Preceded by New seat Name Dick Klugman Succeeded by Janice Crosio Occupation Doctor Party Australian Labor Party | Education University of Sydney Nationality Austrian Australian Role Politician Resigned February 19, 1990 | |
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Born 13 January 1924
Vienna, Austria ( 1924-01-13 ) Died February 21, 2011, Sydney, Australia | ||
Political party Australian Labor Party | ||
Richard Emanuel "Dick" Klugman (18 January 1924 – 21 February 2011) was an Austrian-born Australian politician.
Born in Vienna, Klugman migrated to Australia in 1938 at the age of 14, in order to escape the Anschluss (his family was Jewish). Having graduated from the University of Sydney, he became a doctor, and was resident medical officer at Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital before starting work (1954) as a general practitioner in the city's western suburbs.
In 1969, Klugman was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Labor member for the new seat of Prospect, itself a western-Sydney constituency. He was the first MP since 1917 not born in the British Commonwealth. Klugman held the Prospect seat until his retirement in 1990. Although he did not hold any ministerial offices, he was better known and more widely respected than many who did. A firm anti-communist, he was one of the few federal parliamentarians who in 1976 boycotted the House of Representatives' tributes to the recently deceased Chairman Mao.