Philip Ruddock

Infobox MP
honorific-prefix =The Honourable
name = Philip Ruddock
honorific-suffix =
MP


office1 = Attorney-General of Australia
predecessor1 = Daryl Williams
successor1 = Robert McClelland
term_start1 = 7 October 2003
term_end1 = 3 December 2007
office2 = Member for Berowra
predecessor2 = Harry Edwards
successor =
term_start2 = 13 March 1993
term_end2 =
constituency2 =
majority2 =
birth_date = birth date and age|1943|03|12
birth_place = Canberra, Australia
death_date =
death_place =
nationality = Australian
spouse =
party = Liberal Party of Australia
relations =
children =
residence =
alma_mater =
occupation =
profession =
religion =


website =
footnotes =

Philip Maxwell Ruddock (born March 12, 1943), is an Australian politician who served in various ministries in the Coalition Government of former Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

Ruddock is the longest serving member of the House of Representatives, or the "Father of the House", as well as the only remaining Member of Parliament from the period of the Gough Whitlam Government.

Early life

Ruddock was born in Canberra, the son of Max Ruddock, who was a Liberal member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. He was educated at Barker College in the Sydney suburb of Hornsby and the University of Sydney, after which he practiced as a solicitor. He joined the firm Berne, Murray and Tout (which later became Abbott Tout), and was promoted to partner.

Elected to the House

In 1973, he was elected to the House of Representatives, as a Liberal member 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 1988, while Ruddock was still backbencher, the then 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 ensure that immigration did not discriminate on the basis of race. Ruddock (and a number of other MPs) crossed the floor to support the government's bill, which Howard opposed. (Crossing the floor, or voting against one's own parliamentary party decision is unusual in Australian politics, although more so now than in 1988.)cite web | url=http://parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au/piweb/view_document.aspx?ID=440146&TABLE=HANSARDR | title=IMMIGRATION POLICY: Suspension of Standing and Sessional Orders | publisher=Parliament Hansard | date=1988-08-25 | accessdate=2007-08-03] cite web | url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/tony-parkinson/howard-turns-dissent-into-democracy/2005/06/20/1119250925679.html | title=Howard turns dissent into democracy | publisher=The Age | date=2005-06-21 | accessdate=2007-08-03] cite web | url=http://www.unisa.edu.au/hawkecentre/library/speeches/2001_may_alp.asp | title=Speeches by The Hon RJL Hawke AC | publisher=UniSA | date=2001-05-08 | accessdate=2007-08-03]

Immigration Minister

In 1996, when the Liberals gained office, Ruddock was appointed to the Cabinet as Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. In this role, he presided over the Howard government's policies on asylum seekers. He maintained and extended the practice of mandatory detention of asylum seekers, and played a key role in both the Tampa crisis and Children overboard affair.

The asylum seekers issue played a role in the Liberal victory at the 2001 election, and Ruddock was subsequently given the additional portfolio of 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.Fact|date=February 2007

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. [cite news
title =Ruddock stripped of Amnesty International badge
publisher =Australian Broadcasting Corporation
date =18 March 2000
url =http://www.abc.net.au/am/stories/s111533.htm
accessdate = 2007-05-26 ] 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.Fact|date=February 2007

Attorney General

In 2003 Ruddock was made Attorney-General in a ministerial shakeup. He was responsible for the government's policy on national security, Australia's film and literature classification agency, the OFLC, and introduced legislation giving greater powers to Australia's security agency, ASIO. He spoke out against the United States decision to ban torture: "The point the United States has made is that it will not use torture and those instructions have been given to their agencies and that may well limit the capacity of intelligence organisations in the future." [cite news
title =Torture ban 'hinders terror war'
publisher =News.com.au
date =1 October 2006
url =http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20506913-2,00.html
accessdate = 2007-05-26 ] His views on the use of sleep deprivation in interrogation, expressed at the same time, are in contradiction to the Australian Defence Department's "interrogators' handbook" which states that sleep deprivation is against the Geneva Convention. [Smiles, Sarah: [http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2006/11/01/1162339918806.html Army contradicts Ruddock on torture] , "The Age", 1 November 2006.]

In 2006, Philip Ruddock blocked a gay Australian man from marrying in Europe. Ruddock refused to grant a gay man living in the Netherlands a 'Certificate of No Impediment' document required by some European countries before marriage, to prove foreigners are in fact single. Ruddock decided that such documents were not to be released to gay and lesbian individuals intending to marry overseas. [cite news
title =Govt defends block to same sex marriage
publisher =The Age
date =18 January 2006
url =http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/Govt-defends-block-to-same-sex-marriage/2006/01/18/1137467021053.html
accessdate = 2007-05-26 ] The government made the statement, "Following the advice of the Australian Attorney-General's Department we herewith certify that Australian law does not allow the issue of a Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage to persons wishing to enter into a same-sex marriage." He went on to say that he did not believe there was community support for same-sex marriage.

As Attorney-General, Ruddock had also been supportive of the detainment of Australian David Hicks by the American military in Guantanamo Bay. Hicks was held without charge for more than 5 years, spending most of his detainment in solitary confinement. Prior to his guilty plea to the military commission, Hicks also claimed that he was tortured by the American military.

Ruddock's views are said to have caused some conflict with his daughter, Kirsty Ruddock. In an interview on the Australian radio station, ABC, on 16 September 2002, Kirsty Ruddock cited her father's policies as partially informing her decision to travel overseas: "I have decided to live overseas for a period of time as a volunteer with a program called "Youth Ambassadors", and very much I'm motivated by wanting to go and live and work in a developing country but another reason behind leaving, I suppose, is to get away from what I see very much as the daily grind in terms of reading about the politics that my father is involved in on a daily basis, reading about immigration issues constantly and issues surrounding reconciliation, things that I find very difficult."

In opposition

Ruddock retained his parliamentary seat in the December 2007 election that removed the Howard Government from power. He is not a member of the shadow ministry and currently sits on the Opposition back bench.

References

External links

* [http://www.globalpanel.org/ The Global Panel Foundation]
* [http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/04/29/1051381948773.html Ruddock fury over Woomera computer game]
* [http://www.abc.net.au/austory/transcripts/s672095.htm Australian Story transcript]

Persondata
NAME=Ruddock, Philip Maxwell
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Australian politician
DATE OF BIRTH=12 March, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH=Sydney, Australia
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=