Charles Robert "Bert" Kelly

CMG CMG may refer to: Companies * Capitol Music Group, a music label * China Media Group, the predominant state radio and television broadcaster in the PRC * China Media Group Co., Ltd., publicly listed Chinese holding company in the media sector * ...

(22 June 1912 – 17 January 1997), was an Australian politician and government minister. He was influential in moving Australian political parties away from support for high-

tariff A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and p ...

policies.

Early life

Kelly was born in

Tarlee, South Australia Tarlee is a town in South Australia. The origin of the name is uncertain, but it is thought to be a corruption of the name Tralee in Ireland. The township of Tarlee was advertised as readied for sale by auction in 1867. Tarlee is in the lower ...

and educated at

Prince Alfred College , motto_translation = Do Brave Deeds and Endure , established = 1869 , type = Independent, single-sex, day & boarding , headmaster = David Roberts , chaplain = Reverend Ma ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...

. His father, Stan Kelly was a part-time Commissioner of the Commonwealth Tariff Board from 1929 to 1940, and supported its opposition to the high-tariff policies of successive Australian governments. He was a farmer before entering politics and in 1951, he was granted a Nuffield Fellowship to study farming in the United Kingdom.

Political career

Kelly was elected as the

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. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a l ...

member for the

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

seat of

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population ...

at the 1958 election. He was a passionate supporter of

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold ...

, when this was very much a minority opinion in Australia. Kelly was Minister for Works from February 1967 to February 1968 in the Holt and Gorton ministries and then

Minister for the Navy Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

until November 1969. As navy minister he dealt with the aftermath of the ''Melbourne''–''Evans'' collision in June 1969. His period as minister may have been limited by his free trade views. After Kelly's departure from the ministry, he wrote a column in ''

the Australian Financial Review ''The Australian Financial Review'' (abbreviated to the ''AFR'') is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New S ...

'', ''Modest Member'', supporting free trade. When the seat of Angas was abolished in 1977, its member

Geoffrey Giles Geoffrey O'Halloran Giles (27 June 1923 – 18 December 1990) was an Australian politician. Giles was born in Adelaide, South Australia, a son of Hew O'Halloran Giles, and Nellie Cosford Giles (née Verco), eldest daughter of Dr. W. A. Verco. ...

beat Kelly for

preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presel ...

for Wakefield.

Later life

Kelly renamed his column "Modest Farmer" and it was published successively in ''the Australian Financial Review'', ''

The Bulletin Bulletin or The Bulletin may refer to: Periodicals (newspapers, magazines, journals) * Bulletin (online newspaper), a Swedish online newspaper * ''The Bulletin'' (Australian periodical), an Australian magazine (1880–2008) ** Bulletin Debate, ...

'' and ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatewat ...

''. He was invested as a Companion of the Most Distinguished

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in hono ...

(CMG) in 1980. Survived by his wife, Lorna and three sons, Kelly's funeral was attended by former

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Prime Minister

Gough Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. The longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1967 to 1977, he was notable for being the he ...

and

Ray Evans Raymond Bernard Evans (February 4, 1915 – February 15, 2007) was an American songwriter. He was a partner in a composing and song-writing duo with Jay Livingston, known for the songs they composed for films. Evans wrote the lyrics and Livi ...

, the former head of Western Mining Corporation and president of the right-wing H. R. Nicholls Society.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Charles Robert 1912 births 1997 deaths Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Wakefield Members of the Australian House of Representatives People educated at Prince Alfred College Australian Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George 20th-century Australian politicians South Australian politicians