Mike Kelly (Australian politician)

Background and early career

Kelly was educated at Asquith Boys High School, and graduated from Macquarie University in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws. In 1997 he obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of New South Wales. The research work undertaken for his doctoral dissertation has subsequently formed the basis for two books: Peace Operations: Tackling the Military, Legal and Policy Challenges (1997) and Restoring and Maintaining Order in Complex Peace Operations: The Search for a Legal Framework (1999).

Military service

Kelly joined the Australian Army Legal Corps in 1987, and has expertise in peacekeeping missions and occupations. He joined the military in 1987, served in Somalia, East Timor and Bosnia, and was among senior Australian military personnel in the Iraq War. In 1993 he was awarded the Chief of the General Staff Commendation, and in 1994 was made a Member of the Order of Australia, in recognition of his work in Somalia. In June 2003 he inspected detention facilities in Iraq, including those at Abu Ghraib, and reported to the Australian Government on the treatment of detainees. He finished his military career in 2007 with the rank of colonel as Director of Army Legal Services.

Capital punishment

Kelly was actively involved in two major capital case prosecutions while serving as a legal officer, that of Saddam Hussein and, in Somalia, the warlord Hussan Gutaale Abdul. Gutaale, who among many other things had attacked and killed 16 aid workers and repeatedly driven an armoured car into emaciated refugees awaiting food distribution, was arrested by an Australian patrol, held in a cage at Baidoa airport and later flown to Mogadishu to be held by US forces. He was found guilty of 31 counts of murder by a panel of three judges and sentenced to 20 years' hard labour. Appeals were immediately made, with the prosecution demanding the death penalty mandatory for murder under the Somali Penal Code. A panel of six judges heard the appeal, upheld the previous verdicts and imposed the sentence of death to be carried out forthwith. "The court errupted in mayhem" and Gutaale physically attacked Kelly. Eventually a group of engineers arrived, Gutaale was handcuffed and Kelly wrestled him along the roadway to his place of execution. Gutaale was handed over to the Somali police and executed on the spot. Kelly later recalled:

Before I left Australia I had my own views on capital punishment. I was leaning fairly heavily towards the negative side. But the death of Gutaale was far more than an execution following a criminal conviction, it was more an act of communal self defence. If I was moved in any way, it was seeing Gutaale's mother in the court. She was concerned and upset, but having sat through countless statements from people who had suffered from what he had done and not just killings, but cruel killings and senseless brutality I knew too much of what he had done, and what he was capable of. I couldn't, have any sympathy for him ... I have absolutely no personal regrets about Gutaale's execution ... I'll have to admit that even when I saw him wallowing in his own blood and excrement I felt no remorse or pity, only relief. There was no other way of stopping him.

Political career

In the 2007 federal election Kelly stood as the Labor candidate for the marginal New South Wales country electorate of Eden-Monaro, regarded as a "bellwether seat". He was criticised by his opponent, long-standing Liberal member Gary Nairn for not residing in the electorate prior to his nomination and for not facing a local preselection. Nairn's chief of staff also publicly likened Kelly to a Belsen Nazi concentration camp guard for serving in the military in Iraq despite opposing the war itself. The reference became a high-profile campaign issue, with claims that Nairn's office had subsequently promoted the claim using public rather than party funds. The comment was subsequently withdrawn and an apology forwarded to media outlets and to Kelly.

At the 2007 federal election on 24 November, Kelly won the seat with a 6.67% two-party-preferred swing, and was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Support in the incoming Rudd Government and in 2009 he was also appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Water.

In 2008, after a prolonged and acrimonious debate within Australian veteran and political circles, Kelly formally acknowledged the existence of the 2nd D&E Platoon, a platoon of infantrymen that had been involved in a most successful ambush at Thua Tich on 29 May 1969 under the leadership of Corporal James Riddle. All trace of the platoon had disappeared from the records of the Vietnam War and had compromised the service histories of the 39 men who had served in it.

After a redistribution changed the boundaries of Eden-Monaro, Kelly defeated Liberal candidate David Gazard in the 2010 federal election with a swing of 2%. As a result of the re-elected Labor Government's regional focus, Kelly was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in September 2010, but in December 2011 he was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary for Defence in a reshuffle of the Government. In a third reshuffle in early 2013, Kelly replaced Jason Clare as Minister for Defence Materiel.

Kelly supports same-sex marriage.

In November 2012, Kelly was sued by Lynton Crosby for alleging on Twitter that Crosby had used push polling. In June 2015, the case was discontinued by Crosby Textor after Kelly issued an apology which explained that his tweet had concerned a poll from 1995 in which Textor was involved, before Crosby Textor's business had commenced.

At the 2013 federal election, Kelly lost his seat to the Liberal Party candidate Peter Hendy.

Preselected as the Labor candidate for Eden-Monaro in May 2015, Kelly defeated Hendy and regained the seat at the 2016 federal election, becoming the seat's first opposition MP in over four decades. The seat had been won by the party that also won government at every election from 1972 to 2013.

Personal life

Kelly is married to Shelly and has one son.