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Graham Richardson
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Graham Frederick Richardson (September 27, 1949 -, Sydney, Australia) is a former Labor politician.
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Richardson’s early life was spent in Kogarah, New South Wales, where he attended the Marist Brothers' School. In 1966 he passed his Leaving Certificate with honours and credits at Sydney Technical High School. In 1969 he began studies for a Bachelor of Law at Sydney University but dropped out of university in 1971 when he was elected full time organiser for the Australian Labor Party in New South Wales.
Richardson joined the Monterey branch of the Australian Labor Party in 1966 (aged 17).
- 1976 Assistant general secretary of the New South Wales (NSW) Labor Party
- 1983-94: Labor Party Senator for New South Wales (aged 33)
- 07/87 - 01/88: Minister for the Environment and the Arts, Hawke ministry.
- 01/88 - 04/90 Minister for Arts, Sport, the Environment, Tourism and Territories
- 04/90 - 12/91 Minister for Social Security
- 02/91 - 05/92 Vice-President of the Executive Council
- 12/91 - 05/92 Minister for Transport and Communications
- 03/93 - 03/94 Minister for Health, Paul Keating's ministry
- 03/94 - 03/94 Minister for the Environment, Sport and Territories
During the 1980s and 1990s Richardson was often referred to as a 'numbers man' for the right wing of the New South Wales branch of the Australian Labor Party. He was highly effective in this position and became known as a 'king maker'. Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke said he was helped twice by Richardson, first to become Prime Minister and then to become not Prime Minister.
Richardson resigned as Minister of Health from Paul Keating's Government on 18 May 1992 over the Marshall Islands affair. He retired from parliament on 25 March 1994 citing ill-health.
Richardson is now primarily seen by the Australian public through election night television coverage. He is a political commentator for the Nine Network and broadcaster with 2GB. He has also authored a book of memoirs titled Whatever it Takes, published by Bantam Books, Sydney, 1994.
For the 2000 Sydney Olympics he was the chairman of the Olympic ticketing operations, Mayor of the Olympic village and had a seat on the Sydney Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (SOCOG).
Richardson's reputation has been tainted by association with several highly publicised scandals.
Peter Baldwin is a former Australian Labor politician who was brutally bashed by unknown assailants in his home on July 16, 1980. It was subsequently alleged by Joe Meissner, the then-Secretary of the Enmore ALP branch and one of the central figures in the controversy, that the bashing was undertaken by underworld figure Tom Domican acting on suggestions from Richardson.[1]. In March 2007 Richardson won a settlement against Fairfax of $50,000 AUD for defamation on the basis of this report.[2]
This was an infamous scandal of the 1980s, in which it was alleged that senior NSW ALP figures had consorted with organised crime figures and prostitutes on board the boat the Kanzen in Sydney Harbour. The Kanzen was owned by the aforementioned Joe Meissner, a convicted criminal (for theft of submachine-guns and assault) with alleged organised crime links.
In 1992 Gregory Symons was jailed for forging government documents related to a migration scam. A judicial inquiry was necessary to resolve allegations of ministerial impropriety. As a direct result Richardson was forced to resign from the ministry when it was revealed he'd used his position to attempt to help Symons, his cousin, avoid penalty.[3]
Richardson was criticised for not declaring his directorship of radio station 2HD while he was Minister of Communcations in 1992. Hansard[4]
In 1999, as chairman of the 2000 Sydney Olympics ticketing operations, Richardson oversaw a deal where over 500,000 select tickets were withheld from the public ticket lottery for high-paying package deal customers. This resulted in considerable public criticism at the time and the tickets were eventually made available to the general public.[5][6]
Richardson was implicated in the Cash for comment scandal in Australian radio broadcasting, where prominent radio personalities - such as John Laws and Alan Jones - were found to have been promoting certain companies while on the companies' payroll, while keeping the deal secret from listeners to make it look like the comments were genuine opinion/editorial pieces, or that they had demanded payments from companies in exchange for refraining from making negative comments. Richardson was being paid by Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL), and spruiked for PBL-owned companies Channel 9 and Crown Casino during his radio show.
Recently Richardson has become embroiled in allegations of tax evasion involving the late Rene Rivkin.[7]. Federal Court Judge James Allsop released a document on 27 September 2006 showing that Richardson had an undeclared Swiss bank account containing $1.4 million.[8].
His father Fred Richardson was state secretary of the Postal Workers' Union. Graham is married to Cheryl and lives in Paddington, Sydney.
On being a politician and the Westminster System of Government:
"You have to lie to keep your job. If you have to lie, it is probably a good system." From Graham Richardson book, Whatever it Takes, published by Bantam Books, Sydney, 1994.
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/22/1061529330517.html?from=storyrhs
- ^ http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:YGl79dEj3OEJ:www.aph.gov.au/hansard/senate/dailys/ds240398.pdf+marshall+%22graham+richardson%22+symons&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=13&gl=us
- ^ http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/nov1999/oly-n05.shtml
- ^ http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s64257.htm
- ^ "Judge exposes Richo's secret tax case", The Sydney Morning Herald, 2006-09-23. Retrieved on 2006-09-23.
- ^ "Richo's $1.4m Swiss bank deposit", The Sydney Morning Herald, 2006-09-27. Retrieved on 2006-09-27.
- Searching For Sources - Concerning allegations of corruption concerning the former Labor Cabinet minister Graham Richardson.
- Graham Richardson, Whatever It Takes (Bantam, 1994) - An autobiography that plays down or omits many of the discreditable details
- Marian Wilkinson, The Fixer: the untold story of Graham Richardson (1996) - A biography that includes some of the omitted details
- James McClelland, An Angel Bit The Bride (Penguin, 1989) - A collection of McClelland's newspaper columns; see pages 59-62 "On The Road To The Damascus Rainforest" for a hostile account of Richardson.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Brian Howe |
Minister for Health 1993–1994 |
Succeeded by Carmen Lawrence |