John Brown was born 19 December 1931 in Sydney's western suburbs, the son of a bus driver. Attended Christian Brothers Burwood and qualified for scholarships to study at St Patricks College, Strathfield and Sydney University.
John was a Founding Director of Brown & Hatton meat distribution company and responsible for the creation of the Pork & Bacon Marketing Council. While an active lifetime member of the Meat Industry Employees Union he was also Chairman of The Employers Association for five years.
John Brown married Jan Murray in 1963 and now lives in Sydney with their five kids: Jonathon, Christopher, Caitlan, Andrew and Julian.
He assumed the position of Parramatta Council Alderman from 1977 - 1980 and represented the ALP in the Federal seat of Parramatta from 1977 - 1990.
John was appointed to the Hawke Government Ministry in 1983 and over the next five years was Minister for Administrative Services, Minister for Defence Support, Assistant to the Minister for Business & Technology, Minister for the Environment, Arts and Territories and for the entire period as Minister for Sport and Tourism.
His custodianship of the Tourism portfolio ushered in a new approach to our (now) largest industry. Never before had a Federal government treated tourism as a serious issue and with the launch of the Paul Hogan ads on an unsuspecting American market, and subsequent campaigns in the US, as well as in Japan and Europe, the legendary tourism boom began. Australia welcomed 2.3 million foreign visitors in 1988 as compared with the 800,000 that came in 1983.
For the Hogan campaign John was awarded the Australian Institute of Marketing Gold Award. He established the Australian Tourism Awards which annually recognise outstanding performance by practitioners in this industry.
John Brown revolutionised government sport funding and in the first year of his Ministry the budget allocation of sport rose from $8m to $36m. He secured massive funding grants to all sport ranging from our Olympic Teams to "Aussie Sports" for kids and for the first time, funding for disabled sports people.
He was responsible for initiatives such as the Sports Aid Foundation which provides for deductibility for donations to sporting bodies; the completion of the Institute of Sport in Canberra, and the building of world class facilities around Australia including Parramatta Stadium, Homebush Sports Centre and the WACA in Perth.
The enormous contribution John Brown has made to his country was officially recognised by the Australian Newspaper which named him "Australian of the Year" in 1986.
A keen and active sportsman all his life (single digit golf handicap, Presidents Cup Rugby League, Green Shield Cricket, tennis and squash), John took immense pride from this Ministry and has also been one of only five Australians honoured with the Olympic Silver Order of Merit for his support in the Olympic movement and became the only Australian to be made Honouree of the US Academy of Sport for his contribution to international sport. John was also elected a Life Member of the Australian Institute of Sport.
The John Brown Foundation was established in 1988, to fund scholarships for talented young Australians to train at the Institute of Sport and the various Tourism Schools around the country. The foundations list of trustees reads like a "Who's Who" of Australian public life, including Kerry Packer, Bob Hawke, Frank Lowry and Lindsay Fox.
In October 1989, John launched The Tourism Task Force, an industry lobby group. Considering its combined corporate, industrial, political and media strength the Prime Minister described it as the most powerful industry group established in Australia. John was appointed Chairman and assumed the role of tourism's chief advocate in representing the industry in front of all State and Federal Governments.
A Member of the successful "Sydney 2000 Olympic Bid", John also served as a Director of the Sydney Olympic Games Organising Committee.
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