Michael Andrew Leighton (20 October 1954 – 8 November 2014) was an Australian politician. Born in

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 ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, he attended

Monash University Monash University () is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Named after World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the ...

1972–76 and subsequently began practising as a psychiatric nurse. Having joined the Labor Party in 1976, he became a trade union official in 1981, and in 1980 became a

City of Heidelberg The City of Heidelberg was a local government area about northeast of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The city covered an area of , and existed from 1840 until 1994. History Heidelberg was first incorporated as a trust i ...

councillor, serving until 1982. In 1988, he was elected to the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the states and territories of Australia, state lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the state upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament H ...

as the Labor member for Preston. He held various positions in the shadow ministry from 1992–96, but was not included on the front bench when Labor won office in 1999. Leighton retired in 2006. He died, aged 60, on 8 November 2014.Obituary: Michael Andrew Leighton
''The Age'', 10 November 2014.

References

1954 births 2014 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Monash University alumni Victoria (state) local councillors 21st-century Australian politicians Politicians from Melbourne Psychiatric nurses {{Australia-Labor-Victoria-MP-stub