Philip Maxwell Ruddock (born 12 March 1943 in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

) is an Australian politician and former

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of Hornsby Shire Council. He is a Vice Chair of the Global Panel Foundation Australasia. Ruddock was previously a Liberal 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 1973 to 2016. First elected in a 1973 by-election, by the time of his retirement he was the last parliamentary survivor of the Whitlam and

Fraser government The Fraser government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. It was made up of members of a Liberal–Country party coalition in the Australian Parliament from November 1975 to March 1983. Init ...

s. He was both the

Father of the House Father of the House is a title that has been traditionally bestowed, unofficially, on certain members of some legislatures, most notably the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. In some legislatures the title refers to the longest continuously ...

and the Father of the Parliament from 1998 to retirement. He is the second longest-serving parliamentarian in the history of the

Australian Parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Parliament of the Commonwealth and also known as the Federal Parliament) is the federal legislature of Australia. It consists of three elements: the Monarchy of Australia, monarch of Australia (repr ...

; only

Billy Hughes William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923. He led the nation during World War I, and his influence on national politics s ...

has served longer. Ruddock served continuously in the ministry during the

Howard government The Howard government refers to the Government of Australia, federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister John Howard between 11 March 1996 and 3 December 2007. It was made up of members of the Liberal Party of Australia, Li ...

, as Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs from 1996 to 2001 (promoted to the federal Cabinet in 2003), Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs from 2001 to 2003, and

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 ...

from 2003 to 2007.

Early life and education

Philip Ruddock was born in

, the son of Emmie (née Chappell) and Maxwell "Max" Ruddock. His father was the Deputy Prices Commissioner working for the

Commonwealth Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the prime ...

. The senior Ruddock was later a Liberal member of 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 ...

from 1962 to 1976 and a state minister in the

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and

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governments. Ruddock was educated at

Barker College Barker College is an independent Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican Mixed-sex education, co-educational Pre-school education, early learning, primary and secondary Day school, day and Boarding school, boarding school, located in Hornsby, New ...

in the suburb of Hornsby before attending 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 ...

, after which he practised as a solicitor. He was articled to the firm Berne, Murray and Tout and was promoted to partner. From 1973 to 1974, Ruddock was the federal president of the Young Liberals.

Political career

Early career, Member of Parliament and first term in Government 1973–1996

On 22 September 1973, Ruddock was elected to the

at a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

for the seat of

Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

. He narrowly held it at the 1974 general election, but was returned with a large swing in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

. A redistribution ahead of the 1977 election, however, split Parramatta almost in half. The western half retained the Parramatta name and became a marginal

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

seat anchored in heavily pro-Labor west Sydney. The eastern half, including most of the old Parramatta's Liberal-friendly areas, became the comfortably safe Liberal seat of Dundas. Ruddock transferred to Dundas, a move that proved prescient. While his Labor opponent from 1975,

John Brown John Brown most often refers to: *John Brown (abolitionist) (1800–1859), American who led an anti-slavery raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859 John Brown or Johnny Brown may also refer to: Academia * John Brown (educator) (1763–1842), Ir ...

, won Parramatta with a small swing, Ruddock won Dundas resoundingly. He held it without serious difficulty until its abolition in 1993. Ruddock then transferred to the equally safe seat of Berowra, a seat he held for the remainder of his federal political career.

Shadow Minister (1983–1996)

Ruddock was a member of the Opposition Shadow Ministry from 1983 to 1985 and from 1989 to 1996. In the 1980s and early 1990s, he was an active member of the parliamentary group of

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

. In 2000, Ruddock was disavowed by Amnesty International due to the treatment of refugees by the Howard government and asked not to wear his Amnesty International badge while performing ministerial duties. While Ruddock was still a

backbencher In Westminster system, Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no Minister (government), governmental office and is not a Frontbencher, frontbench spokesperson ...

, the Leader of the Opposition,

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. His eleven-year tenure as prime min ...

, commented that he believed the rate of Asian immigration was too high. The Hawke Labor government sought to introduced a

motion In physics, motion is when an object changes its position with respect to a reference point in a given time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed, and frame of reference to an o ...

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

to ensure that immigration did not discriminate on the basis of race. Ruddock along with fellow Liberals

Steele Hall Raymond Steele Hall (30 November 1928 – 10 June 2024) was an Australian politician who served as the 36th Premier of South Australia from 1968 to 1970. He also served in the federal Parliament as a senator for South Australia from 1974 to 1 ...

and

Ian Macphee Ian Malcolm Macphee AO (born 13 July 1938) is an Australian former politician. He held ministerial office in the Fraser government as Minister for Productivity (1976–1979), Immigration and Ethnic Affairs (1979–1982), and Minister for Em ...

crossed the floor In some parliamentary systems (e.g., in Canada and the United Kingdom), politicians are said to cross the floor if they formally change their political affiliation to a political party different from the one they were initially elected under. I ...

to support the

motion. In 1989, following

Andrew Peacock Andrew Sharp Peacock (13 February 193916 April 2021) was an Australian politician and diplomat. He served as a cabinet minister and went on to become leader of the Liberal Party on two occasions (1983–1985 and 1989–1990), leading the part ...

's ascension to the leadership, Ruddock became Shadow Minister for Immigration and proposed a settlement scheme for Australia's far north.

Cabinet Minister, second term in Government (1996–2007)

Minister for Immigration

Following the Coalition's rise to government at the 1996 election, Ruddock was appointed Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. Following the 1998 election, Ruddock was promoted to Cabinet. In this role, he administered the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs and presided over the Howard government's policies on

asylum seekers An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country, and makes in that other country a formal application for the right of asylum according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 14. A pers ...

. During his time in office, the previous Keating Labor government's practice of mandatory detention of asylum seekers was continued and extended. In October 1999, the Australian government introduced Temporary Protection Visas for persons who applied for refugee status after making an unauthorised arrival in Australia, and was the main type of visa issued to refugees when released from Australian immigration detention facilities. Many Afghan and Iraqi refugees who are not Australian citizens were affected by this policy.

Minister for Indigenous Affairs

Ruddock was appointed to the role of Minister for Indigenous Affairs, in 2001. By 2001 he had become a high-profile figure enjoying considerable support within the Liberal Party, while being strongly opposed by left-wing activists and some

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

advocates. Ruddock's "Pacific Solution" – which prevented asylum seekers receiving legal access – was condemned by

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

as contravening international law, as being a human rights violation: Oxfam and the UNHCR (United Nations refugee agency) agreed with this viewpoint. Ruddock's decisions were highly controversial and led to

's public attempt to distance the organisation from him by asking him to remove his lapel badge. In 2003, Ruddock was accused by the

immigration spokesperson,

Julia Gillard Julia Eileen Gillard (born 29 September 1961) is an Australian former politician who served as the 27th prime minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013. She held office as the leader of the Labor Party (ALP), having previously served as the ...

, of personally intervening to give a Filipino with a criminal record, Dante Tan, favourable treatment in exchange for donations to the Liberal Party. Ruddock denied that there was a connection between the donations and his actions, and noted that the donation had been properly declared. In 2004, an

Australian Federal Police The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the principal Federal police, federal law enforcement agency of the Australian Government responsible for investigating Crime in Australia, crime and protecting the national security of the Commonwealth ...

investigation cleared Ruddock of any wrongdoing, and a Senate inquiry, composed of a majority of Labor members, found that "there was no way to determine whether Mr Ruddock was influenced by money to grant visas."

Attorney-General

In 2003, Ruddock was

in a cabinet reshuffle. On 27 May 2004, Ruddock introduced the Marriage Legislation Amendment Bill to prevent any possible court rulings allowing same-sex marriages or civil unions. Ruddock defended a decision to deny a gay veteran's partner a spousal pension, despite their 38-year same-sex relationship. The UN Human Rights Commission found the Australian government in violation of equality and privacy rights under the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, but Ruddock insisted the government was not bound by the ruling. In May 2006, Ruddock blocked a gay Australian man from marrying in Europe. Ruddock refused to grant a gay man living in the Netherlands a ' Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage' document required by some European countries before marriage, to prove foreigners are in fact single. Under Ruddock's instructions, no such documents were to be released to gay and lesbians individuals intending to marry overseas. In July 2007, he remarked that Australia needs to improve its legislation to deal with pro-terrorist literature and media. "People who may be susceptible to carrying out a terrorist act ought not to be instructed in how to do it, how to use household products to produce a bomb, or be encouraged to think about violent ''jihad'' and taking their own life", he said. In 2007 Ruddock and the New South Wales Right to Life Association complained to the

Australian Classification Board The Australian Classification Board (ACB or CB) is an Australian Government of Australia, government Statute, statutory body responsible for the classification and censorship of films, television programmes, video games and publications for ex ...

about the sale in Australia of The Peaceful Pill Handbook by

Philip Nitschke Philip Haig Nitschke (; born 8 August 1947) is an Australian humanist, author, former physician, and founder and director of the pro-euthanasia group Exit International. He campaigned successfully to have a legal euthanasia law passed in Austral ...

and Fiona Stewart. The book provides information on assisted death and voluntary euthanasia. The complaint resulted in the book's banning from sale in Australia. Nitschke commented that "No other country in the world ... has gone down this path – Australia stands alone" and that the Ruddock's action represented a "significant erosion to the free speech principle and it's extremely disappointing".

Opposition, 2007–2013

Following the November 2007 election, Ruddock did not seek a shadow cabinet role and returned to the backbench. He returned to the frontbench as Shadow

Cabinet Secretary A cabinet secretary is usually a senior official (typically a civil servant) who provides services and advice to a cabinet of ministers as part of the Cabinet Office. In many countries, the position can have considerably wider functions and powe ...

after

Tony Abbott Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is an Australian former politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia and was the member of parli ...

captured the Opposition leadership in December 2009. The

Coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

was returned to government in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Third term in government and retirement, 2013–2016

Ruddock was named the Chief Government Whip in the House of Representatives in the

Abbott government The Abbott government was the federal executive government of Australia led by the 28th Prime Minister Tony Abbott. The government was made up of members of the Liberal–National Coalition. The Leader of The Nationals, Warren Truss, served ...

, which took office on 18 September 2013. Ruddock was replaced as Chief Government Whip by Queensland MP Scott Buchholz on 13 February 2015. On 27 May 2015, Ruddock was appointed to the new office of Special Envoy for Citizenship and Community Engagement. The office was created in the wake of controversial proposals by the government to strip sole Australian nationals of their citizenship. On 8 February 2016, Ruddock announced that he would not contest the next federal election and would be retiring from politics. On 8 February 2016, Foreign Minister

Julie Bishop Julie Isabel Bishop (born 17 July 1956) is an Australian former politician who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs (Australia), Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 2018 and Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia#Federal deputy leader ...

announced that Ruddock would be appointed Australia's first special envoy for human rights.

Post parliamentary career

Ruddock has served as the Special Envoy for Human Rights since 8 February 2016. During this period he has represented Australia abroad for the promotion and protections of Human Rights. In August 2017, Ruddock announced his candidacy for

Hornsby Shire Hornsby Shire is a local government area situated on the Upper North Shore as well as parts of the Hills District, of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The shire stretches from the M2 Hills Motorway in the south to the Hawkesb ...

and was declared elected on 16 September 2017. In November 2017, Ruddock accepted an invitation from the

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 ...

Malcolm Turnbull Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party an ...

, to chair a review of religious freedoms in Australia in light of the

Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey The Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey was a national survey by the Australian Government designed to gauge support for legalising same-sex marriage in Australia. The survey was held via the Australia Post, postal service between 12 Septe ...

and the introduction into federal parliament a

private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in wh ...

to enact the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017. In February 2018, Ruddock was elected as the state president of the Liberal Party NSW Division. In August 2024 Ruddock lost

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

pre-selection for the position of Mayor for the 2024 Local Government election and retired at the same election.

Personal life

Ruddock is married with two children. Ruddock's daughters found it difficult to reconcile their father's hard line on immigration with the values of compassion they were raised with.

References

External links

Australian Story transcript
' {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruddock, Philip 1943 births Abbott government Attorneys-general of Australia Australian Anglicans Australian solicitors Howard government Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Living people Members of the Cabinet of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Berowra Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Dundas Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Parramatta Officers of the Order of Australia People educated at Barker College People from Canberra People from the North Shore, Sydney Sydney Law School alumni Shire presidents and mayors of Hornsby Australian MPs 1972–1974 Australian MPs 1974–1975 Australian MPs 1975–1977 Australian MPs 1977–1980 Australian MPs 1980–1983 Australian MPs 1983–1984 Australian MPs 1984–1987 Australian MPs 1987–1990 Australian MPs 1990–1993 Australian MPs 1993–1996 Australian MPs 1996–1998 Australian MPs 1998–2001 Australian MPs 2001–2004 Australian MPs 2004–2007 Australian MPs 2007–2010 Australian MPs 2010–2013 Australian MPs 2013–2016