John Wheeldon

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = The Honourable

| name = John Wheeldon

| honorific-suffix =

| image = John Wheeldon 1974 (cropped).jpg

| office = Minister for Social Security

| primeminister = Gough Whitlam

| predecessor = Bill Hayden

| successor = Don Chipp

| term_start = 6 June 1975

| term_end = 11 November 1975

| office2 = Minister for Repatriation and Compensation

| primeminister2 = Gough Whitlam

| predecessor2 = Reg Bishop (Repatriation)

| successor2 = Don Chipp

| term_start2 = 12 June 1974

| term_end2 = 11 November 1975

| title3 = Senator for Western Australia

| term_start3 = 1 July 1965

| term_end3 = 30 June 1981

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1929|8|9}}

| birth_place = Subiaco, Western Australia, Australia

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2006|5|24|1929|8|9}}

| death_place = Sydney, Australia

| spouse = Judith

| party = Labor

| relations =

| children =

| residence =

| alma_mater = University of Western Australia

| occupation = Solicitor

| profession =

| religion =

| signature =

| website =

| footnotes =

}}

John Murray Wheeldon (9 August 1929{{spaced ndash}}24 May 2006) was an Australian politician and journalist. A member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), he served as a Australian Senate for Western Australia from 1965 to 1981. In the Whitlam government, he was the Minister for Repatriation and Compensation (1974–1975) and Minister for Social Security (1975). He was known for his views on Australian foreign policy and after leaving politics became an editorial writer for The Australian.

Early career

Wheeldon was born in Subiaco, Western Australia and educated at Perth Modern School and the University of Western Australia. He graduated in arts and law and then worked as a solicitor.{{Cite Au Senate|Sen id=wheeldon-john-murray|name=WHEELDON, John Murray (1929–2006)|first=Bobbie|last=Oliver|year=2010|access-date=2023-01-26}} He later served as President of the Western Australian Young Liberals, but resigned in protest at Robert Menzies' attempt to ban the Communist Party of Australia,{{cite web

| last = Minchin

| first = Nick

| authorlink =Nick Minchin

| title =Condolences: Hon. John Murray Wheeldon

| work= Hansard

| publisher = Parliament of Australia

| date = 13 June 2006

| url = http://parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au/piweb/view_document.aspx?ID=2340129&TABLE=HANSARDS

| accessdate = 8 January 2008 }} declaring that it "seemed rather fatuous to call itself the Liberal Party and then introduce a bill like that."{{cite web|last=Macklin|first=Jenny|title=House of Representatives Debates|url=http://www.openaustralia.org/debates/?id=2006-05-30.3.2|publisher=Parliament of Australia Hansard|accessdate=1 May 2011}}

Political career

At the 1964 half-Senate election, Wheeldon was elected to the Australian Senate, representing the Australian Labor Party. His term began on 1 July 1965. He strongly opposed the Vietnam War and, though not a supporter of communism, visited North Vietnam at the invitation of the North Vietnam peace committee while Australia was involved in fighting in South Vietnam. In 1967, he spoke against the war in the United States with Jim Cairns. According to Senator John Faulkner, Wheeldon "... showed real passion for the causes he believed in: his opposition to the Vietnam War, his support for the independence of East Timor, his abhorrence of apartheid and his deep concern about Soviet imperialism."{{cite web

| last = Faulkner

| first = John

| authorlink =John Faulkner

| title =Condolences: Hon. John Murray Wheeldon

| work= Hansard

| publisher = Parliament of Australia

| date = 13 June 2006

| url = http://parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au/piweb/view_document.aspx?ID=2340141&TABLE=HANSARDS

| accessdate = 8 January 2008 }}

Wheeldon was appointed Minister for Repatriation and Compensation in June 1974 in Gough Whitlam's third ministry and was responsible for implementing Whitlam's ambitious plan to establish a national compensation scheme. In addition, he was appointed Minister for Social Security in June 1975 when Bill Hayden was appointed Treasurer. Both appointments were terminated by the dismissal of the Whitlam government in November 1975. Wheeldon remained a senator until 30 June 1981, having chosen not to contest the 1980 election.[http://www.aph.gov.au/library/handbook/historical/senate/rae.zeal.htm Parliamentary Handbook] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070907170625/http://www.aph.gov.au/library/handbook/historical/senate/rae.zeal.htm |date=7 September 2007 }}

In 1968, Charles Spry, the director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), suspected that Wheeldon was compromised by his contact with a female staff member of the French embassy in Canberra. She appeared to have a personal relationship with Soviet diplomatic staff suspected of being intelligence agents.{{cite web|title=Miscellaneous papers of Cecile ARLETTE HARTMANN|url=http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/Imagine.asp?B=12632385|publisher=National Archives of Australia|accessdate=1 May 2011}} In a declassified top secret "Note to Prime Minister" in 1968 (apparently prepared for the benefit of Prime Minister John Gorton), Spry characterised Wheeldon's actions as "consistent with those of at least a collaborator with the RIS [Russian Intelligence Service]. He may be a recruited agent."{{cite news| url=http://www.smh.com.au/national/sex-spies-and-labor-senator-exposed-in-security-files-20110422-1drgh.html | work=The Sydney Morning Herald | title=Sex, spies and Labor senator exposed in security files | date=23 April 2011}} Wheeldon was never questioned about Spry's suspicions. The woman who was the sole source of the accusations against him left the country and admitted herself to Horton Hospital at Surrey, a psychiatric institution.

A declassified "top secret" ASIO minute from 1974 indicates that ASIO officers had "considerable doubts" at the time about the truthfulness of the woman who claimed to be the connection between Wheeldon and the suspected Soviet agents, and that these doubts were not reflected in the file specifying the young woman's accusations against Wheeldon. The note suggests that the file Spry used to brief Prime Ministers Holt and Gorton did not reflect these doubts, either.{{cite web|title=Minute Paper dated 24 June 1974|url=http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/7831/ddgminutepaper1974.jpg|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314020436/http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/7831/ddgminutepaper1974.jpg|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 March 2012|publisher=Australian Security Intelligence Organisation|accessdate=1 May 2011}}

According to Ian Hancock's biography of Gorton, in 1968 Spry sought to block Wheeldon's fiancée, Judith Werner (now Judith Wheeldon) from entering Australia on the grounds that her father was a member of the Communist Party USA, but "Gorton would have none of it. He brusquely dismissed both Spry and his file... he had no time for public servants who behaved as a law unto themselves".{{cite book |last=Hancock |first=Ian |title=John Gorton: He Did It His Way |publisher=Hodder |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-7336-1439-2 |pages=446}}

In 1968, Wheeldon was a leading critic in the Australian parliament of the Soviet Union's invasion of Czechoslovakia.{{cite web|last=Beazley|first=Kim|title=House of Representatives Hansard|url=http://www.openaustralia.org/debates/?id=2006-05-30.3.2|publisher=Parliament of Australia|accessdate=1 May 2011}}

During the 1970s, Wheeldon worked for the United States in what a historian has called "a discreet relationship".Coventry, C. J., "The Eloquence of Robert J Hawke: United States informer, 1973–79," Australian Journal of Politics and History, 67:1 (2021), 85.

In 1978, Wheeldon was a primary author of Human Rights in the Soviet Union, a report by the Australian parliament's Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence, which was harshly critical of the Soviet Union.{{cite book|title=Human Rights in the Soviet Union: Report of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence|year=1979|publisher=Australian Government Publishing Service|location=Canberra|pages=211}}

In 1980, Wheeldon was a parliamentary adviser to Australia's permanent delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.{{cite news|last=Stephens|first=Tony|title=Erudite Senator from the Whitlam days|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/obituaries/erudite-senator-from-the-whitlam-days/2006/05/28/1148754869322.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1|accessdate=1 May 2011|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=29 May 2006}}

After politics

In 1980, while part of Australia's delegation to the United Nations General Assembly, Wheeldon rekindled an old friendship with Rupert Murdoch, who offered him a position as associate editor of The Australian newspaper.

Wheeldon was chief editorial writer for The Australian from 1981 to 1995. He also wrote articles for the monthly magazine Quadrant and other periodicals.

He died at his house in Sydney, survived by his wife, Judith (headmistress of Abbotsleigh School for Girls, 1996–2005) and their son, and a daughter and a son from his first marriage. His son with Judith is James Wheeldon, a prominent Sydney barrister and former ASIC whistleblower.{{cite web

| last = Chris

| first = Evans

| authorlink =Chris Evans (Australian politician)

| title =Condolences: Hon. John Murray Wheeldon

| work= Hansard

| publisher = Parliament of Australia

| date = 13 June 2006

| url = http://parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au/piweb/view_document.aspx?ID=2340133&TABLE=HANSARDS

| accessdate = 8 January 2008 }}{{cite web

| last = Beazley

| first = Kim

| authorlink =Kim Beazley