John Bradford (Australian politician)

John Walter Bradford (born 3 January 1946) is an Australian former politician.

John Bradford
Member of the Australian Parliament for McPherson
In office 24 March 1990 – 3 October 1998
Preceded by	Peter White
Succeeded by	Margaret May
Personal details
Born	(1946-01-03) 3 January 1946 (age 79) Sydney
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Liberal (1990–98) CDP (1998)
Alma mater	University of Sydney
Occupation	Industry executive

Born in Sydney, he was educated at the University of Sydney and then Sydney College of Advanced Education, becoming a teacher. He served in the military 1968–1970, returning to become a retail industry executive.

Politics

After moving to Queensland in 1987, Bradford was National Director of the Shopping Centre Tenants Association of Australia. He was active in local politics in Sydney, sitting on Warringah Shire Council (including two terms as Deputy Shire President) and the Mackellar County Council from 1977 to 1979 (Deputy Chair, 1979).^[1]

In 1990, he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Liberal member for McPherson, Queensland. In 1992 he was one of a group of Coalition members of parliament who founded the Lyons Forum, a conservative ginger group.^[2]

On 7 April 1998, he resigned from the Liberal Party over Aboriginal rights and other issues.^[3] Thereafter sat as a member of the Christian Democratic Party. In the 1998 federal election, he contested the Senate seat in Queensland for the Christian Democrats, running with Kerry Blackman, an Aboriginal Christian businessman, but was not elected.^[3][4]

Bradford was endorsed by the Christian Democratic Party in 2000 as the successor to Elaine Nile in the New South Wales Legislative Council.^[5] However, as a result of an internal party dispute due to Bradford's residency,^[6] Nile delayed her retirement until 2002 and Gordon Moyes was ultimately appointed to the Council, ahead of Bradford.

Church work

After Bradford's defeat in the 1998 federal election, he went to work for Mercy Ships, a Christian medical charity. Subsequently, he became the "Mission Development Director" for The Bible Society in Australia of Queensland, now part of the Bible Society Australia.^[7]