John Brown (Australian politician)

John Joseph Brown AO (b. 19 December 1931) was an Australian politician.

Brown was born in the western suburbs of Sydney and was educated at Christian Brothers College, Burwood, St Patrick's College, Strathfield and the University of Sydney. He was one of the founders of Brown and Hatton, a meat distribution company and helped create the Pork and Bacon Marketing Council. He has been an active member of the Meat Industry Employees Union since that time, but was also chairman of the Employers Association for five years. In 1963, he married Jan Murray, who ran a public relation consultancy from 1982 to 1995, [cite web
title =Jan Murray
publisher = Entertainoz
url = http://www.entertainoz.com.au/celebrities.cfm?oid=1400
accessdate = 2007-10-03 ] and they have five children. He was an alderman on Parramatta Council from 1977 to 1980.cite web
title =Speaker John Brown
publisher = ICMI
url = http://www.icmi.com.au/Speaker/Leadership/John_Brown/Biography
accessdate = 2007-10-01 ]

Brown was elected as the Australian Labor Party member for the seat of Parramatta in 1977. With the election of the Hawke Government in 1983, he was appointed Minister for Sport, Recreation and Tourism, a position he retained until 1988. He was also appointed Minister for Administrative Services until 1984, when he gained the position of Minister assisting the Minister for Defence.

Brown is notable for initiating a series of television advertisements commencing in 1986 for the American market by the Australian Tourism Commission starring Paul Hogan saying, "I'll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for you". He gained notoriety for describing koalas as as "flea-ridden, piddling, stinking, scratching, rotten little things". [cite web
title =Koala-ty Is Job One
publisher = Grist
url = http://www.grist.org/news/daily/2000/07/28/job
accessdate = 2007-10-01 ] He was also responsible for substantially increasing expenditure on sports facilities around Australia and the Australian Institute of Sport.

In July 1987, Brown entered cabinet with the expanded portfolio of Minister for Arts, Sport, the Environment, Tourism and Territories, which he held until his resignation in January 1988 for misleading the house [cite web
last = Howard
first = John
authorlink =John Howard
title =Question without Notice: Mr John Brown: return to ministry
work= Hansard
publisher = Parliament of Australia
date = 16 February 1988
url = http://parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au/piweb/view_document.aspx?ID=270338&TABLE=HANSARDR
accessdate = 2007-10-01 ] in response to a question from Neil Brown regarding in the assessment of tenders for the Australian Pavilion at Expo '88, which suggested possible impropriety. [cite web
last = Brown
first = Neil
authorlink =Neil Brown (Australian politician)
title =Question without Notice: Mr John Brown: World Expo 88
work= Hansard
publisher = Parliament of Australia
date = 10 December 1987
url = http://parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au/piweb/view_document.aspx?ID=202922&TABLE=HANSARDR
accessdate = 2007-10-01 ] . Prior to his resignation, he was the subject of national headlines due to revelations that he and wife Jan Murray had celebrated a victory one night on his parliamentary desk [ [http://www.entertainoz.com.au/index.cfm?oid=1400 Jan Murray - Celebrities > Television - Australia - EntertainOZ - The premier Australian entertainment directory - entertainment Australia, artists, celebrities, speakers, services, venues, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra ] ] . He did not stand for re-election in 1990.

Honours

Brown was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1993 for "service to the Australian parliament, tourism and sport and recreation". [cite web
title =Brown, John Joseph
work= Search Australian Honours
publisher = It's an Honours
url = http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/honours/honour_roll/search.cfm?aus_award_id=886527&search_type=quick&showInd=true
accessdate = 2007-10-01 ]

Notes

Persondata
NAME = Brown, John Joseph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = Australian politician
DATE OF BIRTH = 19 December 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH = Sydney
DATE OF DEATH = Living
PLACE OF DEATH =