Jeff Kennett
Jeffrey Gibb Kennett (2 March 1948 —) is a retired Australian politician. He was Premier of Victoria from 1992-1999.
Kennett was born in Melbourne and attended Scots College. After leaving the Australian National University after one year of an Economics degree, Kennett returned to Melbourne and took up an offer in the advertising office of Myer department store. In 1968, he was conscripted into the Australian army, and had postings in Singapore and Malaysia. After returning to civilian life in 1970, Kennett started his own advertising firm and began to nurse an interest in politics (Parkinson, 2000).
Kennett was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as the Liberal member for Burwood in 1976, and by 1982 had been promoted to Leader of the Opposition, a position he defended through four leadership challenges until finally being toppled in 1989; however, a landslide Liberal election win in 1992 saw him promoted once more, this time to Premier of Victoria. His administration was committed to the development and rejuvenation of Melbourne's CBD, and saw huge sums invested into projects such as the $1.8billion CityLink toll road; unfortunately, this led to regional and rural unpopularity that eventually led to his Liberal government being voted out in 1999 ("Jeff Kennett", 1999).
Kennett is a strong supporter of voluntary euthanasia and defended the Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill to the Nine Network's Sunday programme in 1996;
I cannot understand why the Federal Parliament is involving itself in this argument. It's a no-win situation for them [...] For Mr Andrews, and anyone else, to impose their will on how an individual wants to conduct his or her life after every other form of assistance has failed, I think is morally wrong. (quoted in Grattan, 1996).
Kennett retired from politics in 1999. In 2000, he became founding Chairman of beyondblue, an Australian organisation working to combat anxiety and depression. In 2014, he criticised Philip Nitschke's conduct in assisting a 45-year-old without a terminal illness, Nigel Brayley, to die. Kennett said he personally supported legalising euthanasia "for the terminally ill, for those for whom the dignity of life has been lost and under special conditions", but that Nitschke had "crossed the line of decency and professional conduct" (Hagan, 2014).
Grattan, M. (1996, September 30). Anti-euthanasia bill 'morally wrong': Kennett. Financial Review. https://www.afr.com/politics/anti-euthanasia-bill-morally-wrong-kennett-19960930-k73kw
Hagan, K. (2014, July 4). Jeff Kennett slams Philip Nitschke for helping man without a terminal illness to die. Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/healthcare/jeff-kennett-slams-philip-nitschke-for-helping-man-without-a-terminal-illness-to-die-20140704-zsw94.html
Jeff Kennett. (1999). National Portrait Gallery. https://www.portrait.gov.au/portraits/2003.164/jeff-kennett
Parkinson, T. (2000) Jeff: The Rise and Fall of a Political Phenomenon. Ringwood: Penguin. 471pp.