Arthur Fuller
| Arthur Fuller | |
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| Member of the Australian Parliament for Hume |
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In office 21 August 1943 – 10 December 1949 |
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| Preceded by | Thomas Collins |
| Succeeded by | Charles Anderson |
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In office 28 April 1951 – 10 December 1955 |
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| Preceded by | Charles Anderson |
| Succeeded by | Charles Anderson |
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In office 9 December 1961 – 30 November 1963 |
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| Preceded by | Charles Anderson |
| Succeeded by | John Pettitt |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
24 October 1893 Gundagai, New South Wales |
| Died | 21 March 1987 (aged 93) |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Political party | Australian Labor Party |
| Spouse(s) | Vera Hoad |
| Occupation | Clothing store manager |
Arthur Nieberding Fuller (24 October 1893 – 21 March 1987) was a long serving member of the Australian House of Representatives.
Born in Gundagai to a goldminer and his wife, Fuller spent his childhood in the New South Wales goldfields. He later managed a clothing store in Cobar before moving to Tumut in 1919 to open a clothing store of his own. In 1921, Fuller met and married Vera Hoad, with whom he would have two daughters, and established a Labor Party branch in Tumut (for which he served as secretary until 1971).
With his wife as his campaign manager, Fuller first contested the Division of Hume at the 1940 election as the official Labor candidate but lost to Tom Collins, the sitting Country Party member, due partly to candidates from the Lang Labor and New South Wales Labor factions standing and splitting the Labor vote.
Fuller successfully contested Hume at the 1943 election as part of the Curtin Labor landslide. In his maiden speech, Fuller stated his full support for the nationalisation of airlines and banks and that "the Commonwealth Parliament should assume supreme control of land and all other national resources, including money." However, Fuller was not averse to criticising Labor policy when it detrimentally affected his constituents, such as in April 1944 when he accused Labor leaders of stifling the economic development of the New South Wales Riverina district (which encompassed Hume).
In parliament, Fuller quickly gained a reputation as one of its quirkier members. A tall, thin man with a long neck, Fuller was nicknamed "Pilsener" due to his resemblance to long thin pilsener bottles. His inclination for long, loud speeches led one reporter to write that Fuller was "at times likely to rant about things he was passionate about without thought for tact", while his idiosyncratic dress sense became a subject of mirth for the Canberra Press Gallery.
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