1. John Sydney "Joe" Dawkins was born on 2 March 1947 and is an Australian former politician who was Treasurer in the Keating Labor government from December 1991 to December 1993.
26 Facts About John Dawkins
1. 2.
John Dawkins is notable for his reforms of tertiary education as Minister for Employment, Education and Training, his period as Treasurer when he attempted to increase taxes in order to balance the budget and his abrupt exit from politics.
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John Dawkins is the son of Muriel and Alec Letts Dawkins.
4.
John Dawkins's father, originally from Adelaide, was an orthopaedic surgeon and military physician during World War II with the rank of brigadier.
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John Dawkins's maternal grandfather Sir Ernest Augustus Lee Steere was a prominent pastoralist and businessman in Western Australia, while his uncle Sir Ernest Henry Lee-Steere served as Lord Mayor of Perth in the 1970s.
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John Dawkins later studied economics at the University of Western Australia, graduating Bachelor of Economics in 1972 with a concentration in agricultural economics.
7.
John Dawkins worked briefly for the Bureau of Agricultural Economics and with the Department of Trade and Industry from 1971 to 1972.
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John Dawkins first stood for parliament at the 1971 Western Australian state election, aged 23, running unsuccessfully for the Western Australian Legislative Council in Lower West Province.
9.
John Dawkins was elected to the House of Representatives at the 1974 federal election, winning the newly created seat of Tangney for the ALP.
10.
John Dawkins was defeated at the 1975 election by Liberal Peter Richardson.
11.
In 1977 John Dawkins returned to the House as member for the safe Labor seat of Fremantle, succeeding Kim Beazley, and defeating his son, Kim Beazley, for the Labor preselection.
12.
John Dawkins became Minister for Finance following the election of the first Hawke government in 1983.
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John Dawkins did not help his stock when he taunted Liberal MP Kathy Sullivan by calling her "sweetheart", angering several female MPs from his own party.
14.
John Dawkins was succeeded in Fremantle by former West Australian Premier Dr Carmen Lawrence.
15.
Since leaving politics, John Dawkins has had an active business career.
16.
John Dawkins has been non-executive Chair of Elders Rural Bank, LawCentral, Integrated Legal Holdings, The Retail Energy Market Company which operates the retail gas markets in South Australia and Western Australia, Fortuna Funds Management and director of Cbus superannuation, Genetic Technologies and MGM Wireless.
17.
In 2000, John Dawkins's family agreed to use 104 hectares of their sizeable holdings of grazing land in Forrestdale outside Perth in a property venture where the profits from land sales would be invested in research and development for technology that is conducted at the CY O'Connor ERADE Village, including research laboratories, offices and accommodation, at the entrance of the twelve hectare estate.
18.
John Dawkins has worked as a consultant to large Australian and foreign companies and the World Bank and the OECD.
19.
John Dawkins has been awarded honorary doctorates from the University of South Australia, Federation University Australia and the Queensland University of Technology.
20.
John Dawkins was board chairman of Sovereign Gold Limited until December 2015.
21.
In 2013 John Dawkins was chairman of Vocation and earned over a million dollars when it listed on the stock exchange.
22.
John Dawkins collapsed in 2015 and Dawkins had civil proceedings from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission regarding claimed contravention of disclosure provisions.
23.
John Dawkins's nephew Ben Dawkins is a current Pauline Hanson's One Nation member of the Western Australian Legislative Council.
24.
John Dawkins is married to Maggie Maruff, the daughter of tea-grower Allan Maruff.
25.
John Dawkins has a son and daughter with his first wife Kate, and a step-child from Maggie's first marriage.
26.
The John Dawkins family moved to a property near Eden Valley near the Barossa Valley.