Mick Young

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Michael Jerome Young (9 October 1936 – 8 April 1996) was an Australian politician. He rose through the Australian Labor Party to become its national secretary, before serving as a Labor member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1974 to 1988. He was a senior minister in the Hawke government, and was a prominent political figure during the 1970s and 1980s.

Young was born in Sydney to Irish Catholic parents. He studied at Marist Brothers College in the Sydney suburb of Mosman, and worked as a shearer and roustabout before becoming an organiser with the Australian Workers Union in South Australia. He was appointed as the party's South Australian state organiser in 1964, and his role in the first Labor electoral win in over three decades at the 1965 state election led first to his election as secretary of the state branch in 1968 and of the federal party in 1969. Gough Whitlam, then Opposition Leader, took on Young as an advisor during this period.

Young again showed his unparalleled campaign management skills in the 1972 federal election, playing a significant role in the first ALP federal election win in twenty six years and devising Labor’s `It's Time' slogan, still considered one of the most effective political slogans in Australian history.

Touted as a potential successor to Whitlam as Labor leader, Young gained preselection for the safe Labor seat of Port Adelaide and was comfortably elected to parliament at the 1974 election. Young was promoted to the shadow ministry in 1976, and was given the portfolios of immigration and ethnic affairs.

Young has been credited with keeping Labor’s spirits up during their time in opposition from 1975-1983; Kim Beazley considered Young on a par with Paul Keating as the most effective baiter of opposition politicians, although Young “was much funnier, but gentler as well.”

One of Young's most effective attacks on the opposition Liberal Party of Australia was during the leadership of Alexander Downer who was seen as a wealthy snob by the ALP to which Young famously said "His gatehouse is bigger than The Lodge" (the official home of the Australian Prime Minister).

Following the ALP victory at the 1983 federal election, Young was initially appointed Special Minister of State and Vice-President of the Executive Council, but was forced to stand down in 1984 when he breached Cabinet security, as part of the Combe-Ivanov affair. Five months later, he returned to his original portfolios as Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs. He was also given the position of leading the government in the House of Representatives. While in this position, he introduced the custom of conducting formal briefings for the press gallery, based on the idea that it was preferable to freely provide information to the media with your own spin than for them to gain the information from other sources and put their own spin on it.

As a member of parliament, Young remained actively involved in social justice issues. In 1984, during a contentious national party conference where nuclear issues were under debate, he openly spoke out against uranium mining, and invited anti-uranium mining activists to use his office as a base. He also made available copies of the secret Fox Report on Ranger Uranium to anti-nuclear protestors and supported their campaign to have Port Adelaide City declared a Nuclear Free Zone. He was also active in supporting refugees and multiculturalism, and launched an inquiry on immigration policy aimed at reforming the system while the relevant minister.

In 1987, Young faced controversy over his alleged handling of campaign donations during the 1987 election. He subsequently resigned from parliament on February 12, 1988, sparking the 1988 Port Adelaide by-election, though he was later cleared of any wrongdoing.

Following his retirement from parliament, Young worked as a lobbyist, chaired the Federal Government Multicultural Advisory Council and completed a review for the ALP following the 1995 Queensland state election. He also continued to mentor promising Labor politicians, including Kim Beazley, who considered Young his best friend.

Young’s death in Sydney of leukaemia on April 8, 1996, aged 59, was felt greatly by the Labor Party and his state funeral was well attended. An annual scholarship was set up in his name to assist disadvantaged children and adults further their education.

[edit] References

• FitzSimons, P. Beazley: a Biography, HarperCollins, Pymble, NSW, 1998. ISBN 0-7322-5876-6
• McMullin, R. The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party 1891-1991, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1991. ISBN 0-19-554966-X
• Faulkner, J. et al. (ed.) True believers : the story of the federal parliamentary Labor Party, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW., 2001. ISBN 1-86508-609-6