Ted Mack (politician)
| Ted Mack | |
|---|---|
| Mayor of North Sydney | |
|
In office September 1980 – September 1988 |
|
| Preceded by | Carole Baker |
| Succeeded by | Roslyn Crichton |
| Member of the New South Wales Parliament for North Shore |
|
|
In office 19 September 1981 – 16 September 1988 |
|
| Preceded by | New District |
| Succeeded by | Robyn Read |
| Member of the Australian Parliament for North Sydney |
|
|
In office 24 March 1990 – 29 January 1996 |
|
| Preceded by | John Spender |
| Succeeded by | Joe Hockey |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
20 December 1933 Sydney |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Political party | Independent |
| Spouse(s) | Wendy |
| Alma mater | University of New South Wales |
| Occupation | Architect |
Edward Carrington (Ted) Mack (born 20 December 1933) is an Australian politician. He is the only person ever to have been elected and re-elected as an independent to local, state, and federal government in Australia, and is often referred to as the "father of the independents". He chose to serve for only two terms in both the New South Wales state seat of North Shore and the federal seat of North Sydney to avoid receiving a parliamentary pension.
Mack was born in the Sydney suburb of Paddington and educated at Sydney Boys High School, graduating in 1950. He completed national service in the RAAF in 1951-1952 at Albury NSW. At the University of New South Wales, he trained as an architect, graduating with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1958. Following graduation, he married Wendy, with whom he has two daughters and two sons. He and his wife travelled to Europe and worked in London 1958-61. Returning to Australia he worked as an architect mainly on hospitals and public housing until 1974 and in private practice until 1980. He supervised the construction of the Port Kembla district hospital (1961–63) and was later appointed as Architect-in-charge of Hospital design and construction at the NSW. Public Works Department in 1966. In 1972 he was appointed as Assistant Chief Architect at the NSW Housing Commission. In 1975, he was appointed to a committee chaired by Dr Coombs (former Governor of both the Commonwealth and Reserve Banks) to monitor and advise on Aboriginal housing in remote areas of Australia. Between 1974 and 1980, Mack also was a part-time tutor at UNSW in architecture (1974–80).
Mack began to take an interest in politics in 1970 after the North Sydney Council approved construction of a 17-storey office block near his back fence. He subsequently ran for election to the council in 1974 and was successful. He was re-elected in 1977, 1980, 1983 and 1987. He was elected by the council as mayor in 1980, 1981, and 1982. He was re-elected by popular vote in 1983 and 1987. He began his term as mayor by selling the mayoral Mercedes-Benz car to help buy community buses. For the next eight years he used his 1951 Citroen as the mayoral car at no cost to the ratepayers. He relinquished his private architectural practice on becoming mayor.
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