John Martyr

John Raymond Martyr (born 25 May 1932) is a former Australian politician.

John Martyr
Member of the Australian Parliament for Swan
In office 13 December 1975 – 18 October 1980
Preceded by	Adrian Bennett
Succeeded by	Kim Beazley
Senator for Western Australia
In office 11 March 1981 – 4 February 1983
Preceded by	Allan Rocher
Personal details
Born	25 May 1932 Melbourne, Victoria
Nationality	Australian
Political party	DLP (1956–74) Liberal (1974–83)
Spouse(s)	Doris Dent
Occupation	Political consultant

Born in Melbourne, he was a political and economic consultant before entering politics. Martyr had a long history of involvement with the Australian Labor Party from his late teens, but due to his involvement with the anti-communist Roman Catholic "Movement" under the aegis of B. A. Santamaria, he was expelled from the ALP.

He became an organiser and candidate with the Democratic Labor Party, and on 14 April 1956 married Doris Dent, a local ALP branch secretary and Police Union staffer who was also involved with the Movement.

In 1962, John and Doris Martyr moved to Western Australia, where John became State Secretary of the DLP. He eventually joined the Liberal Party, and in 1975, he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Liberal member for Swan, defeating sitting Labor member Adrian Bennett. He held the seat until his defeat by Kim Beazley in 1980.

On 11 March 1981, he was appointed to the Australian Senate to fill the casual vacancy created by the retirement of Allan Rocher. He was defeated, however, in the 1983 election.[1]

References

1. Carr, Adam (2008). "Australian Election Archive". Psephos, Adam Carr's Election Archive. Archived from the original on 20 July 2007. Retrieved 2 August 2008.