Michael John Moore (born 2 April 1950) is a public health leader, academic and former Australian politician. He was an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

member of the

Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory (known in short as the ACT Legislative Assembly) is the unicameral legislature of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It sits in the Legislative Assembly Building on Civic Sq ...

for four terms, from 1989 to 2001. He served as Australia's first independent minister as Minister for Health and Community Care from 1998 to 2001 in the Liberal minority government led by

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

Kate Carnell Anne Katherine Carnell (née Knowlman; born 30 May 1955) is an Australian businesswoman and former Liberal Party politician, who served as the third Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) from 1995 to 2000. Early life and ...

and later,

Gary Humphries Gary John Joseph Humphries (born 6 July 1958) is a Deputy President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. He was a member of the Australian Senate representing the Australian Capital Territory for the Liberal Party of Australia from 2003 t ...

Early life and education

Moore holds a post-graduate diploma in education, a master's degree in population health and a PhD from the

University of Canberra The University of Canberra (UC) is a public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is within walking distance of Westfield Belconnen, and from Canberra's Civic Centre. UC ...

. Moore was received a master's degree in Population Health at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

in 1997. Moore is a Distinguished Fellow at the George Institute for Global Health, a visiting professor at the

University of Technology, Sydney The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Although its origins are said to trace back to the 1830s, the university was founded in its current form in 1988. As of 202 ...

and an Adjunct Professor with the University of Canberra. Before politics, Moore was a high school teacher and an Army Reservist.

Politics

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker ru ...

, Moore was elected as a Residents Rally member to the first multi-member single-constituency

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...

ACT Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory (known in short as the ACT Legislative Assembly) is the unicameral legislature of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It sits in the Legislative Assembly Building on Civic ...

. No party had won a majority, and

Rosemary Follett Rosemary Follett (born 27 March 1948) is a former Australian politician who was the inaugural Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory, serving in 1989 and again between 1991 and 1995. She was the first woman to become head of gove ...

's Labor Party formed a minority government. He was re-elected for a second term at the single-constituency 1992 general election with Helen Szuty as part of the Michael Moore Independent Group, and at the

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

general elections as Moore Independents. He represented the electorate of Molonglo. He was Minister for Housing, Corrections and Children's Services and was Manager of Government Business. He chaired the Australian Ministerial Councils for both Health and Corrections. Moore was a social progressive who was responsible for the legalisation of prostitution, the decriminalisation of cannabis and was a strong advocate for trialling the provision of heroin to dependent users. He was a joint founder of the Australian Parliamentary Group on Drug Law Reform, the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation and sponsored the early meetings of the group Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform.

Other positions

Since 2006, he has been a political and social columnist with the ''Canberra City News''. From 2008 until 2018, Moore served as chief executive officer of the Public Health Association of Australia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Michael Australian schoolteachers Australian columnists 1950 births Living people Members of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly Residents Rally members of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly Independent members of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly 21st-century Australian politicians Australian public health doctors