Gordon Scholes

The Honourable Gordon Scholes AO
Scholes in 1983
Member of the Australian Parliament for Corio
In office 22 July 1967 – 8 February 1993
Preceded by	Hubert Opperman
Succeeded by	Gavan O'Connor
16th Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives
In office 27 February 1975 – 16 February 1976
Preceded by	Jim Cope
Succeeded by	Sir Billy Snedden
Personal details
Born	7 June 1931 (1931-06-07) (age 80) Melbourne, Victoria
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Australian Labor Party
Spouse(s)	Della K Robinson
Occupation	Councillor

Gordon Glen Denton Scholes AO (born 7 June 1931) is a former Australian politician and Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives.

Scholes was born in Melbourne, the son of Thomas Glen Denton Scholes and his wife Mary Louisa O'Brien. He was the Victorian Amateur Heavyweight Boxing Champion in 1949. He joined the Australian Labor Party in 1955 and was President of the Geelong ALP Branch from 1962 to 1964. He was President of the Geelong Trades Hall Council from 1965 to 1966, and a councillor of the Geelong City Council from 1965 to 1967.

He won the House of Representatives seat of Corio at a by-election in 1967, following Sir Hubert Opperman's resignation. He was Speaker from 27 February 1975 until 16 February 1976.

He was Speaker for the duration of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis. On 11 November 1975, following the dismissal of the Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam and the appointment of the Leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Fraser, the House of Representatives passed a motion expressing lack of confidence in Fraser’s government, and required Scholes as Speaker to convey that information to the Governor-General Sir John Kerr and to request Kerr to dismiss Fraser and re-appoint Whitlam. Scholes made an appointment to meet Kerr at 4:45 pm. However, by the time he arrived, Kerr had already dissolved the Parliament on Fraser’s advice, which was something Fraser had undertaken to do once he had secured passage of the Supply bills through the Senate. Scholes later accused Kerr of bad faith for making an appointment to receive the Speaker, and then not waiting to hear from him before dissolving Parliament.

Scholes was Minister for Defence in the first Hawke Ministry from March 1983 to December 1984 and then Minister for Territories until July 1987. He retired before the 1993 election.

He is an honorary member of the Geelong Philatelic Society .^[1]

Notes

1. ^ "Biography for Scholes, the Hon. Gordon Glen Denton, AO". ParlInfo Web. Parliament of Australia. http://parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au/piweb/view_document.aspx?id=7937&table=BIOGS. Retrieved 2007-08-24. 

Political offices
Preceded by Ian Sinclair	Australian Minister for Defence 1983–1984	Succeeded by Kim Beazley
Preceded by Tom Uren	Australian Minister for Territories 1984–1987	Succeeded by John Brown
Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Hubert Opperman	Member for Corio 1967–1993	Succeeded by Gavan O'Connor
Preceded by Jim Cope	Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives 1975–1976	Succeeded by Billy Snedden

Persondata
Name	Scholes, Gordon Glen Denton
Alternative names
Short description	Australian politician
Date of birth	7 June 1931
Place of birth	Melbourne
Date of death	Living person
Place of death