Michael Darby

For the Australian footballer, see Mike Darby.

Michael John Darby (born 1 November 1945) is an Australian politician. Originally a member of the Liberal Party, he went on to be significant in the Christian Democratic Party. He has been called a "right-wing maverick" because of his strong convictions (pro-free market, socially conservative), and named as a member of the NSW 'uglies' faction[1] in the 1980s. In his senior years he is still an active business man, having had business ventures in Africa, Asia and Latin America. He is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and is a staunch anti-communist.

Darby is the son of long-serving state Liberal MP Douglas Darby and attended Newington College (1957–1962).[2] A former army officer and interpreter, he became active in politics in the 1970s.[3] His first run for office was as the Liberal candidate for the safe Labor seat of Werriwa in the 1974 federal election, running against then-Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. He supported the independence of East Timor, which broke away from Liberal Party position, as a result he was ostracised by the Liberal Party rank and file. He later contested the 1988 Oxley by-election as an independent, and also ran as an independent in Dickson in 1993. He subsequently returned to the Liberal Party and ran in the fifth position on the Coalition Senate ticket for New South Wales in 2004. In 2009–2010 he was campaign director for the Christian Democratic Party, but was relieved of this position following a controversial survey circulated during the campaign for the 2009 Bradfield by-election, when the Christian Democrats ran nine candidates.[4] In 2016 he became a noted supporter of Dennis Jensen, denouncing the Liberal Party dis-endorsement of the former sitting member of the Division of Tangney and called the new sitting Liberal Party member Ben Morton a 'gutless party hack' who,'would never be able to hold a job outside the Liberal Party.'

References

  1. ↑ The Liberals: The NSW Division 1945-2000. At Google Books. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
  2. ↑ Newington College Register of Past Students 1863-1998 pp 48(Syd, 1999)
  3. ↑ Squires, Michael (2010-01-04). "Michael Darby on Google, China, Islam and taxes". Digital Journal. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  4. ↑ Nicholls, Sean; McKenny, Leesha (17 February 2010). "Nile scapegoat calls in lawyers". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 11 November 2010.

External links


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