John Siddons
AO
Senator for Victoria
In office
1 July 1981 – 4 February 1983
In office
1 July 1985 – 5 June 1987
Personal details
Born(1927-10-05)5 October 1927
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Died22 September 2016(2016-09-22) (aged 88)
Political partyDemocrats (1981–86)
Independent (1986–87)
Unite Australia (1987)
OccupationBusinessman

John Royston Siddons AO (5 October 1927 – 22 September 2016) was an Australian politician. He was a businessman and the executive chairman of Siddons Industries Ltd. before entering politics.[1]

Siddons was born on 5 October 1927 in Melbourne, the second child of Agnes Emily née Smith and Royston Siddons an industrialist and founder of the Sidchrome and Ramset brands in Australia. John would work in the family business, eventually replacing Royston as chairman.[2]

In 1980, he was elected to the Australian Senate as a Democrats senator for Victoria. He was defeated at the 1983 election, when he was required to take second place on the Democrats ticket in deference to party leader Don Chipp. He was, however, re-elected in the 1984 election, when seven places were up for election due to the expansion of the Parliament.[3] In 1986, he left the Democrats, claiming that the party had moved too far to the left. In 1987, he registered the Unite Australia Party, amalgamating two other minor parties, the Advance Australia Party and the remnants of the Australia Party. He was joined in the Senate by South Australian Democrat David Vigor. The new party contested the 1987 election but received under 1% in all states contested. Siddons[4] and Vigor[5] were both defeated.[3]

He died in 2016, aged 88.[3][6]

References

  1. ↑ Myer, Rod. "John Siddons: Never a grander man in Australian politics". The Age, 30 September 2016. Accessed 22 December 2016
  2. ↑ Lack, John (2006). "Siddons, Royston (1899–1976)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 16. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 Hearder, Rosalind (2017). "SIDDONS, John Royston (1927–2016)". The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  4. ↑ Carr, Adam. "Australian Election Archive: Senate Victoria 1987". Psephos, Adam Carr's Election Archive. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
  5. ↑ Carr, Adam. "Australian Election Archive: Senate South Australia 1987". Psephos, Adam Carr's Election Archive. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
  6. ↑ Myer, Rod. "What made John Siddons one of Australia’s most unusual and enigmatic politicians". The New Daily, 29 September 2016. Accessed 22 December 2016

Sources

  • Siddons, John Royston; Gleeson, Russ. "A Spanner in the Works" (autobiography). Macmillan, Melbourne (1990)


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