John Moore (Australian Politician)

John Colinton Moore AO (born 16 November 1936) is a former Australian politician. He was a Liberal member of the House of Representatives for over 25 years, and a minister from 1980 to 1982 and 1996 to 2001.

Moore was born in Rockhampton, Queensland. He was raised on a cattle station west of Bowen. His early education was through the Australian correspondence system used for isolated families. He finished his secondary education at The Southport School, an Anglican boarding school for boys, before entering the University of Queensland (UQ). Moore graduated from UQ with a Bachelor of Commerce with additional study in Accounting.

Before he entered politics, Moore had a very successful career as a businessman and stock broker. He spent four years (1960–1963) with A.R. Walker & Co. before forming his own brokerage (John Moore & Company) in 1964. He was a member of the Brisbane Stock Exchange from 1961 until 1974. He grew his firm into the largest single trader business in Queensland, opening offices in regional centers there and in New South Wales.

He also held directorship or board membership in a number of Australian companies, such as Brandt Limited and Phillips. He was a board member of the Australian subsidiary of some multinational investment firms including Merrill Lynch and Citigroup.

Moore became a member of the Liberal Party in 1964, and by 1966 was serving in its state Executive Committee in Queensland. He was President of the Queensland Party twice; from 1973 to 1976 and again from 1984 to 1990. By party rules this also made him a member of the Federal Executive Committee (FEC) of the party. Indeed, he served on the FEC in one role or another for almost thirty years.

Moore was elected to the House of Representatives for the Division of Ryan in Brisbane in 1975. His first ministerial office was during the fourth Fraser government, when he was Minister for Business and Consumer Affairs from 1980 to 1982. He was forced to resign from this portfolio when it was shown that fellow minister Michael MacKellar had brought a television into Australia without paying customs duty and that Moore as the minister responsible for Customs had failed to adequately respond to a report of the incident.

While the Labor governments of Bob Hawke and Paul Keating were in power 1983–1996, Moore served in the opposition's Shadow Cabinet for several key ministries including Finance, Industry and Commerce, and Communications.

In March 1996 Moore joined the Cabinet in the new Coalition government of John Howard, as Minister for Minister for Industry, Science and Tourism and Vice-President of the Executive Council. In this position Moore had a major role in shaping new government policies affecting the motor vehicle and pharmaceutical industries. In cooperation with industrial leaders, he created a long range policy package, "Investing for Growth."

In 1996, Moore came close to being forced to resign a ministry for the second time in his career, when it was discovered that his share holdings included significant investments that could potentially create a conflict of interest with his ministerial portfolio. These investments breached the Howard's ministerial code of conduct, but Moore was allowed to stay on.

After the 1998 election, Moore moved to the Defence Ministry. The most significant events during this period were the deployment of forces to East Timor as a part of the U.N. peace-keeping effort and the upgrade and operationalisation of the Collins Class Submarine Fleet.

Moore's most lasting legacy within the Australian Defence Force was the White Paper Defence 2000: Our Future Defence Force, released late in his ministry. John Howard said: "The Defence White Paper is the most far-sighted reshaping of Australia's defence capability in a generation. It would not have been possible without John Moore's determination to improve management within Defence and also win new resources for the ADF".

When John Howard announced his cabinet reorganisation on 19 December 2000, Peter Reith was the new Minister for Defence. The changeover did not occur officially until 30 January 2001. Moore resigned his seat in Parliament on 5 February 2001. His resignation came at a bad time for the government, and the subsequent Ryan by-election was won by Labor.