James Killen

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Sir Denis James "Jim" Killen, KCMG (born 23 November 1925), Australian politician, was born in Dalby in western Queensland.

He was educated at Brisbane Grammar School and the University of Queensland, where he graduated in law. He served in the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II. After the war he worked on the land before returning to Brisbane. In 1949 he joined the new Liberal Party of Australia and became the founding president of the Queensland Young Liberals.

In 1955, Killen was elected to the House of Representatives for the Brisbane seat of Moreton. He quickly became known as a talented orator, but also as an extreme right-winger, which limited his chances of promotion. He was associated with the extremist Australian League of Rights, whose director, Eric Butler, was a notorious anti-Semite, although Killen himself was never accused of anti-Semitism. He was an outspoken defender of Ian Smith's regime in Rhodesia.

In the Australian legislative election of 1961, Killen narrowly retained his seat, and since Robert Menzies's Liberal government was re-elected with a majority of only two, it is often said that it was Killen's retention of Moreton that kept the government in power, although this is not strictly true.

Ironically it was a small leakage of preferences from the Communist Party candidate that helped Killen retain his seat. It is often said that Menzies sent Killen a telegram saying "Killen, you are magnificent!" In fact this line was invented by a journalist, although Killen was happy to repeat the story.

By the late 1960s Killen had somewhat moderated his views, and in the government of John Gorton he served as Minister for the Navy from 1969 to 1971. When William McMahon became Prime Minister, Killen was dropped from the Ministry. After the Liberals lost office to Labor under Gough Whitlam, he served in the Shadow Cabinet under Billy Snedden and Malcolm Fraser from 1972 to 1975, acting as the party spokesman on Education and later Defence. He served as Minister for Defence in the Fraser Government from 1975 to 1982.

During this time he oversaw a major review of the Australian Defence Force and also the military build-up which followed the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. He oversaw the largest single piece of Defence expenditure in Australian history, the purchase of 75 F/A-18 Hornets.

Killen was moved out of Defence in a 1982 reshuffle. He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, becoming "Sir James Killen, KCMG", and given the honorary portfolio of Vice-President of the Executive Council, which he held until the defeat of the Fraser government in 1983 by Labor under Bob Hawke. He resigned his seat soon after and returned to his legal practice, and was a prominent figure at the Brisbane bar through the 1980s and '90s. Killen was a prominent monarchist and was elected to the Constitutional Convention in 1998 as an opponent of an Australian republic.

Killen had a reputation as a great parliamentary wit, and (once he had abandoned his earlier political connections), developed close friendships with many people on both sides of politics, among them Gough Whitlam, Fred Daly and Barry Cohen. He wrote the preface to Daly's collection of political anecdotes, The Politician Who Laughed (1982).

Preceded by: Malcolm Fraser/Billy Snedden

Longest serving member of the Australian House of Representatives 1983

Succeeded by: Doug Anthony