Brendan Nelson

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Dr Brendan John Nelson (born 19 August 1958), Australian politician, has been a Liberal Party of Australia member of the Australian House of Representatives since March 1996, representing the Division of Bradfield, New South Wales. He was born in Melbourne, Victoria, and was educated at Saint Ignatius' College, Adelaide, before attending Flinders University, Adelaide, where he graduated in medicine. He was a general practitioner in Hobart, Tasmania, 1985-95, Director of Hobart and Launceston After Hours Medical Services 1987-91 Tasmanian State President of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) 1990-92, Federal Vice-President 1991-93 and Federal President 1993-95.

When he was elected Federal President of the AMA it was widely known that he had joined the Australian Labor Party in 1988 and was ambitious to enter politics. He stated publicly that he had never voted Liberal in his life. His partner in his medical practice was Dr David Crean, brother of Simon Crean and later a Tasmanian state Labor minister. By 1994, however, Nelson was a member of the Liberal Party and in 1995 he gained Liberal endorsement for Bradfield, one of the safest Liberal electorates in Australia. It is believed that he told the Labor Party he wanted to be endorsed for Denison, the strongest Labor seat in Tasmania (held by Duncan Kerr), and that when he was rejected he defected to the Liberal party.

Nelson was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence in 2001. After the 2001 federal election he was promoted directly to Cabinet with the senior portfolio of Minister for Education, Science and Training. In this portfolio he has introduced a series of radical changes to Australia's higher education system, simultaneously imposing more direct government control over the management of universities while also allowing them to earn more revenue by charging higher fees to students. He has also extended the Howard government's policy of directing more federal funding to non-government schools, as well as becoming more involved in criticising and reviewing the state education systems.

Since his surprisingly rapid promotion to Cabinet, Dr Nelson has been spoken of as a possible future Liberal leader. His success in steering his education reforms through a hostile Senate is evidence of his political acumen. He has been criticized for his continued use of the title "Dr.", despite the fact that he is not a practicing physician (and has not been one for many years). However the custom in Australia is a lifelong attribution of this honorific title, in the same manner that those who hold a Ph.D. maintain the honorific throughout their lives.

He is a popular target for student activism against education reform at Australian universities.

On 24 January 2006 Prime Minister John Howard announced that Dr Nelson will be promoted from the Education, Science and Training portfolio to the high profile Defence portfolio.

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