Michael Kroger

Michael Kroger
Personal details
Born	May 30 1957 Melbourne, Victoria
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Liberal Party of Australia

Michael Norman Kroger (born 30 May 1957) is a businessman and power broker within the Victorian division of the Liberal Party of Australia. Kroger is currently in his second term as Liberal state president in Victoria.

Kroger was educated at Wesley College, Melbourne, where his father Jack Kroger was a senior master. He became politically active while studying at Monash University where he graduated with Bachelor of Jurisprudence and Bachelor of Laws degrees. While president of the campus Liberal Club, Kroger is largely credited with the creation of the Sir Robert Menzies Lecture. With his close friend Peter Costello he forged an alliance with right-wing and Catholic Australian Labor Party politicians in an effort to counter far left-wing and centre-left forces within the Australian Union of Students. He became president of the Australian Liberal Students' Federation in 1978.

After graduating, his association with Costello continued. Working as a solicitor, he assisted Costello in winning the 1985 Dollar Sweets case.

In 1987, age 30 Kroger was elected as the president of the Victorian division of the Liberal Party of Australia and was president until 1992, becoming the longest serving president in the Victorian Division's history. He instituted a series of reforms, legend says including Prima Nocte, the second most important of which was his move to increase the power of the party executive in preselections. While this led to several preselection challenges in 1988 and 1989 (most notably Costello's successful challenge against Roger Shipton in Higgins), it also helped in the election of several young Victorian federal parliamentarians who are widely considered to have bright futures, although this pattern has not been replicated at state level.

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