Michael John Duffy (born 2 March 1938) is a former Australian politician and lawyer. He was a senior minister in 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) governments from 1983 to 1993, serving as Minister for Communications (1983–1987), Minister for Trade Negotiations (1987–1990), and Attorney (1990–1993). 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 1980 to 1996, representing the Victorian seat of Holt.

Early life

Duffy was born on 2 March 1938 in

Mildura, Victoria Mildura ( ) is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura had a population of 34,565 at the 2021 census. When nearby Wentworth, Irymple, Nichols Point, Merbein and Red ...

. His father was born in Ireland and worked as a manager at an insurance company. Duffy spent his early years in Mildura and in

Albury, New South Wales Albury (; ) is a major regional city that is located in the Murray River, Murray region of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the twin city of Albury–Wodonga, Albury-Wodonga and is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of ...

, where he attended the Christian Brothers' College. He went on to 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 ...

, graduating

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

. Prior to entering politics he worked as a solicitor in Dandenong.

Politics

Duffy was first elected as a delegate to ALP state conference in 1971 and joined the state administrative committee at the 1973. After an initial unsuccessful attempt at the 1977 federal election, he was elected to the

at the 1980 election, winning the seat of Holt from the incumbent Liberal MP William Yates. Duffy was described in 1977 as "a leader of the party's right wing". However, he was later identified as factionally unaligned but part of the informal "Victorian Independents" group within the ALP, along with John Button, Barry Jones and Jim Kennan.

Communications minister, 1983–1987

Duffy was appointed Minister for Communications following the ALP's victory at the 1983 federal election. In cabinet he opposed moves to privatise AUSSAT, the government-owned satellite company, and attempts to revoke the independence of statutory agencies

Australia Post Australia Post, formally the Australian Postal Corporation and also known as AusPost, is an Australian Government-State-owned enterprise, owned corporation that provides postal services throughout Australia. Australia Post's head office is loca ...

and Telecom Australia. He sought to maintain media diversity by preventing major television networks from securing licences in regional areas.

Trade minister, 1987–1990

Following the 1987 federal election, Duffy was appointed Minister for Trade Negotiations, Minister Assisting the Minister for Industry, Technology and Commerce; and Minister Assisting the Minister for Primary Industries and Energy. He was promoted to cabinet in January 1988. On 6 February 1990, in recognition of work on the Closer Economic Relations agreement between Australia and New Zealand Duffy was the first Australian and fifteenth appointee to The Order of New Zealand. In 1990 he was also awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.

Attorney-General, 1990–1993

Duffy was appointed

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

in a reshuffle of the Hawke ministry following the 1990 election. He introduced the legislation that became the ''Corporate Law Act 1992'', which saw significant changes to financial reporting,

insider trading Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider informati ...

laws, directors' duties, related party transactions, and stock trade settlements. ''

The Australian Financial Review The ''Australian Financial Review'' (''AFR'') is an Australian compact daily newspaper with a focus on business, politics and economic affairs. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and has been published continuously since its foun ...

'' wrote in the same year that "Duffy in two years has brought more changes to the regulations governing business in Australia than others brought in as many decades", although he stated that many of the changes to legislation had already been in the pipeline when he took office. In 1992, Duffy played a key role in overturning the

Australian Defence Force The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the Armed forces, military organisation responsible for the defence of Australia and its national interests. It consists of three branches: the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army and the Royal Aus ...

's ban on openly gay members. Although defence minister Robert Ray had initially announced the ban would continue, Duffy brought the matter before the cabinet as a whole, arguing that Australia was in breach of its obligations under international law. A majority of cabinet sided with his view and the ban was overturned in November 1992.

Later activities

Duffy later served as the chairman of the board of directors for Racing Victoria Limited.RVL Board of Directors
, Racing Victoria Limited. Retrieved 15 December 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duffy, Michael 1938 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Holt Members of the Order of New Zealand Attorneys-general of Australia Members of the Cabinet of Australia Australian MPs 1980–1983 Australian MPs 1983–1984 Australian MPs 1984–1987 Australian MPs 1987–1990 Australian MPs 1990–1993 Australian MPs 1993–1996