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Mick Young
Michael Jerome Young (9 October 1936 − 8 April 1996) was an Australian politician. He rose through the Australian Labor Party (ALP) to become its National Secretary, before serving as a Labor member of the House of Representatives from the 1974 election to 1988. He was a senior minister in the Hawke government, and was a prominent political figure during the 1970s and 1980s. Young was also President of the Australian Labor Party from 1986 to 1988.
Young was born in Sydney on 9 October 1936. He was the sixth of eight children born to Kathleen Bridget (née Shanahan) and Ray Barnard Young. His father was a traveling salesman.
Young was educated at Marist Brothers Mosman. He left school at the age of 15 and began training as a wool classer, moving to western New South Wales. He later became a shearer and became involved with the labour movement in Broken Hill, at a time of frequent industrial conflict within the industry. Young was elected secretary of the Broken Hill Pastoral Workers' Committee at the age of 20. He attended the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow in 1957, also visiting China in the same year.
In 1958, Young moved to Adelaide and began working as a paid organizer with the Australian Workers' Union. He soon came under the influence of Clyde Cameron, later working as an organizer in Port Pirie.
Young was appointed as the party's South Australian state organizer in 1964, and his role in the first Labor electoral win for 30 years at the 1965 state election (the election resulted in Frank Walsh becoming Labor Premier) led first to his election as Secretary of the state branch in 1968 and later secretary of the federal party in 1969. Gough Whitlam, then Opposition Leader, hired Young as an adviser during this period.
He again showed his substantial campaign management skills in the 1972 federal election, playing a significant role in the first ALP federal election win since 1946. He devised Labor's "It's Time" slogan, still considered one of the most effective vote-winning phrases in Australian history.
Touted as a potential successor to Whitlam as Labor leader, Young gained preselection for the safe Labor seat of Port Adelaide and was comfortably elected to parliament at the 1974 election. Labor under Whitlam suffered its worst-ever electoral defeat in late 1975; Young was promoted to the shadow ministry in 1976, and was given the Immigration and Ethnic Affairs portfolios.
Young has been credited with keeping Labor's spirits up during its time in opposition from 1975 to 1983. A future party leader, Kim Beazley Jr., considered Young on a par with Paul Keating as the most effective baiter of Liberal politicians, although Young "was much funnier, but gentler as well". One of Young's attacks on the Liberals targeted Alexander Downer, who was seen as a wealthy snob by the ALP; Young said "His gatehouse is bigger than The Lodge" (the official home of the Australian Prime Minister).
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Mick Young
Michael Jerome Young (9 October 1936 − 8 April 1996) was an Australian politician. He rose through the Australian Labor Party (ALP) to become its National Secretary, before serving as a Labor member of the House of Representatives from the 1974 election to 1988. He was a senior minister in the Hawke government, and was a prominent political figure during the 1970s and 1980s. Young was also President of the Australian Labor Party from 1986 to 1988.
Young was born in Sydney on 9 October 1936. He was the sixth of eight children born to Kathleen Bridget (née Shanahan) and Ray Barnard Young. His father was a traveling salesman.
Young was educated at Marist Brothers Mosman. He left school at the age of 15 and began training as a wool classer, moving to western New South Wales. He later became a shearer and became involved with the labour movement in Broken Hill, at a time of frequent industrial conflict within the industry. Young was elected secretary of the Broken Hill Pastoral Workers' Committee at the age of 20. He attended the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow in 1957, also visiting China in the same year.
In 1958, Young moved to Adelaide and began working as a paid organizer with the Australian Workers' Union. He soon came under the influence of Clyde Cameron, later working as an organizer in Port Pirie.
Young was appointed as the party's South Australian state organizer in 1964, and his role in the first Labor electoral win for 30 years at the 1965 state election (the election resulted in Frank Walsh becoming Labor Premier) led first to his election as Secretary of the state branch in 1968 and later secretary of the federal party in 1969. Gough Whitlam, then Opposition Leader, hired Young as an adviser during this period.
He again showed his substantial campaign management skills in the 1972 federal election, playing a significant role in the first ALP federal election win since 1946. He devised Labor's "It's Time" slogan, still considered one of the most effective vote-winning phrases in Australian history.
Touted as a potential successor to Whitlam as Labor leader, Young gained preselection for the safe Labor seat of Port Adelaide and was comfortably elected to parliament at the 1974 election. Labor under Whitlam suffered its worst-ever electoral defeat in late 1975; Young was promoted to the shadow ministry in 1976, and was given the Immigration and Ethnic Affairs portfolios.
Young has been credited with keeping Labor's spirits up during its time in opposition from 1975 to 1983. A future party leader, Kim Beazley Jr., considered Young on a par with Paul Keating as the most effective baiter of Liberal politicians, although Young "was much funnier, but gentler as well". One of Young's attacks on the Liberals targeted Alexander Downer, who was seen as a wealthy snob by the ALP; Young said "His gatehouse is bigger than The Lodge" (the official home of the Australian Prime Minister).