Political Career
In 1967, Houghton ran for the Victorian Legislative Council, obtaining a seat in the new Templestowe Province. He served on the Council for fifteen years, and in that time was Minister for Social Welfare (1973); Health (1976–1979); and, from 1980 to 1985, the portfolios of Conservation, Lands, and Soldier Settlement. He was also Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet before moving onto Social Welfare.
Today, Houghton is best-remembered for his work cleaning up HM Prison Pentridge and the Yarra River. As Minister for Social Welfare, he successfully worked to abolish "C" division of the gaol, which at the time was known as the "Hell division". He told reporters at the time, "Prisoners are not rough, tough hooligans. Most of the occupants of prison are inadequate, pitiful people." In 1980 he was appointed chairman of a parliamentary committee to investigate pollution in the Yarra River and the possible cleanup of what he described as the "depressed, ramshackle buildings" along the southern bank of the river. As a result of his work, the Victorian Government spent six million Australian dollar cleaning up the area.
Read more about this topic: Vasey Houghton
Famous quotes related to political career:
“It is my settled opinion, after some years as a political correspondent, that no one is attracted to a political career in the first place unless he is socially or emotionally crippled.”
—Auberon Waugh (b. 1939)
“No wonder that, when a political career is so precarious, men of worth and capacity hesitate to embrace it. They cannot afford to be thrown out of their life’s course by a mere accident.”
—James Bryce (1838–1922)