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President, 26 August 2008 to 30 June 2014
Australian Labor Party
Elected as a senator for Queensland in 1996, John Hogg (b.1949) spent 12 of nearly 18 years in the Senate as Deputy President (2002-08) and then President (2008-14). Born in Brisbane in 1949 and hailing from what he referred to as ‘humble’ circumstances, Hogg was a trade union official and then branch president of the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association before entering the Senate.1
Having learnt from his parents the value of helping others, Hogg was unwavering in his advocacy for low-income earners and the unemployed.2 As both a trade unionist and a member of Parliament, he argued that everyone deserved ‘meaningful work’ and a ‘meaningful wage’.3 Hogg was proud of his contribution to the then-Labor Government’s initiatives to lessen the impact of the Global Financial Crisis, particularly for people already facing disadvantage.4 As a senator, he also worked to address the needs of rural and regional communities in Queensland.5
The first Labor Party senator elected to serve as President of the Senate since Michael Beahan had vacated the role in 1996, Hogg undertook to be a fair and honest adjudicator. While in office he made several rulings on matters including the conduct of Question Time, taking points of order, and repeated requests to suspend standing orders, which he said could be used to obstruct the business of the Senate.6 Committed to ensuring that debate in the Senate was conducted in a cooperative and dignified manner, Hogg ruled that senators should refer to their colleagues and members of the House of Representatives by their correct titles.7
Hogg presided during a time of several significant parliamentary developments, including the Senate’s resolution in support of an Indigenous Welcome to Country ceremony before the opening of Parliament, and the amendment of the Senate standing orders to include an Acknowledgement of Country at the start of each sitting day.8
At the end of his third parliamentary term, Hogg resigned from the Senate to spend more time with family. Noting that his parliamentary role took him away from home for at least 30 weeks of the year, he thanked his wife Sue for taking chief responsibility for raising their four children, enabling him to have a career in politics.9
On departing the Senate, Hogg’s colleagues praised him as an even- handed and conscientious President and described him as ‘a person of integrity’, a testament that he had achieved the goals he set himself on taking office.10 In his final statement to the Senate, Hogg urged parliamentarians to ‘have a vision as to how this Parliament will unfold into the future to meet the demands of an ever-changing democracy’.11
Michael Zavros
Australian artist Michael Zavros (b.1974) graduated from Queensland College of Art with a Bachelor of Visual Arts (majoring in printmaking) in 1996. He has been exhibited widely, including in Asia, Europe and the USA, and has been the recipient of several international art residencies. Zavros has won three major Australian drawing prizes: the 2002 Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award, the 2005 Robert Jacks Drawing Prize and the 2007 Kedumba Drawing Award. An Archibald Prize finalist on many occasions, he also won the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize in 2010 for a portrait of his daughter, Phoebe. He served on the Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council for the Arts (2007-11) and on the National Association for the Visual Arts Board. Zavros has completed various commissions for leading Australian institutions, including the Australian War Memorial and the National Portrait Gallery. His work is held in numerous private and public collections across Australia.12
John Joseph Hogg
by Michael Zavros
2012
Oil on canvas
115.1 x 95.3 cm
Historic Memorials Collection, Parliament House Art Collections
References
1. Parliamentary Library, ‘Hogg, John Joseph’, Parliamentary Handbook Online, accessed 8 June 2021; J Hogg, ‘Governor-General’s Speech: Address-in-Reply’, Senate, Debates, 11 September 1996, pp. 3315–18.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. P Wong, ‘Parliamentary Representation: Valedictories’, Senate, Debates, 18 June 2014, pp. 3321–22.
5. J Hogg, ‘Statement by the President’, Senate, Debates, 18 June 2014, pp. 3299–3306; Wong, op. cit.
6. For Hogg’s ruling on suspension of Standing Orders, see Senate, Debates, 25 November 2010, p. 2198. For examples of Hogg’s rulings on Question Time, see, Senate, Debates, 23 August 2011, pp. 5183, 5185; 7 February 2013, p. 502; 24 August 2011, p. 5358.
7. Senate, Debates, 11 December 2013, p. 1555; 25 June 2013, p. 3906.
8. Senate, ‘Journals’, 128, 23 June 2010, p. 3671; 5, 26 October 2010, p. 203.
9. Hogg, ‘Statement by the President’, op. cit.
10. E Abetz, ‘Parliamentary Representation: Valedictories’, Senate, Debates, 18 June 2014, pp. 3319–21; N Scullion, ‘Parliamentary Office Holders: President’, Senate, Debates, 26 June 2014, p. 4069; Wong, ‘Parliamentary Representation: Valedictories’, op. cit.
11. Hogg, ‘Statement by the President’, op. cit.
12. ‘Michael Zavros biography’; ‘Michael Zavros’, National Portrait Gallery; E Walsh, ‘‘Michael Zavros’, Artist profile. Websites accessed 27 April 2021.