Andrew James Marshall Murray (born 29 January 1947) is an Australian politician. He was an

Australian Democrats The Australian Democrats is a centrist political party in Australia. Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party dissenting splinter groups, it was Austral ...

member of the Australian Senate from 1996 to 2008, representing

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. In 2013, Murray was appointed a Royal Commissioner on the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government ...

Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was a royal commission announced in November 2012 and established in 2013 by the Australian government pursuant to the Royal Commissions Act 1902 to inquire into and repo ...

Background and early years

Murray was born in

Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th c ...

, in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. In 1951 he was sent as a child migrant to the British colony of

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally kno ...

(now

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

), where he was educated before graduating from

Rhodes University Rhodes University is a public research university located in Makhanda (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, Rhodes University is the province's oldest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

with degrees in English and History. He continued his education at

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

( Rhodes Scholar 1971), where he graduated with a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. Returning to Africa, Murray worked as an executive in large corporations, then ran his own businesses. He also worked as a consultant, lecturer and industry journalist and served in the

Rhodesian Air Force The Rhodesian Air Force (RhAF) was an air force based in Salisbury (now Harare) which represented several entities under various names between 1935 and 1980: originally serving the British self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia, it was the ...

. He was deported from South Africa in 1968 for opposing the

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

policies of the white minority régime in his role as Deputy Vice President of the

National Union of South African Students The National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) was an important force for liberalism and later radicalism in South African student anti-apartheid politics. Its mottos included non-racialism and non-sexism. Early history NUSAS was found ...

. The deportation order was withdrawn in 1977. Murray migrated to Australia in 1989.

Political career

Murray was applauded by some as an intelligent and thoughtful debater in the Senate. Others believe that he acted against the wishes of his party's members in voting for the Goods and Services Tax bills in 1999, a stance which caused an irreparable party-room rift, leading to terminal loss of electoral support. Murray pushed for greater transparency in government contracting activities by obtaining Senate support for a motion that required federal government ministers to indicate what clauses in contracts are confidential and to then justify the need for confidentiality. Murray did not seek re-election at the

2007 federal election This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not ...

and retired at the expiration of his term on 30 June 2008.

Royal commissioner

On 11 January 2013 the Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, announced Murray's appointment through Letters Patent as one of six Commissioners to the

References

External links

Senator Andrew Murray
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Andrew 1947 births Living people Australian Democrats members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate for Western Australia Members of the Australian Senate People from Hove Australian Rhodes Scholars Alumni of University College, Oxford Australian royal commissioners Zimbabwean emigrants to Australia 21st-century Australian politicians 20th-century Australian politicians Zimbabwean Rhodes Scholars