Reg Macey (9 December 1936 – 30 January 2024) was an Australian politician.

Life and career

Macey was 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 ...

to Reginald George Gordon and Nelly Gwendoline Macey, and trained as a teacher. He taught in technical Schools from 1957 until 1968. While on a teaching scholarship, he taught part-time at a primary School in 1969 and again in 1972. In his other teaching years, he was seconded to the

Victoria Police Victoria Police is the primary law enforcement agency of the Australian States and territories of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It was formed in 1853 and currently operates under the ''Victoria Police Act 2013''. , Victor ...

, and was an education officer there for 12 years. On 18 May 1963, he married Patricia Anne Martin, with whom he had three children: Leah, Martina, and Keiran. Their marriage was dissolved in 1987 and, on 29 October 1988, Macey married Maureen Griffiths, with whom he had a son, Griffith Macey. The couple separated in 2004. Macey had a commitment ceremony to Chutikarn Pinnaimueang in Phuket in 2005 and supported her 2 children. Macey was a commissioner of the

Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works The Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW) was a public utility board in Melbourne, Australia, set up in 1891 to provide water supply, sanitary sewer, sewerage and sewage treatment functions for the city. In 1992, the MMBW was merged wit ...

from 1974 to 1978, and area commissioner from 1978 to 1981 and 1984 to 1985. He was a South Melbourne City Councillor from 1973 to 1981 and from 1982 to 1985, serving as mayor from 1977 to 1978 and 1978 to 1979. In 1985, he was elected to the

Victorian Legislative Council The Victorian Legislative Council is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria, Australia, the lower house being the Victorian Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit at Parliament House, Melbourne, Parliament ...

as a

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 ...

, representing

Monash Province Monash Province was an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Council until 2006. It was abolished from the 2006 Victorian general election, 2006 state election in the wake of the Steve Bracks, Bracks Labor government's reform of the Legislative ...

. He held his seat until 1992, when he resigned. Macey resigned from the Liberal Party in 2004 because he believed it had moved too far to the right. He claimed that the Liberals had abandoned

Sir Robert Menzies ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part ...

' ideal of an Australian nation in which "every family is enabled to live in, and preferably to own, a comfortable home at reasonable cost and with adequate community amenities," as articulated in his 1945 Liberal Party constitution. He said the critical turning point was when

Peter Costello Peter Howard Costello (born 14 August 1957) is an Australian businessman, lawyer and former politician who served as the treasurer of Australia in Howard government, government of John Howard from 1996 to 2007. He is the longest-serving trea ...

, the Treasurer in the then federal

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, ignored a

Productivity Commission The Productivity Commission (PC) is the Australian Government's principal review and advisory body on microeconomic policy, regulation and a range of other social and environmental issues. The PC was created as an independent authority by th ...

recommendation from an inquiry which Costello had commissioned. Concerned about the ability of people's adult children to become first home owners, Macey founded the Australian Affordable Housing Party in 2013 and became its first President. In February 2018, the party announced on

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that Macey had been replaced as president by the party's candidate at the

2017 Bennelong by-election A by-election for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Bennelong was held on 16 December 2017. Previous incumbent and Liberal candidate John Alexander won the by-election despite a 4.8 percentage point two-party swing to Labor ca ...

, Anthony Ziebell. On 30 January 2024, Macey died in

Phuket Phuket (; , , or ''Tongkah'') is one of the Southern Thailand, southern Provinces of Thailand, provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, List of islands of Thailand, the country's largest island, and another 3 ...

, Thailand where he lived with his defacto wife. He was 87. Ref Death notice

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macey, Reg 1936 births 2024 deaths Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Council Politicians from Melbourne