Brian Howe (politician)

Brian Leslie Howe, AO (born 23 January 1936), is an Australian former politician who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia in the Labor government under prime ministers Bob Hawke and Paul Keating from 1991 to 1995.

Howe was born in Melbourne. He spent his early childhood in the suburb of Malvern and was educated at Melbourne High School and the University of Melbourne. He later studied theology in Chicago (1967–69) and then returned to Australia. He served as a minister with the Methodist Church and the Uniting Church in various parts of Victoria – Morwell, Eltham and Fitzroy.

Howe was elected to the House of Representatives in 1977 representing the northern Melbourne metropolitan electoral Division of Batman. He defeated the incumbent Horrie Garrick for Labor preselection in a hard-fought contest.^[1] A member of the Socialist Left faction of the Labor Party, he was Minister for Defence Support in the government of Bob Hawke from 1983. In 1984 he became Minister for Social Security and carried out various radical reforms to Australia's welfare system.^[2]

Howe appeared to face significant opposition within his electorate in 1988, when up to 60 members of the Greek Westgarth branch of the ALP defected to join the Australian Democrats. One of the defectors, tram-conductor George Gogas, contested Batman as a Democrat candidate in 1990, but polled only 12.9 per cent of the vote.^[3]

After the 1990 election Howe was appointed to the post of Minister for Community Services and Health. When Paul Keating resigned from Cabinet in 1991, Howe succeeded him as Deputy Prime Minister. He became Minister for Health, Housing and Community Services in the Keating government in December 1991, dropping the health part of the portfolio in 1993. In June 1995 he resigned as Deputy Prime Minister and was succeeded by Kim Beazley. He did not stand for re-election at the 1996 election. Although he was succeeded by Beazley as Deputy Prime Minister, Howe's last months as Deputy Prime Minister was marred by speculation that he would be replaced by Carmen Lawrence. There were reports that there were hopes within the ALP that due to her personal popularity that the instalment of Lawrence as Deputy Prime Minister would help bolster the popularity of the Keating Government which was struggling in the opinion polls. Lawrence however was subject of a royal commission into the suicide of Penny Easton at the time the Deputy Prime Ministership became vacant but denied that the royal commission was the reason for not standing for the position.^[4][5]

The ACTU commissioned Howe to chair their inquiry into insecure work. In this capacity he has spoken widely about the issue to the media and addressed the National Press Club.^[6]

Howe is a member of the Patrons Council of the Epilepsy Foundation of Victoria.

Honours

Howe was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in January 2001,^[7] and promoted to Officer level (AO) in January 2008.^[8]

Notes

First Keating Ministry (1991–93)
Prime Minister: Paul Keating
Cabinet	Kim Beazley Neal Blewett Nick Bolkus John Button Bob Collins Peter Cook Simon Crean John Dawkins Michael Duffy Gareth Evans Alan Griffiths Gerry Hand Brian Howe Ben Humphreys Ros Kelly John Kerin Robert Ray Graham Richardson Ralph Willis
Outer Ministry	Peter Baldwin Neal Blewett David Beddall Gordon Bilney Bob Brown Wendy Fatin Ross Free Jeannette McHugh David Simmons Peter Staples Michael Tate Robert Tickner
Parliamentary Secretaries	Laurie Brereton Peter Duncan Gary Johns Stephen Martin Bob McMullan Roger Price Con Sciacca Warren Snowdon