John Faulkner

John Faulkner

John Philip Faulkner (born 12 April 1954) is an Australian politician. He has been a Labor member of the Australian Senate since 1989, representing the state of New South Wales. Following a period serving on various Senate Committees and as Deputy Whip, he was a Minister in the Keating Labor government 1993-96. Following several years in opposition as a Shadow Minister, he was appointed in 2007 as Vice-President of the Executive Council and Special Minister of State in the Rudd Government. He was Minister for Defence from June 2009 to September 2010.

He announced in July 2010 that he would return to the backbench after the 2010 election, and subsequently was replaced as Defence Minister by Stephen Smith on 13 September 2010.

Within Labor circles, Faulkner's elder statesman status is virtually unrivalled by any presently active politician.

Read more about John Faulkner:  Early Career, Publications

Famous quotes containing the words john and/or faulkner:

    a notable prince that was called King John;
    And he ruled England with main and with might,
    For he did great wrong, and maintained little right.
    —Unknown. King John and the Abbot of Canterbury (l. 2–4)

    People between twenty and forty are not sympathetic. The child has the capacity to do but it can’t know. It only knows when it is no longer able to do—after forty. Between twenty and forty the will of the child to do gets stronger, more dangerous, but it has not begun to learn to know yet. Since his capacity to do is forced into channels of evil through environment and pressures, man is strong before he is moral. The world’s anguish is caused by people between twenty and forty.
    —William Faulkner (1897–1962)