Tony Street Explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Honourable
Tony Street
Office:Minister for Foreign Affairs
Primeminister:Malcolm Fraser
Predecessor:Andrew Peacock
Successor:Bill Hayden
Term Start:3 November 1980
Term End:11 March 1983
Office2:Minister for Industrial Relations
Primeminister2:Malcolm Fraser
Predecessor2:Himself
Successor2:Andrew Peacock
Term Start2:5 December 1978
Term End2:3 November 1980
Office3:Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations
Primeminister3:Malcolm Fraser
Predecessor3:Himself
Term Start3:22 December 1975
Term End3:5 December 1978
Office4:Minister for Labor and Immigration
Primeminister4:Malcolm Fraser
Predecessor4:Jim McClelland
Term Start4:11 November 1975
Term End4:22 December 1975
Constituency Mp5:Corangamite
Parliament5:Australian
Predecessor5:Dan Mackinnon
Successor5:Stewart McArthur
Term Start5:26 November 1966
Term End5:18 January 1984
Birth Name:Anthony Austin Street
Birth Date:1926 2, df=yes
Birth Place:Melbourne, Australia
Party:Liberal
Father:Geoffrey Street
Relations:Street family
Residence:'Eildon', Lismore, Victoria

Anthony Austin Street (8 February 1926 – 25 October 2022) was an Australian politician. He served in the House of Representatives from 1966 to 1984, representing the Division of Corangamite for the Liberal Party. He held ministerial office in the Fraser government, serving as Minister for Labor and Immigration (1975), Employment and Industrial Relations (1975–1978), Industrial Relations (1978–1980), and Minister for Foreign Affairs (1980–1983). His father Geoffrey Street was also a federal government minister. Street was the last surviving Liberal minister of the first Fraser ministry, as well as the last surviving Assistant Minister of the McMahon government.

Early life

Street was born in Melbourne on 8 February 1926, one of two children born to Evora and Geoffrey Street and was raised at the family property 'Eildon', near Lismore, Victoria. His father was elected to federal parliament in 1934 and promoted to the ministry in 1938. He was killed in the 1940 Canberra air disaster, when his son was 14 years old.[1]

Street attended Melbourne Grammar School. After leaving school in 1944 he enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy and served as an able seaman aboard, and .[2]

Political career

In 1966 Street was elected as a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives, representing the Corangamite division in Victoria, Australia. He remained in this position, winning re-election, until he resigned on 18 January 1984.[3]

From 14 September 1971, during the McMahon Ministry, he was Assistant Minister assisting the Minister for Labour and National Service. In the First Fraser Ministry he became the Minister for Labour and Immigration. In the Second Fraser Ministry he served as Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations, and Minister assisting the Prime Minister for Public Service Matters. During the Third Fraser Ministry he served as minister in several posts, including Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations and Minister for Industrial Relations. Swapping portfolios with Andrew Peacock, Street served as Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs during the Fourth Fraser Ministry, from 1980 until 1983.[4]

As employment minister, Street ordered the Commonwealth Employment Service to discontinue collecting its seasonal unemployment statistics on the grounds that they had become inaccurate. Responsibility was transferred to the Australian Bureau of Statistics which began issuing monthly figures.[5]

Street supported multilateralism as foreign minister, stating that "in its role as a middle power, Australia needs a foreign policy which encompasses not just bilateral relations but the multilateral diplomacy of international organisations and blocs of countries acting together".[6]

Street's prominent public addresses included the 1979 Alfred Deakin Memorial Lecture "Class Conflict or Common Goals" and the 1982 Roy Milne Memorial Lecture "Alliances and Foreign Policy Today".[7]

Personal life and death

Street held directorships in several companies and served as a Melbourne Cricket Club committee member. He ran a family property at Lismore.[8]

Street died on 25 October 2022, at the age of 96.[9] [10]

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: Street, Geoffrey Austin (1894–1940). Cameron. Hazlehurst. Australian Dictionary of Biography. 12. 1990.
  2. News: The Hon Anthony Austin Street OM 1944. Melbourne Grammar School. 9 May 2020.
  3. "Ministries and Cabinets". Parliamentary Handbook. Parliament of Australia. Archived from the original on 8 October 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  4. Appendix 3: Fourth Fraser Ministry, 3 November 1980 to 7 May 1982, National Archives of Australia, retrieved 25 July 2016
  5. News: When politicians manipulated employment data, and journalism was disgraceful. Gareth. Hutchens. ABC News. 15 August 2021. 15 August 2021.
  6. News: Abbott must abandon his Anglosphere nonsense. The Australian. 6 November 2013. Carl. Ungerer. 9 May 2020.
  7. Web site: The Hon Anthony Austin Street | Melbourne Grammar School.
  8. Web site: The Hon Anthony Austin Street | Melbourne Grammar School.
  9. Web site: STREET, Tony . Herald Sun . News Corporation AU . 27 October 2022 . 27 October 2022.
  10. News: Vale Hon Anthony (Tony) Street . 27 October 2022 . Melbourne Cricket Club . Melbourne Cricket Club . 27 October 2022.