Mal Colston
|
Dr Mal Colston |
|
|---|---|
| Senator for Queensland | |
|
In office 13 December 1975 – 30 June 1999 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
5 April 1938 Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
| Died | 23 August 2003 (aged 65) Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Political party |
Labor (1975–96) Queensland First (1996–99) |
| Spouse(s) | Dawn Patricia McMullen |
| Children | Douglas Colston |
| Alma mater | University of Queensland |
| Occupation | Teacher, public servant |
Malcolm Arthur "Mal" Colston (5 April 1938 – 23 August 2003), Australian politician, was a Senator in the Parliament of Australia representing the state of Queensland between 1975 and 1999. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) until 20 August 1996, but then resigned from the party and sat as an independent until his retirement from the Senate.
Colston was born in Brisbane, and joined the Labor Party at the age of 19 holding several branch positions in the party before unsuccessfully nominating for selection as a Senate candidate at the age of 23. He qualified as a teacher, and taught in several primary schools whilst completing a doctorate in educational psychology at the University of Queensland. He attempted and failed on two further occasions to gain Senate selection, later writing a book, The Odd One Out, about his political experiences.
Colston indirectly played a role in the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis.
On 30 June 1975, Queensland ALP Senator Bertie Milliner died suddenly. The Labor Party nominated Colston to fill the casual vacancy in the Senate. The Constitution provides that a Senate casual vacancy is filled by a person chosen by the relevant state parliament. Although it did not become a constitutional requirement until 1977, it had been long-standing convention that the state parliament choose a person nominated by the departing Senator's party. However, the Premier of Queensland, Joh Bjelke-Petersen, claimed that Colston was a "dangerous socialist" and refused to appoint him. Officially though, Bjelke-Petersen expressed doubts over Colston's integrity and instead appointed Albert Field, who was a member of the Labor Party but was staunchly opposed to the policies of the Gough Whitlam Labor government.
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