The fol­low­ing media release con­cerns Michael Dan­by MP’s retire­ment from Fed­er­al pol­i­tics. To down­load this media release in PDF for­mat, click here.

Michael Danby MP

5 July, 2018

Michael Danby’s deci­sion to retire from Fed­er­al pol­i­tics is sad news for his many friends and sup­port­ers. Since becom­ing the mem­ber for the Fed­er­al seat of Mel­bourne Ports in 1998, Michael has proven to be a politi­cian with gen­uine con­vic­tions who places prin­ci­ple above all oth­er con­sid­er­a­tions, even the advance­ment of his own career.
On par­lia­men­tary com­mit­tees and in the media, he has been a fear­less cham­pi­on for the arts and for many human rights caus­es, most espe­cial­ly those which have not been fash­ion­able or pop­u­lar, or which have attract­ed the ire of pow­er­ful inter­ests.
In his sup­port for the restora­tion of Tibet’s state­hood and sov­er­eign­ty, Michael Dan­by did not hes­i­tate to meet with the Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama, despite the dis­ap­proval of cer­tain politi­cians and bureau­crats who were fright­ened of offend­ing the Chi­nese gov­ern­ment.
Nor did Michael ever take a back­ward step in his pas­sion­ate advo­ca­cy for Israel and the Jew­ish peo­ple, call­ing out prej­u­dice and false­hoods ema­nat­ing from any quar­ter, espe­cial­ly among Australia’s pur­port­ed intel­lec­tu­al lead­ers.  For this Michael won the respect and affec­tion not only of the Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty but of fair-mind­ed Aus­tralians of all back­grounds.
Aus­tralia needs more con­vic­tion politi­cians of wit and intel­li­gence like Michael.  His depar­ture from the Fed­er­al par­lia­ment will leave a great void.
Con­tact:
Peter Wertheim AM | Co-CEO
phone: 02 8353 8500 | m: 0408 160 904
e: pwertheim@ecaj.org.au | www.ecaj.org.au