Graham Richardson
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Graham Richardson (born September 27, 1949, in Sydney, Australia) is a former Labor politician who was a 'numbers man' for the right wing of the New South Wales branch of the Australian Labor Party. He was highly effective in this position and became known as a 'king maker'. Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke said he was helped twice by Richardson, first to become Prime Minister and then to become not Prime Minister.
Richardson was elected to the Australian Senate in the elections of March 1983, and became Minister for the Environment in March 1987 as part of the Third Hawke ministry. He was Minister for Health in Paul Keating's Government when he resigned from parliament in 1994.
Remembered more as a behind-the-scenes 'powerbroker', Richardson is now primarily seen by the Australian public through election night television coverage. He is currently a political commentator for the Nine Network and broadcaster with 2GB.
Further Reading
- Graham Richardson, Whatever It Takes (Bantam, 1994) - An autobiography that plays down or omits many of the discreditable details
- Marian Wilkinson, The Fixer: the untold story of Graham Richardson (1996) - A biography that includes some of the omitted details
- James McClelland, An Angel Bit The Bride (Penguin, 1989) - A collection of McClelland's newspaper columns; see pages 59-62 "On The Road To The Damascus Rainforest" for a hostile account of Richardson.