministry, taking on various portfolios, most notably those of Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs from 1996 until 2003, and Attorney-General from 2003 until 2007.
Biography
Ruddock was born in CanberraCanberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
and was the son of Max Ruddock
Max Ruddock
Maxwell Stanley Ruddock was a New South Wales politician, Assistant Treasurer and Minister of the Crown in the cabinets of Tom Lewis and Sir Eric Willis...
, a 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 of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
New South Wales Legislative Assembly
The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...
between 1962 and 1976, and the former Emmie Chappell. He was educated at Barker College
Barker College
Barker College is an independent Anglican, day and boarding school, located in Hornsby, a North Shore suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1890 by the Reverend Henry Plume at Kurrajong Heights, Barker is an all-boys school from Kindergarten to Year 9, and co-educational from...
in the Sydney suburb of Hornsby
Hornsby, New South Wales
* Highest Maximum Temperature: 42 °C* Lowest Maximum Temperature: 4.9 °C* Warmest Month: January* Coolest Month: July* Highest Precipitation: February* Lowest Precipitation: July-Notable residents:...
before entering 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...
, after which he practised as a solicitor. He was articled to the firm Berne, Murray and Tout and was promoted to partner.
On 22 September 1973, Ruddock was elected to the 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....
at a by-election
Parramatta by-election, 1973
A by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Parramatta on 22 September 1973. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of former Liberal Party long servng Attorney General and Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Honourable Nigel Bowen who accepted an appointment...
for the seat of Parramatta
Division of Parramatta
The Division of Parramatta is an Australian Electoral Division in New South Wales. The division was created in 1900 and was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election. It is named for the locality of Parramatta. The name Parramatta has been sourced to an Aboriginal...
. He shifted to the seat of Dundas
Division of Dundas
The Division of Dundas was an Australian Electoral Division in New South Wales. The division was created in 1977 and abolished in 1993. It was named for the Sydney suburb of Dundas, which was in turn named for Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, who was British Home Secretary 1791-94. It was...
in 1977
Australian federal election, 1977
Federal elections were held in Australia on 10 December 1977. All 124 seats in the House of Representatives, and 34 of the 64 seats in the Senate, were up for election....
and to Berowra
Division of Berowra
The Division of Berowra is an Australian Electoral Division in New South Wales. The division was created in 1969 and is named for the suburb of Berowra. Its boundaries have changed little since it was created, and it includes all or parts of the suburbs of Arcadia, Berowra, Brooklyn, Cheltenham,...
in 1993. In the 1980s and early 1990s, he was an active member of the parliamentary group of Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
.
Ruddock was a member of the Opposition Shadow Ministry from 1983 to 1985 and from 1989 to 1996.
In August 1988, while Ruddock was still a backbencher
Backbencher
In Westminster parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a Member of Parliament or a legislator who does not hold governmental office and is not a Front Bench spokesperson in the Opposition...
, the Leader of the Opposition, John Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
, commented that he believed the rate of Asian
Asian people
Asian people or Asiatic people is a term with multiple meanings that refers to people who descend from a portion of Asia's population.- Central Asia :...
immigration was too high. The Hawke
Bob Hawke
Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....
Labor
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
government sought to embarrass Howard and introduced a bill to Parliament to ensure that immigration did not discriminate on the basis of race. Ruddock along with fellow Liberals Steele Hall
Steele Hall
Raymond Steele Hall was the 36th Premier of South Australia 1968-70, a senator for South Australia 1974-77, and federal member for the Division of Boothby 1981-96.-Biography:...
and Ian Macphee
Ian Macphee
Ian Malcolm Macphee AO is an Australian former politician who was a member of the House of Representatives from 1974 until 1990...
crossed the floor
Crossing the floor
In politics, crossing the floor has two meanings referring to a change of allegiance in a Westminster system parliament.The term originates from the British House of Commons, which is configured with the Government and Opposition facing each other on rows of benches...
to support the Labor motion. In 1989, following Andrew Peacock
Andrew Peacock
Andrew Sharp Peacock AC, GCL , is a former Australian Liberal politician. He was a minister in the Gorton, McMahon and Fraser governments, and was federal leader of the Liberal Party of Australia 1983–1985 and 1989–1990...
's ascension to the leadership, Ruddock became Shadow Minister for Immigration and proposed a settlement scheme for Australia's far north.
Minister
Following the Coalition's rise to government at the 1996 election, Ruddock was appointed to the CabinetFirst Howard Ministry
The First Howard Ministry was the sixty-first Australian Commonwealth ministry....
as Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs
Minister for Immigration and Citizenship (Australia)
In the Government of Australia, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship is responsible for overseeing the Department of Immigration and Citizenship....
. In this role, he presided over the Howard government's policies on asylum seekers. Many Australians feel that Ruddock's policies became significantly more conservative during this period of time, and that earlier political viewpoints had been abandoned, in an attempt to maintain favour with Prime Minister John Howard. During his time in office, the previous Keating
Paul Keating
Paul John Keating was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1991 to 1996. Keating was elected as the federal Labor member for Blaxland in 1969 and came to prominence as the reformist treasurer of the Hawke Labor government, which came to power at the 1983 election...
Labor Government's practice of mandatory detention
Mandatory detention in Australia
Mandatory detention in Australia concerns the Australian federal government's policy and system of mandatory immigration detention active from 1992 to date, pursuant to which all persons entering the country without a valid visa are compulsorily detained and sometimes subject to deportation.In the...
of asylum seekers was continued and extended. In October 1999, the Australian government introduced Temporary Protection Visas for persons who applied for refugee status after making an unauthorised arrival in Australia, and was the main type of visa issued to refugees when released from Australian immigration detention facilities. Many Afghan and Iraqi refugees who are no Australian citizens were affected by this policy.
In 2001 Ruddock was also appointed to the role of Minister for Indigenous Affairs. By 2001 he had become a high-profile figure enjoying considerable support within the Liberal Party, while being strongly opposed by left-wing activists and some human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
advocates. At one point he was one of the few senior ministers (besides the prime minister) to have needed personal security details.
Areas in Ruddock's portfolio and some of his decisions were highly controversial in Australian politics, and led to Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
's public attempt to distance the organisation from him by asking him to remove his lapel badge. In 2003, Ruddock was accused by the Labor
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
immigration spokesperson, Julia Gillard
Julia Gillard
Julia Eileen Gillard is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Australia, in office since June 2010.Gillard was born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales and migrated with her family to Adelaide, Australia in 1966, attending Mitcham Demonstration School and Unley High School. In 1982 Gillard moved...
, of personally intervening to give a Filipino with a criminal record, Dante Tan, favourable treatment in exchange for donations to the Liberal Party. Ruddock acknowledged his role in representing a constituent but strongly denied any linkage between his actions and any financial support for the Liberal Party. In 2003, Ruddock became Attorney-General in a cabinet reshuffle.
In Opposition
Following the Howard government's defeat at the November 2007 election, Ruddock did not seek a shadow cabinet role. He returned to the frontbench as Shadow Cabinet SecretaryCabinet Secretary
A Cabinet Secretary is almost always a senior official who provides services and advice to a Cabinet of Ministers. In many countries, the position can have considerably wider functions and powers, including general responsibility for the entire civil service...
after Tony Abbott
Tony Abbott
Anthony John "Tony" Abbott is the Leader of the Opposition in the Australian House of Representatives and federal leader of the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott has represented the seat of Warringah since the 1994 by-election...
captured the Opposition leadership in December 2009.