1. John Murray Wheeldon was an Australian politician and journalist.
16 Facts About John Wheeldon
1. 2.
John Wheeldon was known for his views on Australian foreign policy and after leaving politics became an editorial writer for The Australian.
3.
John Wheeldon graduated in arts and law and then worked as a solicitor.
4.
At the 1964 half-Senate election, John Wheeldon was elected to the Australian Senate, representing the Australian Labor Party.
5.
John Wheeldon strongly opposed the Vietnam War and, though not a supporter of communism, visited North Vietnam at the invitation of the North Vietnam peace committee while Australia was involved in fighting in South Vietnam.
6.
John Wheeldon was appointed Minister for Repatriation and Compensation in June 1974 in Gough Whitlam's third ministry and was responsible for implementing Whitlam's ambitious plan to establish a national compensation scheme.
7.
John Wheeldon remained a senator until 30 June 1981, having chosen not to contest the 1980 election.
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Rupert Murdoch 8.
In 1968, Charles Spry, the director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, suspected that John Wheeldon was compromised by his contact with a female staff member of the French embassy in Canberra.
9.
John Wheeldon appeared to have a personal relationship with Soviet diplomatic staff suspected of being intelligence agents.
10.
In 1968, John Wheeldon was a leading critic in the Australian parliament of the Soviet Union's invasion of Czechoslovakia.
11.
In 1978, John Wheeldon was a primary author of Human Rights in the Soviet Union, a report by the Australian parliament's Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence, which was harshly critical of the Soviet Union.
12.
In 1980, John Wheeldon was a parliamentary adviser to Australia's permanent delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.
13.
In 1980, while part of Australia's delegation to the United Nations General Assembly, John Wheeldon rekindled an old friendship with Rupert Murdoch, who offered him a position as associate editor of The Australian newspaper.
14.
John Wheeldon was chief editorial writer for The Australian from 1981 to 1995.
15.
John Wheeldon wrote articles for the monthly magazine Quadrant and other periodicals.
16.
John Wheeldon died at his house in Sydney, survived by his wife, Judith and their son, and a daughter and a son from his first marriage.