Chris Hurford

The Honourable Chris Hurford AO
Member of the Australian Parliament for Adelaide
In office 25 October 1969 – 31 December 1987
Preceded by	Andrew Jones
Succeeded by	Mike Pratt
Personal details
Born	30 July 1931 (1931-07-30) (age 80)
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Australian Labor Party
Occupation	Accountant

Christopher John "Chris" Hurford, AO, (born 30 July 1931) was a Labor member of the Australian House of Representatives seat of Adelaide from 1969 to 1987. He played a key role in the development of Australia's skills-oriented immigration policy, and founded the ALP Labor Unity faction in SA.

Early life

After studying at the London School of Economics, Chris Hurford worked in accountancy. He entered federal parliament in 1969, representing the Division of Adelaide, South Australia,^[1] which he held until his resignation in 1987.

Ministerial record

Hurford was Minister for Housing and Construction, outside Cabinet in the first Hawke Ministry from March 1983 to December 1984. In the second Hawke Ministry, he was promoted to Cabinet as Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs until February 1987, when he replaced Donald Grimes as Minister for Community Services.

As Immigration Minister, Hurford's major achievement was the introduction of the "points system" for skilled immigration - a system which provided transparency in decisions on skilled migration and brought a new focus to immigration's role in developing human capital. The system has since been adopted in other jurisdictions.

Hurford's period in Immigration was also notable for his attempt to have Sheikh Taj El-Din Hilaly deported,^[2] but was unsuccessful. He also made an early, unsuccessful attempt to reduce ministerial discretions in the granting of immigration visas.

In July 1987, Hurford,for personal reasons, withdrew from the third Hawke ministry. He retired from Parliament at the end of the year and became Australia's Consul–General in New York for four years.^[3]

Internal ALP role

Within the South Australian ALP, Hurford is arguably an important modernising figure. He led the creation of the Labor Unity faction, a group variously described as "right-wing", moderate or (after the ascension of the UK Blair Government) "Third Way". A Catholic, Hurford won support from the socially conservative leadership of the Shop Distributive and Allied Trades Union in forming the faction. In the 1980s Hurford led the SA Labor Unity group in vigorously defending within the ALP the policy direction of the Hawke Government, a direction with which the larger Centre-Left and Left factions were uncomfortable. By the 1990s Labor Unity became a substantial counterweight to the other factions in SA.

Notes

1. ^ "Members of the House of Representatives since 1901". Parliamentary Handbook. Parliament of Australia. Archived from the original on 2007-11-17. http://web.archive.org/web/20071117114013/http://www.aph.gov.au/library/handbook/historical/representatives/heitmann.king.htm. Retrieved 2007-11-18. 
2. ^ "Former minister outlines reservations over sheik". Insiders (ABC). 29 June 2003. http://www.abc.net.au/insiders/content/2003/s890658.htm. Retrieved 2007-11-18. 
3. ^ "Chris Hurford". Insiders. The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Library. http://www.unisa.edu.au/hawkecentre/library/Biogs/hurford.asp. Retrieved 2007-11-18. 

Political offices
Preceded by Ralph Hunt	Minister for Housing and Construction 1983–1984	Succeeded by Stewart West
Preceded by Stewart West	Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs 1984 – 1987	Succeeded by Mick Young
Preceded by Donald Grimes	Minister for Community Services 1987	Succeeded by Neal Blewett
Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Andrew Jones	Member for Adelaide 1969 – 1988	Succeeded by Michael Pratt

Persondata
Name	Hurford, Chris
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	30 July 1931
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death

This article about an Australian Labor Party member of the house of representative is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Australian Labor Party politicians Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Adelaide Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Cabinet of Australia Australian diplomats 1931 births Living people Australia Labor Party, Representative stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР? Michael Smith (actor/director) Kharchin Look at other dictionaries: Hurford — bezeichnet Chris Hurford (* 1931), australischer Politiker und Abgeordneter John Hurford Stone (1763 – 1818), britischer Reformer und Publizist Peter Hurford (* 1930), britischer Organist und Komponist Hurford (Neuseeland), Ort in Neuseeland D …   Deutsch Wikipedia Chris Knight (anthropologist) — Chris Knight at the 2009 G20 protests in London Chris Knight (born 1942) is a British anthropologist and political activist. Following an MPhil in Russian Literature from the University of Sussex in 1977,[1] he gained his PhD in 1987 at the… …   Wikipedia Mike Pratt (Australian politician) — Mike Pratt Member of the Australian Parliament for Adelaide In office 6 February 1988 – 24 March 1990 Preceded by Chris Hurford Succeeded by Bob Catley …   Wikipedia Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1987–1990 — This is a list of members of the Australian House of Representatives from 1987 to 1990. They were together known as the 35th Parliament. Member Party Electorate State Term in office Hon Evan Adermann National Fairfax Qld 1972–1990 Ken Aldred Li …   Wikipedia Minister for Social Housing and Homelessness — < Style The Honourable Appointer Governor General on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of Australia …   Wikipedia Taj El-Din Hilaly — Infobox ReligiousBio background = #008000 name = Sheikh Taj El Din Hamid Hilaly religion = Sunni Muslim alias = ar. تاج الدين الهلالي Tajeddin Hilaly Hilali Al Hilaly Taj el Din al Hilali Aldin Alhilali Tajideen El Hilaly Tajeddine location =… …   Wikipedia List of Doc Martin episodes — Doc Martin is a British comedy drama that has aired on ITV1 since 2 September 2004, with a first series of six episodes. The episode number for the second series increased to eight. This was followed by a Christmas special and a third series of… …   Wikipedia List of Ashes to Ashes episodes — Ashes to Ashes is a British science fiction/police procedural drama television series, serving as a spin off from the original series, Life on Mars. The transmission dates given below refer to the original UK broadcast on BBC One. Contents 1… …   Wikipedia Minister for Immigration and Citizenship (Australia) — Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Incumbent Chris Bowen since 14 September 2010 Style The Honourable …   Wikipedia Al-Hilaly — Scheich Taj El Din Hamid Hilaly (auch Tajeddin Hilaly oder Hilali or Al Hilaly) (* ca. 1941) (arabisch ‏تاج الدين الهلالي‎) ist ein islamischer Religionsführer in Australien. Hilaly ist der Imam der Moschee in Lakemba (New South Wales) bei Sydney …   Deutsch Wikipedia 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”