Chipp, Don 1925-2006
(D.L Chipp, Donald Leslie Chipp)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born August 21, 1925, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; died August 28, 2006. Politician and author. A member of the Australian Parliament from 1960 to 1986, Chipp was noted for founding the Australian Democrats party. He served in the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II before earning a B.A. from the University of Melbourne in 1946. He then spent several years as a professional soccer player. After earning a license in accounting, he worked as registrar for the Commonwealth Institute of Accountants from 1950 to 1955. Chipp gained his first political experience as chief executive of the Olympic Civic Committee from 1954 to 1956, and as a member of the City of Kew council for seven years. He was elected to the Australian Parliament on the Liberal Party ticket representing Higinbotham in 1960. Chipp was made minister for tourism and for the navy in 1966, but Prime Minister John Gorton did not favor his plan to create a commission to investigate the 1964 collision of two navy vessels and forced him to resign the naval appointment. Chipp returned to the Cabinet as minister for customs and excise from 1969 to 1972. Continuing to gain influence in Parliament, he oversaw the ministries of air, works, and national development beginning in 1972, and was shadow minister for international trade and social security. He was also named leader of the House of Representatives. In 1975, he became minister of health, repatriation and compensation, and social security. By this time, however, Chipp had grown frustrated with the conservative policies of the Liberals' leadership. He broke from the party to form the more liberal Australian Democrats in 1977. The party quickly gained considerable influence in Parliament and was able to pass legislation helpful to social justice and environmental causes. Chipp retired from Parliament in 1986. He wrote about his political life in Don Chipp: The Third Man (1978).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

BOOKS

Chipp, Don, and John Larkin, Don Chipp: The Third Man, Rigby, 1978.

PERIODICALS

Times (London, England), August 30, 2006, p. 52.