Adrian Frank Bennett (21 January 1933 – 9 May 2006) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

from 1969 to 1975, holding the

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

n seat of

Swan Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family Anatidae. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe (biology) ...

for the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

(ALP). In later life he was associated with the

LaRouche movement The LaRouche movement is a political and cultural network promoting the late Lyndon LaRouche and his ideas. It has included many organizations and companies around the world, which campaign, gather information and publish books and periodicals. ...

and helped establish the Curtin Labor Alliance.

Early life

Bennett was born in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

on 21 January 1933. He was educated at Catholic schools before becoming a transport worker. He was state secretary of the Transport Workers' Union and also sat on the Canning Shire Council, including as deputy president for a period. In 1969 he was said by ''

The Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in 1 ...

'' to be "heavily involved in youth work and with parents and citizens' associations".

Politics

Federal parliament

A delegate to the ALP state executive, Bennett was elected to the House of Representatives at the 1969 federal election, defeating the incumbent

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

member Richard Cleaver in the seat of

. His victory reportedly "surprised himself and most political observers". Bennett defeated Cleaver in a rematch at the 1972 election. He was re-elected in 1974 but lost his seat to Liberal candidate John Martyr at the 1975 election. Bennett was known for driving his car from Perth to Canberra for each session, a journey of around or three days each way. In parliament he spoke against the racial segregation of ex-servicemen's clubs in the Territory of Papua New Guinea. He also signed petitions supporting Australian recognition of the

Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam The Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam (PRG, ), was formed on 8 June 1969, by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) as an armed underground government opposing the government of the Republic of ...

and supporting the

Builders Labourers Federation The Builders Labourers Federation (BLF) was an Australian trade union that existed from 1911 until 1972, and from 1976 until 1986, when it was permanently deregistered in various Australian states by the federal Hawke Labor government and som ...

green ban A green ban is a form of strike action, usually taken by a trade union or other organised labour group, which is conducted for environmentalist or conservationist purposes. They mainly took place in Australia during the 1970s, led by the Bui ...

Later activities

In 1976, Bennett was president of the Association for the Abolition of the Means Test, which sought to remove the

means test A means test is a determination of whether an individual or family is eligible for government benefits, assistance or welfare, based upon whether the individual or family possesses the means to do with less or none of that help. Means testing is ...

for the aged pension. He and his supporters drove a

double-decker bus A double-decker bus is a bus that has two storeys or decks. Double-deckers are used primarily for commuter transport, but open-top models are used as sightseeing buses for tourists, and there are coaches too for long-distance travel. They app ...

from Perth to Melbourne and Adelaide to collect signatures on a petition and organise local committees. In later life, Bennett was the secretary of the Municipal Employees Union of Western Australia (MEU), an organisation associated with the

. In 2000, he became the inaugural chairman of the Curtin Labor Alliance, a LaRouchite political party formed as a joint venture of the MEU and the

Citizens Electoral Council The Australian Citizens Party (ACP), formerly the Citizens Electoral Council of Australia (CEC), is a minor political party in Australia affiliated with the international LaRouche Movement, founded and originally led American political activist a ...

. In a speech to its inaugural conference, Bennett predicted an imminent global financial collapse and stated that the "new party will change the course of this nation in the very near future". He described

Lyndon LaRouche Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche Jr. (September 8, 1922 – February 12, 2019) was an American political activist who founded the LaRouche movement and its main organization, the National Caucus of Labor Committees (NCLC). He was a prominent conspiracy ...

as the "world's leading economist" and attributed the LaRouche criminal trials to a conspiracy by the "global

oligarchy Oligarchy (; ) is a form of government in which power rests with a small number of people. Members of this group, called oligarchs, generally hold usually hard, but sometimes soft power through nobility, fame, wealth, or education; or t ...

". He further stated that the dismissal of the Whitlam government had been engineered by the British government and that the subsequent Hawke and

Keating government The Keating government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Paul Keating of the Australian Labor Party from 1991 to 1996. The government followed on from the Hawke government after Paul Keating replaced Bob ...

s were controlled by the oligarchy. Bennett was an unsuccessful candidate for the Curtin Labor Alliance at the

2001 Western Australian state election Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 10 February 2001 to elect all 57 members to the Legislative Assembly and all 34 members to the Legislative Council. The two-term Liberal– National coalition government, led by Premier ...

and 2001 Australian Senate election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Adrian Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Swan Members of the Australian House of Representatives Trade unionists from Perth, Western Australia 1933 births 2006 deaths LaRouche movement Australian MPs 1969–1972 Australian MPs 1972–1974 Australian MPs 1974–1975