Biography

Parliamentary service

• Elected to the Senate for Victoria 1977. Re-elected 1983, 1987, 1993. Resigned 6.2.1996. Elected to the House of Representatives for Holt, Victoria, 1996. Re-elected 1998. Resigned 30.9.1999.

Ministerial appointments

• Attorney-General from 11.3.1983 to 13.12.1984.
• Cabinet Minister from 11.3.1983 to 11.3.1996.
• Minister Assisting the Minister for Foreign Affairs from 13.12.1984 to 24.7.1987.
• Minister for Resources and Energy from 13.12.1984 to 24.7.1987.
• Minister Assisting the Prime Minister from 13.12.1984 to 24.7.1987.
• Minister for Transport and Communications from 24.7.1987 to 2.9.1988.
• Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2.9.1988 to 24.3.1993.
• Minister for Foreign Affairs from 24.3.1993 to 11.3.1996.

Committee service

• House of Representatives Standing: Privileges served from 30.4.1996 to 2.3.1998
• Joint Select: Parliamentary Privilege served as Deputy Chair from 5.5.1982 to 7.6.1984
• Joint Standing: New and Permanent Parliament House served from 22.8.1978 to 19.9.1980; New Parliament House served from 4.12.1980 to 4.2.1983; Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade served from 8.12.1998 to 30.9.1999
• Senate Estimates: Estimates Group B served from 20.9.1978 to 2.4.1981; Estimates Group A served from 2.4.1981 to 4.2.1983
• Senate Legislative and General Purpose Standing: Constitutional and Legal Affairs served from 17.8.1978 to 4.2.1983; Finance and Government Operations served from 17.8.1978 to 10.9.1981
• Senate Standing: Regulations and Ordinances served from 17.8.1978 to 4.12.1980; Scrutiny of Bills served from 19.11.1981 to 8.12.1982; Standing Orders served from 25.2.1987 to 5.6.1987; Procedure served from 9.10.1987 to 21.11.1989; Procedure served from 4.5.1993 to 6.2.1996; Appropriations and Staffing served from 18.5.1993 to 29.4.1996

Conferences, delegations and visits

• Delegate to the Australian Constitutional Convention, Perth, July 1978.
• Attended official meetings in the UK and USA, 1983.
• Delegate to the Australian Constitutional Convention, Adelaide, April 1983.
• Attended official meetings in China, Japan and New Zealand, 1984.
• Attended official meetings in Europe, February 1985.
• Attended official meetings in New Zealand, March 1985.
• Attended official meetings in Indonesia and Japan, June 1985.
• Attended official meetings in Europe, July 1985.
• Delegate to the Australian Constitutional Convention, Brisbane, July 1985.
• Attended official meetings in China, November 1985.
• Attended official meetings in the UK, USA and Canada from January to February 1986.
• Attended official meetings in Papua New Guinea from May to August 1986.
• Attended official meetings in the Middle East and Europe from September to October 1986.
• Attended official meetings in Switzerland and South Korea, February 1987.
• Attended official meetings in New Zealand, March 1987.
• Attended official meetings in Europe, the USA and Canada, January 1988.
• Attended official meetings in New Zealand, March 1988.
• Attended official meetings in the South Pacific, September 1988.
• Attended official meetings in the USA and Fiji, October 1988.
• Attended official meetings in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Papua New Guinea from October to November 1988.
• Attended official meetings in Asia and Southern Africa from January to February 1989.
• Attended official meetings in Europe and the USA, March 1989.
• Attended official meetings in New Caledonia, May 1989.
• Attended official meetings in the UK, India, Denmark, Sweden and Finland, June 1989.
• Attended official meetings in Brunei, Malaysia and the Pacific Islands, July 1989.
• Attended official meetings in France from July to August 1989.
• Attended official meetings in France and Yugoslavia from August to September 1989.
• Attended official meetings in the USA, Malaysia and Canada, October 1989.
• Attended official meetings in New Zealand, November 1989.
• Attended official meetings in Indonesia and Eastern Europe, December 1989.
• Attended official meetings in Papua New Guinea, January 1990.
• Attended official meetings in Indonesia and Zambia from February to March 1990.
• Attended official meetings in Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia, April 1990.
• Attended official meetings in the UK and Nigeria, May 1990.
• Attended official meetings in Europe and North Asia from May to June 1990.
• Attended official meetings in Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka from July to August 1990.
• Attended official meetings in Switzerland, Italy, Egypt, France and the USA, August 1990.
• Attended official meetings in the USA and Mexico from September to October 1990.
• Attended official meetings in Vanuatu, New Zealand and Polynesia, November 1990.
• Attended official meetings in the UK, USA, Canada and France, January 1991.
• Attended official meetings in Indonesia and the UK, February 1991.
• Attended official meetings in Japan, Hong Kong and China, April 1991.
• Attended official meetings in India and Japan, May 1991.
• Attended official meetings in Luxembourg, France and South Africa, June 1991.
• Attended official meetings in Malaysia, Singapore and the South Pacific, July 1991.
• Attended official meetings in India, Europe, Barbados, Jamaica and the USA, September 1991.
• Attended official meetings in Zimbabwe and France, October 1991.
• Attended official meetings in New Zealand, South Korea and the USSR, November 1991.
• Attended official meetings in Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore and Indonesia, December 1991.
• Attended official meetings in the USA, January 1992.
• Attended official meetings in the South Pacific and Papua New Guinea from January to February 1992.
• Attended official meetings in Tahiti, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Belgium, Portugal and Switzerland, March 1992.
• Attended official meetings in Japan and China, April 1992.
• Attended official meetings in Germany, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, France, Spain, Egypt, Israel, Portugal, Syria and Turkey, May 1992.
• Attended official meetings in Japan and the Philippines from June to July 1992.
• Delegate to the South Pacific Forum, the Solomon Islands, July 1992.
• Attended official meetings in Papua New Guinea, Thailand and Indonesia from August to September 1992.
• Attended official meetings in Turkey, Greece, Cyprus and Malta, October 1992.
• Attended official meetings in South Korea, Indonesia, New Zealand and China, November 1992.
• Attended official meetings in France, Cyprus, Denmark, Thailand and Cambodia, January 1993.
• Attended official meetings in the USA from March to April 1993.
• Attended official meetings in Austria, the UK and Romania, June 1993.
• Attended official meetings in Singapore, July 1993.
• Attended official meetings in Switzerland, Belgium, the USA and Indonesia from August to September 1993.
• Attended official meetings in Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, Japan and the USA, November 1993.
• Attended official meetings in New Zealand, December 1993.
• Attended official meetings in the USA, Greece, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya and Somalia, January 1994.
• Attended official meetings in New Zealand, February 1994.
• Attended official meetings in Vietnam, Hong Kong and China from March to April 1994.
• Attended official meetings in Indonesia and the Philippines, June 1994.
• Attended official meetings in Thailand, Indonesia, Poland, Germany, France, the Baltic States and Russia, July 1994.
• Attended official meetings in the USA, China, South Korea, Japan and Indonesia from September to October 1994.
• Attended official meetings in Indonesia, November 1994.
• Attended official meetings in the USA, Virgin Islands, Cuba, Barbados, France and Switzerland, January 1995.
• Attended official meetings in Thailand, Brunei and Malaysia, February 1995.
• Attended official meetings in the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and Norway, April 1995.
• Attended official meetings in South Africa and India, May 1995.
• Attended official meetings in Japan, France, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Tunisia, Lebanon, the USA and New Zealand from June to July 1995.
• Attended official meetings in Brunei from July to August 1995.
• Attended official meetings in Papua New Guinea and Singapore, September 1995.
• Attended official meetings in the USA and Spain from September to October 1995.
• Attended official meetings in Colombia, the USA and Netherlands from October to November 1995.
• Attended official meetings in Japan, New Zealand, Thailand and Malaysia, November 1995.
• Attended official meetings in Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and the UK, December 1995.
• Attended official meetings in the USA, January 1996.
• Attended official meetings in the USA, January 1997.
• Attended official meetings in the USA and Hong Kong, April 1997.
• Attended official meetings in Malaysia, January 1998.
• Delegate to the Australian Constitutional Convention, Canberra, February 1998.
• Attended official meetings in New Zealand, March 1998.
• Attended study tour in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia and the UK from February to March 1999.
• Attended study tour in France, China and South Korea from April to May 1999.
• Attended official meetings in the Middle East, Europe and North Africa from June to July 1999.
• Delegate to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation Conference, the Caribbean and Latin America from July to August 1999.
• Delegate to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation Conference, South Asia and East Africa, August 1999.
• Delegate to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation Conference, France, West Africa and Central Asia, September 1999.
• Delegate to the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation Conference, France, October 1999.

Parliamentary party positions

• Australian Labor Party. Served: 01.07.1978 to 06.02.1996, 02.03.1996 to 30.09.1999
• Shadow Attorney-General from 23.11.1980 to 11.3.1983.
• Deputy Leader of the Opposition from 19.3.1996 to 19.10.1998.
• Shadow Cabinet Minister from 19.3.1996 to 19.10.1998.
• Shadow Treasurer from 20.3.1996 to 19.10.1998.
• Manager of Government Business in the Senate from 17.2.1987 to 2.9.1988.
• Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate from 17.2.1987 to 24.3.1993.
• Leader of the Government in the Senate from 24.3.1993 to 6.2.1996.
• Deputy Leader of the Federal Parliamentary Australian Labor Party from 19.3.1996 to 19.10.1998.

Party positions

• Delegate to the Australian Labor Party State Conference (Vic.) from 1972.
• Member of the Australian Labor Party Administrative Committee (Vic.) from 1973 to 1982.
• Delegate to the Australian Labor Party National Conference from 1977.

Other positions

• Appointed Queen's Counsel from December 1983.

Personal

• Born: 5.9.1944, Melbourne, Australia
• Gender: Male
• Marital Status: Married

Qualifications and occupation before entering Federal Parliament

• LLB(Hons) (University of Melbourne).
• BA (University of Melbourne).
• MA (University of Oxford).
• Barrister and solicitor for the Supreme Court (Vic. and ACT).
• Vice-President of the Council for Civil Liberties (Vic.).
• President of the Australian Society of Labor Lawyers.
• Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Constitutional Law at the University of Melbourne from 1971 to 1977.
• Adviser to the Victorian Parliamentary Delegation, Australian Constitutional Convention, 1973.
• Adviser to the New South Wales Parliamentary Delegation, Australian Constitutional Convention, 1976.
• Practising barrister for the University of Melbourne from 1977 to 1978.
• Convenor of the National Conference for a Democratic Constitution, 1977.
• Convenor of the Campaign for Constitutional Change, 1978.

Electorate

• Name: Holt
• Location: South-eastern outskirts of Melbourne; it includes the centres of Doveton, Endeavour Hills, Fountain Gate, Hallam, and parts of Dandenong, Keysborough, Narre Warren and Noble Park.
• Area: 106 Sq km
• Electors enrolled: 81,285 (at 3.10.1998)
• Industries: Car, truck and tractor assembly plants, light engineering, glass production, dairying, market gardening, food processing and packaging.
• Includes: Holt includes parts of the Victorian Legislative Assembly electorates of Berwick, Dandenong, Dandenong North and Springvale.

Honours

• Appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia, 26.1.2001.
• Appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia, 11.6.2012.

Publications

• Labor and the constitution 1972-75: essays and commentaries on the constitutional controversies of the Whitlam years in Australian government (editor), Heinemann, Melbourne: 1977.
• Conscientious objection to union membership, Industrial Relations Society of Victoria, Melbourne: 1979.
• Law, Politics and the Labor Movement (editor), Legal Service Bulletin, Clayton, Vic: 1980.
• Labor essays (joint editor), Drummond, Richmond, Vic: 1980.
• The politics of justice, ANU Press, Canberra: 1980.
• Labor essays (joint editor), Drummond, Richmond, Vic: 1981.
• Labor essays (joint editor), Drummond, Richmond, Vic: 1982.
• Democratic socialism and human rights, University of Queensland ALP Club, St Lucia, Qld: 1982.
• Australia's constitution: time for change? (with John McMillan and Haddon Storey), Law Foundation of New South Wales and George Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1983.
• Making Australian foreign policy, Australian Fabian Society, Melbourne: 1989.
• Australia's foreign relations: in the world of the 1990s (with Bruce Grant), Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Vic: 1991.
• Cooperating for peace: the global agenda for the 1990s and beyond, Allen & Unwin, St Leonards, NSW, 1993.
• Australia's foreign relations: in the world of the 1990s (with Bruce Grant) (2nd edition), Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Vic: 1995.
• The responsibility to protect: ending mass atrocity crimes once and for all, Brookings Institution Press, Washington, DC: 2008.
• Inside the Hawke-Keating government: a Cabinet diary, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Vic.: 2014.
• Incorrigible optimist: a political memoir, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Vic.: 2017.
• Good international citizenship: the case for decency, Monash University Publishing, Clayton, Vic.: 2022.