Victor Perton - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Victor Perton is a former Australian parliamentarian. He is the Commissioner to the Americas based in San Francisco representing the Australian State of Victoria.

He was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly

Victorian Legislative Assembly

The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of Victoria in Australia. Together with the Victorian Legislative Council, the upper house, it sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Melbourne.-History:...

from 1988 to November 2006, representing the electorate of Doncaster

Electoral district of Doncaster

The Electoral district of Doncaster is a metropolitan electorate of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, located approximately 13 kilometres north-east of Melbourne...

for the Liberal Party of Australia

Liberal Party of Australia

The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...

. He was Shadow Minister for Education, and one of the most visible members of the state opposition

Opposition (politics)

In politics, the opposition comprises one or more political parties or other organized groups that are opposed to the government , party or group in political control of a city, region, state or country...

. After he left politics, he became an independent Company Director, a regulatory affairs practitioner and Barrister

Barrister

A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...

. He is a Director

Executive director

Executive director is a term sometimes applied to the chief executive officer or managing director of an organization, company, or corporation. It is widely used in North American non-profit organizations, though in recent decades many U.S. nonprofits have adopted the title "President/CEO"...

of the Transport Accident Commission. His Boards included the Bensons Property Group, A Regulatory Affair and Austhink Consulting. He remains active in human rights issues and was the Co-Chair of the Forum for Chinese Democracy and a member of the Steering Committee on Education and Training in Philanthropy at the Asia-Pacific Centre for Philanthropy and Social Investment.

Perton was raised in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

and is the son of refugees from Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

and Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

, part of the large Baltic

Balts

The Balts or Baltic peoples , defined as speakers of one of the Baltic languages, a branch of the Indo-European language family, are descended from a group of Indo-European tribes who settled the area between the Jutland peninsula in the west and Moscow, Oka and Volga rivers basins in the east...

migration to Australia from refugee

Refugee

A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...

camps in western Europe

Western Europe

Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...

after the Second World War. Perton attended Catholic schools, later studying economics and law at Monash University

Monash University

Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....

, Melbourne University and Peking University

Peking University

Peking University , colloquially known in Chinese as Beida , is a major research university located in Beijing, China, and a member of the C9 League. It is the first established modern national university of China. It was founded as Imperial University of Peking in 1898 as a replacement of the...

.

He joined the Liberal Party in 1976 and served on the State Executive as State President of the Young Liberal Movement

Young Liberals (Australia)

The Young Liberal Movement is the youth division of the Liberal Party of Australia, and membership is open to those between 16 and 30 years of age. Members of Young Liberals have full party-membership, and have the choice of which part they join...

and in various state and local constituency offices over the next decade. He graduated from university in 1982, and began practicing as a solicitor

Solicitor

Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...

, as well as being a part-owner of a retail business. In 1984 Perton was called to the Bar and became a barrister

Barrister

at the Victorian Bar

Victorian Bar

The Victorian Bar is the bar association for the Australian State of Victoria. Its members are barristers registered to practice in Victoria. On 19 January 2006, there were 1627 counsel practising as members of the Victorian Bar. Once a barrister has been admitted to practice by the Supreme Court...

. Perton subsequently gained admission to practice law in five states and in 1987 gained a Diploma of Chinese Law from Peking University

Peking University

in the People's Republic of China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

.

He remained active within the Liberal Party after graduating, serving on its state council and state policy assembly, and in 1988 stood as the Liberal candidate in the safe Liberal seat of Doncaster. He was easily elected. In Opposition, he became well known for his use of Freedom of Information

Freedom of information

Freedom of information refers to the protection of the right to freedom of expression with regards to the Internet and information technology . Freedom of information may also concern censorship in an information technology context, i.e...

Legislation and Government Scrutiny. He was a member of the Liberal Party Investigatory Committee on Casino Policy in 1990 and became a critic of the introduction of gaming machines and casinos into Victoria. He was a Member of the Coalition Tricontinental Taskforce and served as Parliamentary Secretary

Parliamentary Secretary

A Parliamentary Secretary is a member of a Parliament in the Westminster system who assists a more senior minister with his or her duties.In the parliamentary systems of several Commonwealth countries, such as the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, it is customary for the prime minister to...

to the Shadow Treasurer with special responsibility for manufacturing industry and economic development.

During the Kennett Government

Jeff Kennett

Jeffrey Gibb Kennett AC , a former Australian politician, was the Premier of Victoria between 1992 and 1999. He is currently the President of Hawthorn Football Club. He is the founding Chairman of beyondblue, a national depression initiative.- Early life :Kennett was born in Melbourne on 2 March...

, Perton was active in regulatory scrutiny, regulatory reform

Regulatory reform

Regulatory Reform concerns improvements to the quality of government regulation.At the international level, the "OECD Regulatory Reform Programme is aimed at helping governments improve regulatory quality -- that is, reforming regulations that raise unnecessary obstacles to competition, innovation...

, technology policy and e-democracy

E-democracy

E-democracy refers to the use of information technologies and communication technologies and strategies in political and governance processes...

.

Perton was the first Australian Parliamentarian with a web-site and later the first to use an electronic town hall.

Perton served as the first Chairman of the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee. His wide interpretation of the "rights" to be protected was criticised by some within the government, including Committee member and rising backbencher Louise Asher

Louise Asher

Louise Asher is an Australian politician representing the electoral district of Brighton for the Liberal Party of Australia. She is currently the Victorian Minister for Tourism and Major Events as well as Minister for Innovation, Services and Small Business since 2 December 2010 in the Baillieu...

, who produced a dissenting report. Then Foreign Minister, Gareth Evans

Gareth Evans (politician)

Gareth John Evans, AO, QC , is a former Australian politician from 1978 to 1999 representing the Australian Labor Party, serving in a number of ministries including Attorney-General and Foreign Minister from 1983 to 1996 in the Hawke and Keating governments. He was president and chief executive...

, appointed Perton as an Australian delegate to the Second UN Conference on Human Rights.

From 1996 he served as Chairman of the Law Reform Committee, the Multimedia Committee, the Data Protection Advisory Committee and the Electronic Business Framework Group.

During the Kennett Government, there was media criticism that the Government was reversing some of the transparency provisions introduced over the previous decades including the Freedom of Information and the Audit Act. Within the Government, young MPs like Steve Elder

Steve Elder

Stephen Noel Elder is the Director of the Catholic Education Office Melbourne in Victoria, Australia.Elder served as the Parliamentary Secretary for Education in the Victorian Government from 1992 to 1999. He was the member of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Victoria for Ballarat...

, Robert Doyle

Robert Doyle

Robert Keith Bennett Doyle is an Australian politician and the 103rd Lord Mayor of Melbourne, elected on 30 November 2008...

and Perton were seen as "small-l liberal" voices against controversial changes to the Auditor General's Act and the Freedom of Information Act.

In 1999, after the defeat of the Kennett government, Perton became Shadow Minister for Conservation and Environment and Shadow Minister for Multimedia (later retitiled "Shadow Minister for Technology & Innovation." Perton performed well in these positions, and in August 2002, when Robert Doyle

Robert Doyle

Robert Keith Bennett Doyle is an Australian politician and the 103rd Lord Mayor of Melbourne, elected on 30 November 2008...

(Napthine's successor as leader) embarked on a major reshuffle in a last-ditch bid to boost the party's flagging fortunes before the state election due late that year, he was promoted to Shadow Attorney-General while also holding the positions of Shadow Minister for Consumer Affairs, Shadow Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Shadow Minister for Technology and Innovation.

Doyle's attempt to prevent a landslide defeat failed, and the party suffered the worst loss in its history, with several Shadow Ministers losing their seats, and Perton coming very close to losing his own. In the aftermath of the defeat, Perton was promoted to Shadow Minister of Education. He regularly appeared in the media with vocal criticism of the government, and remained amongst the opposition's most high-profile members.

Within the spectrum of Liberal Party thought, Perton is regarded as a "small-l liberal", a position more common in the Victorian Liberal Party than the more aggressively right-wing New South Wales branch .

In February 2006, Perton announced that he would not contest the next election and relinquished his shadow ministry. Mary Wooldridge

Mary Wooldridge

Mary Louise Newling Wooldridge is an Australian politician for the Liberal Party in the state of Victoria. She was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 2006, representing the electoral district of Doncaster...

was elected as the Liberal Member for Doncaster at the 2006 State Election.

Perton remained active in supporting democracy movements in Asia.

In December 2008 Victorian Premier John Brumby

John Brumby

John Mansfield Brumby , is an Australian Labor Party politician who was Premier of Victoria from 2007 to 2010. He became Premier after the resignation of Steve Bracks. He also served as the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and the Minister for Multicultural Affairs. He contested his first election...

announced Perton's appointment as Victorian Government Commissioner to the Americas based in San Francisco.

External links

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