Lindsay James Tanner (born 24 April 1956) is a former Australian politician. A member of 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), he represented the seat of

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

in 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 1993 to 2010 and served as Minister for Finance in the

Rudd ''Scardinius'' is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Leuciscidae, which includes the daces, Eurasian minnows and related species. The fishes in this genus are commonly called rudds. Locally, the name "rudd" without ...

and Gillard governments from 2007 to 2010.

Background

Tanner was born in the East Gippsland town of

Orbost Orbost is a town in the Shire of East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne and south of Canberra where the Princes Highway crosses the Snowy River. It is about from the surf and fishing seaside town of Marlo on the coast of Ba ...

. He studied at the local state primary school before obtaining a scholarship to Gippsland Grammar School in Sale, where he graduated as dux in 1973. He graduated from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

with a Bachelor of Laws with Honours and a Bachelor of Arts with Honours, and later a Master of Arts in history in 1981. While still at university, he co-wrote a book on environmental politics and worked as a casual layout and design artist. He was editor of '' Farrago'' and a member of the ''

Melbourne University Law Review The ''Melbourne University Law Review'' is a triannual law journal published by a student group at Melbourne Law School covering all areas of law. It is one of the student-run law journals at the University of Melbourne and is widely regarded as ...

''. Tanner began his career as an

articled clerk Articled clerk is a title used in Commonwealth countries for one who is studying to be an accountant or a lawyer. In doing so, they are put under the supervision of someone already in the profession, now usually for two years, but previously three ...

and solicitor at Holding Redlich Lawyers in Melbourne. In 1985, he became an electorate assistant to Labor senator Barney Cooney. He was Assistant State Secretary of the Federated Clerks' Union from 1987, then State Secretary from 1988 until 1993.

Parliamentary career

In March 1993 Tanner was elected to the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Australian Senate, Senate. Its composition and powers are set out in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. ...

representing the

Division of Melbourne The Division of Melbourne is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in the states and territories of Australia, State of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, represented since the 2025 Australian fede ...

, and served one term as a government backbencher during

Paul Keating Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is an Australian former politician and trade unionist who served as the 24th prime minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996. He held office as the leader of the Labor Party (ALP), having previously ser ...

's final term as prime minister. 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 ...

under

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. His eleven-year tenure as prime min ...

won the March 1996 election, and Keating subsequently retired from politics. A major reshuffle by new leader

Kim Beazley Kim Christian Beazley (born 14 December 1948) is an Australian former politician and diplomat. Since 2022 he has served as chairman of the Australian War Memorial. Previously, he was leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and Leader of the ...

resulted in Tanner's promotion to the Shadow Ministry and appointment as Shadow Minister for Transport. He remained a member of the Shadow Ministry, despite numerous changes of leadership, continuously until the election of the Rudd Labor government in November 2007. Tanner himself had been touted as a potential leader but he never stood for the leadership. In 1998, Tanner was moved to the portfolios of Finance and Consumer Affairs. In 1999, he wrote a book entitled ''Open Australia'', which explored how information technology could be used to enhance social justice and economic equality; and he also wrote a number of articles on targeted, "micro" ways of addressing globalisation and the decline of large-scale manufacturing, in which he suggested there was little substance to the notion put forward by neoclassical economists of a "simulated free market" in East Asian economies that explains their "emergence" (see

1997 Asian Financial Crisis The 1997 Asian financial crisis gripped much of East Asia, East and Southeast Asia during the late 1990s. The crisis began in Thailand in July 1997 before spreading to several other countries with a ripple effect, raising fears of a worldwide eco ...

). Following the 2001 election, he became Shadow Minister for Communications. Tanner has been a prominent member of Labor's left faction and it was thought that he might contest the Labor leadership in 2003, when former leader

first challenged

Simon Crean Simon Findlay Crean (26 February 1949 – 25 June 2023) was an Australian politician and trade unionist. He was the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and leader of the opposition from 2001 to 2003. He represented the seat of Hotham i ...

. In the second leadership spill in December 2003, Tanner supported Beazley, who lost the party-room ballot to

Mark Latham Mark William Latham (; born 28 February 1961) is an Australian politician and media commentator who is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. He previously served as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and Leader of the ...

. The following month, Latham appointed Tanner to the new portfolio of Community Relationships, in addition to his existing responsibilities. After the October 2004 federal election, Tanner was thought to be a candidate for the position of Shadow Treasurer, which had been vacated by Simon Crean. However, once it became clear that Latham did not intend to offer him this position, Tanner announced that he would not stand for a position in the new shadow ministry. He subsequently released a brief statement, stating that he had "no complaint about how Mark Latham has dealt with impersonally", but adding that he had "serious reservations about the emerging Labor response to our latest election defeat." In June 2005, Tanner was re-elected to the Opposition frontbench and was appointed Shadow Minister for Finance. PollMelb07

The 2007 election saw Tanner's seat of

face The Greens on the

two-party-preferred vote In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP), is the result of an opinion poll or a projection of an election result where preferences are distributed to one of the two major parties, the Labor Party and the Liberal/Nati ...

, the first seat to do so at a federal election. Labor retained the seat on 54.7 percent of the two-party-preferred vote. After the successful election of the federal Labor Party,

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian diplomat and former politician who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and June to September 2013. He held office as the Leaders of the Australian Labo ...

retained Tanner as Minister for Finance and Deregulation. The role had previously only been known as Minister for Finance and Administration. On 24 June 2010, during

Julia Gillard Julia Eileen Gillard (born 29 September 1961) is an Australian former politician who served as the 27th prime minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013. She held office as the leader of the Labor Party (ALP), having previously served as the ...

's first question time as prime minister, Tanner announced his intention to not re-contest his seat at the next election, citing that he wanted to spend more time at home with his family and stressing he had already planned to do so before the change in leadership. His tenure as Member for Melbourne ceased on 19 July 2010 when the House of Representatives was dissolved prior to the 2010 federal election. He remained as Minister for Finance throughout the election campaign.

Post-political career

Tanner has been appointed as a Vice Chancellor's Fellow and adjunct professor at Victoria University, and a special adviser to financial firm Lazard Australia. In 2011, the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) accorded him the rare distinction of an Honorary Fellowship (FCIPS), the first to be bestowed outside of the UK. Tanner was elected to the position of Chairman of the

Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers or colloquially the Dons, is a professional Australian rules football club that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCrac ...

on 14 December 2015. Tanner is a long-standing supporter of the Bombers and was elected to the Board only 8 months earlier. In 2016, Tanner joined the Investment Advisory Committee of Six Park, a

-based automated investment company offering financial advice and management. On 15 November 2017 it was announced that Tanner was to be appointed a Non-Executive Director of

Suncorp Group Suncorp Group Limited, known simply as Suncorp, is an Australian finance, insurance and banking corporation based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was formed on 1 December 1996 by the merger of Suncorp, Metway Bank and the Queensland Ind ...

, effective 1 January 2018.

Personal life

He has been married three times, and has one son and three daughters.

Publications

Tanner has been published extensively in newspapers and journals. His major works are detailed below: * Russ, Peter; Tanner, Lindsay. (1978) ''The politics of pollution.'' Camberwell, VIC: Widescope. . (186 pages) * Tanner, Lindsay. (1984) "Working class politics and culture : a case study of Brunswick in the 1920s." Parkville, VIC: University of Melbourne (MA thesis).
PDF copy
(161 pages) * Tanner, Lindsay. (1996) ''The last battle.'' Carlton, VIC: Kokkino Press. (216 pages) * Tanner, Lindsay. (1999)
Engaging with the world
(12th Stan Kelly Memorial Lecture, 30 September 1999). Melbourne: Economic Society of Australia (Victorian Branch). (16 pages) * Tanner, Lindsay. (1999) ''Open Australia.'' Annandale, NSW: Pluto Press. (248 pages) * Tanner, Lindsay. (2003) ''Crowded lives.'' North Melbourne, VIC: Pluto Press. (124 pages)

* Tanner, Lindsay. (2003)
Courage and compassion
(Arthur Calwell Memorial Lecture, 19 September 2003). Melbourne. (24 pages) * Tanner, Lindsay. (2007)
Labor going global
(Chifley Memorial Lecture, 14 March 2007). Melbourne: University of Melbourne. (16 pages) * Tanner, Lindsay. (2011)
Sideshow: Dumbing Down Democracy
Scribe Publications. (256 pages) * Tanner, Lindsay. (2012)
Politics with Purpose
Scribe Publications. (350 pages)

Fiction

* Tanner, Lindsay. (2016) ''Comfort Zone'', Scribe Publications. * Tanner, Lindsay. (2019) ''Comeback'', Scribe Publications.

References

External links

Fairfax Blog

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanner, Lindsay 1956 births Living people Australian agnostics Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Labor Left politicians Melbourne Law School alumni Meanjin people Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Melbourne Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Cabinet of Australia People from Orbost Academic staff of the Victoria University, Melbourne 21st-century Australian novelists Essendon Football Club administrators Australian MPs 1993–1996 Australian MPs 1996–1998 Australian MPs 1998–2001 Australian MPs 2001–2004 Australian MPs 2004–2007 Australian MPs 2007–2010