Michael Darby

Michael John Darby (born 1 November 1935) is an Australian who has run for political office for the Liberal Party and the Christian Democratic Party.[1] He is an active business man, having had business ventures in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

For the Australian footballer, see Mike Darby.

Darby is the son of long-serving state Liberal MP Douglas Darby and attended Newington College (1957–1962).[2] A former army officer and interpreter, he became active in politics in the 1970s.[3] His first run for office was as the Liberal candidate for the safe Labor seat of Werriwa in the 1974 federal election, running against then-Prime Minister Gough Whitlam.

In 1975, Darby was one of the organisers of the Australian Society for Intercountry Aid – Timor, based in Dili. He was present at the hijacking of a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) plane in Baucau by Timorese Democratic Union (UDT) soldiers, who had surrendered to him and asked to be evacuated to Australia.[4]

Darby later contested the 1988 Oxley by-election as an independent, and also ran as an independent in Dickson in 1993. He subsequently returned to the Liberal Party and ran in the fifth position on the Coalition Senate ticket for New South Wales in 2004. In 2009–2010 he was campaign director for the Christian Democratic Party.[5]

References
  1. Hancock, Ian (20 September 2007). The Liberals: The NSW Division 1935-2000. ISBN 9781862876590. Retrieved 18 October 2013.
  2. Newington College Register of Past Students 1863-1998 pp 48 (Syd, 1999)
  3. Squires, Michael (4 January 2010). "Michael Darby on Google, China, Islam and taxes". Digital Journal. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  4. Henriques-Gomes, Luke (17 January 2021). "'It was life or death': the plane-hijacking refugees Australia embraced". Guardian Australia. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  5. Nicholls, Sean; McKenny, Leesha (17 February 2010). "Nile scapegoat calls in lawyers". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 11 November 2010.

|Michael Darby


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