Alan Gordon Griffiths was born on 4 September 1952 and is an Australian former politician who represented the Division of Maribyrnong for the Australian Labor Party from March 1983 to January 1996.
16 Facts About Alan Griffiths
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Alan Griffiths left home at the age of 14 and entered the workforce as a scaffolder and rigger.
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Alan Griffiths subsequently worked in a variety of jobs before entering politics, including as a taxi driver, political adviser and lawyer.
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Alan Griffiths entered university on a scholarship and worked as a taxi driver to support his family while he studied.
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Alan Griffiths graduated from Monash University in 1979 with a Bachelor of Economics and a Bachelor of Laws.
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Alan Griffiths was quoted as favouring "sensible economic development" and saying that Australia "needs a development ethic".
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Alan Griffiths said the Australian Tourist Commission would focus on promoting Australia as a destination for travelers with special interests in sport, the environment, culture, arts, food and wine and that the Commonwealth Department of Tourism was examining ways to give tourists more opportunities to enjoy Aboriginal culture.
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At the time of his appointment to the Industry portfolio, Alan Griffiths was described as "the big winner out of Paul Keating's ministerial reshuffle".
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Alan Griffiths was a member of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Privileges from 1983 to 1984, the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee from 1987 to 1990 and the Industry, Science and Technology Committee from 1994 to 1996.
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Alan Griffiths served on the Joint Statutory National Crime Authority Committee from 1984 to 1987 and the Joint Select Committee on Electoral Reform from 1983 to 1984.
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Alan Griffiths told the media at the time that anecdotal evidence suggested there was a wide spectrum of involvement in areas of insider trading in the business community and it was therefore incumbent upon governments to ensure they took whatever steps were available to prevent that sort of business behavior.
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In 1994, Alan Griffiths resigned as Minister for Industry, Technology and Regional Development after the "Sandwich Shop Affair" came to light.
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Alan Griffiths was cleared of any wrongdoing by the Australian Federal Police, who were alerted to the matter by Alan Griffiths.
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Since 2010, Alan Griffiths has been Executive Chairman of Shopitize based in the UK.
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The Shopitize platform enables Alan Griffiths is a co-founder of Shopitize, with former banker Irina Pafomova, and former management consultant Dr Alexey Andriyanenko.
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In December 2010, Alan Griffiths was appointed as a non-executive director of Guildford Coal Limited.