Clive Edward Griffiths (20 November 1928 – 8 November 2020) was an Australian politician who was the longest serving President of the Western Australian Legislative Council at over 19 years.

Career

He was born in South Perth to mechanical fitter Thomas Edward Griffiths and Dorothy Margaret Beattie. In 1943 he was apprenticed to an electrical fitter at

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie-Boulder (or just Kalgoorlie) is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder as the surroundi ...

, and in 1947 worked for plant engineers at the Public Works Department. He developed his own business from 1953, and although he was a member of the Amalgamated Engineering Union, he joined 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. For example, while the political systems ...

in 1956. He served on South Perth City Council from 1962 to 1966, and in 1965 was elected to the

Western Australian Legislative Council The Western Australian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Western Australia, a state of Australia. It is regarded as a house of review for legislation passed by the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, Legislative A ...

representing South-East Metropolitan Province. He was elected President of the Council in 1977 and served for twenty years, the longest term of any parliamentary presiding officer in Western Australia. On his retirement from politics in 1997, he was appointed

Agent-General An Agent-General ( or , masculine and feminine respectively) is the representative in cities abroad of the government of a Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province or an States and territories of Australia, Australian state and, h ...

for Western Australia, and was also given the

Officer of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

. Griffiths was also awarded the

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or g ...

in 2003.

References

1928 births 2020 deaths Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council Presidents of the Western Australian Legislative Council Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Western Australia Officers of the Order of Australia Politicians from Perth, Western Australia Western Australian local councillors {{Australia-Liberal-politician-stub