29 Facts About Mal Colston

Malcolm Arthur Colston was an Australian politician who served as a Senator for Queensland from 1975 to 1999.

Mal Colston was a member of the Labor Party until 1996, when he resigned to sit as an independent following a dispute over his candidacy for Deputy President of the Senate.

Mal Colston was the son of Myrtle Clorine Ruby and Douglas Thomas Colston.

Mal Colston's mother was a schoolteacher and his father was a carpenter.

Mal Colston attended Mitchelton State School and Brisbane State High School.

Mal Colston completed a teaching qualification at the Queensland Teachers' College and taught at small rural primary schools in south-east Queensland between 1957 and 1964.

Mal Colston grew dissatisfied with the isolation of his postings and later worked as an educational guidance officer.

In 1966, Mal Colston began studying full-time at the University of Queensland, working as a casual labourer to support himself.

Mal Colston resigned in 1973 to concentrate on his political career, but returned to the public service after the 1974 election.

Mal Colston was seconded to the state government's Department of Industrial Affairs for a period.

Mal Colston joined the Australian Labor Party in 1958 at the age of 19, following his parents into the party.

Mal Colston unsuccessfully sought ALP preselection for the seat of Cooroora prior to the 1963 Queensland state election.

Mal Colston first stood for federal parliament at the 1970 Senate election, placed third on the ALP ticket.

Mal Colston unsuccessfully sought Senate preselection prior to the 1972 federal election, but following a double dissolution in 1974 he was placed fifth on the party's Senate ticket in Queensland.

Mal Colston was narrowly defeated by Country Party candidate Glen Sheil for the final vacancy.

The expectation of Mal Colston's victory was such that he was invited to attend the first meeting of the ALP Caucus after the election and was able to vote on the composition of the third Whitlam ministry.

Mal Colston indirectly played a role in the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis.

The Labor Party nominated Mal Colston to fill the casual vacancy in the Senate.

However, the Premier of Queensland, Joh Bjelke-Petersen, claimed that Mal Colston was a "dangerous socialist" and refused to appoint him.

At the ensuing 1975 election, Mal Colston was elected as a Labor senator.

Mal Colston continued to serve in that capacity until 1996.

Mal Colston opposed the Coalition's industrial relations package, but he voted for the sale of a third of Telstra and some other government initiatives.

In 1997, Mal Colston was charged by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions with 28 charges of defrauding the Commonwealth by allegedly misusing his parliamentary travel allowance.

Mal Colston then revealed that he was suffering from cancer.

Prosecution was not pursued after medical opinion was provided that Mal Colston was unlikely to live long enough for a trial to be completed.

Mal Colston retired from the Senate at the end of his term.

Mal Colston had appointed his wife, Dawn Colston, as executor and trustee of his will, but she died eleven months later, before she could dispose of her husband's will.

Mal Colston had appointed her brother, Brian McMullen, as executor of her will.

Notwithstanding the controversies that he generated after his defection from Labor, Mal Colston requested that no condolence motion be moved in the Senate after his death.