Murray Hamilton Ross Thompson (born 27 December 1953) is a former member of the

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

Legislative Assembly. He was the member for

Sandringham Sandringham can refer to: Places Australia * Sandringham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Sandringham, Queensland, a rural locality * Sandringham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne **Sandringham railway line **Sandringham railway station * ...

in 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 ...

from 1992 until his retirement in 2018. He is the son of former

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

Premier of Victoria The premier of Victoria is the head of government of the state of Victoria in Australia. The premier leads the Cabinet of Victoria and selects its ministers. The premier is appointed by the governor of Victoria, must be a member of the Vic ...

Lindsay Thompson Lindsay Hamilton Simpson Thompson AO, CMG (15 October 1923 – 16 July 2008) was an Australian politician and army officer who served as the 40th premier of Victoria from 1981 to 1982. He previously served as the 19th deputy premier of Vict ...

Early life and education

Thompson was educated at

Caulfield Grammar School Caulfield Grammar School is a private, co-educational, Anglican, International Baccalaureate, day and boarding school, located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1881 as a boys' school, Caulfield Grammar began admitting girls exactly ...

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 ...

where he served as captain of football and member of debating team (1971–72), and was school captain in 1972. He was a member of the Caulfield Grammarians Cricket Club from 1973 to 1980. Thompson earned both a Bachelor of Arts (1979), a

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 ...

(1981) from

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 ...

where he was Student Representative on the Law Faculty Ad Hoc Committee on Professional Practice (1979) and Law Student Society Committee Member. His postgraduate study earned him a Diploma of Education (1986) from

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

. Thompson was an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er playing as a midfielder for

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

in the VFL until three knee operations caused him to retire after fourteen senior games.

Career

Thompson was admitted to the Victorian

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

in 1982, and set up his own suburban legal practice, practising as a solicitor before being elected as Liberal Member for Sandringham in

1992 Victorian state election The 1992 Victoria state election was held on 3 October 1992 to elect the 52nd Parliament of Victoria, including all 88 members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly and 22 of the 44 members in the Victorian Legislative Coun ...

. As a member of Parliament, he served on the Liberal frontbench in a range of portfolios in opposition, from December 2002 until he was dumped from the front bench in 2008. Thompson unsuccessfully contested the Liberal Party leadership against then Major Projects Minister

Denis Napthine Denis Vincent Napthine (born 6 March 1952) is an Australian former politician and veterinarian who served as the 47th premier of Victoria from 2013 to 2014. He held office as the leader of the Victorian division of the Liberal Party of Austr ...

in the ballot resulting from the resignation of Premier

Ted Baillieu Edward Norman Baillieu (born 31 July 1953) is a former Australian politician who was Premier of Victoria from 2010 to 2013. He was a Victorian Liberal Party, Liberal Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1999 to 2014, represe ...

. In 2008, Thompson voted against legalising abortion in Victoria, and in 2015, voted against banning anti-abortion groups from protesting outside abortion clinics. He retired from parliament at the 2018 Victorian state election, being succeeded by fellow Liberal Brad Rowswell.

References

Bibliography

* Hogan P: ''The Tigers of Old'', Richmond FC, Melbourne 1996

External links

Parliamentary page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Murray 1953 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly People educated at Caulfield Grammar School Richmond Football Club players Caulfield Grammarians Football Club players Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria Monash Law School alumni Australian sportsperson-politicians 21st-century Australian politicians Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Politicians from Melbourne 20th-century Australian sportsmen