Michael John Maher (11 July 1936 – 29 September 2013) was an Australian politician. Born in Sydney, he attended

De La Salle College Ashfield De La Salle College was an independent Roman Catholic Church in Australia, Roman Catholic Comprehensive School#Australia, comprehensive Single-sex school, single-sex secondary day school for boys, located in Ashfield, New South Wales, Ashfield ...

and the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

and became a solicitor. A member of the Labor Party, he was elected to the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

at the 1973 election, representing the seat of

Drummoyne Drummoyne is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Drummoyne is six kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the City of ...

. He held Drummoyne until resigning to contest the 1982 Lowe by-election, caused by the resignation of former Liberal

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 ...

William McMahon Sir William McMahon (23 February 190831 March 1988), also known as Billy McMahon, was an Australian politician who served as the 20th prime minister of Australia from 1971 to 1972. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia ...

. Maher was successful, and held the seat until 1987, when he was defeated by Bob Woods. Michael Maher was described in 2000 by a subsequent ALP Member for Lowe, John Murphy, as 'one of the most genuine and most loved members to grace this House'. In 2000, Maher was honoured with the

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of then ...

for ''service to parliament at state and federal levels, and to the Maltese community of New South Wales.'' Maher died in Sydney on .

References

Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Lowe Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia 1936 births 2013 deaths Australian MPs 1980–1983 Australian MPs 1983–1984 Australian MPs 1984–1987 {{Australia-Labor-representative-stub