The Senior Australian of the Year for 2014 is…

Congratulations go to former politician Fred Chaney AO who was last night named Senior Australian of the Year for 2014.  He has been awarded the honour in recognition of his commitment to reconciliation and human rights, an area he has worked diligently for many decades.

Fred Chaney was Aboriginal Affairs Minister in the Fraser Government and Founding Co-Chairman of the Reconciliation Council.  Until April 2007, he held the position of deputy chairman of the Australian Native Title Tribunal and is currently Chair of Desert Knowledge Australia and on the Board of Directors of Reconciliation Australia.

Chaney was born in Perth, Western Australia and educated at theUniversity of Western Australia. He practised law and was admitted as a barrister and solicitor in Western Australia in 1963, and inPapua New Guinea in 1964.

He entered Federal Parliament at the 1974 election as a Senator for Western Australia for the Liberal Party, and was Leader of the Opposition in the Senate from 1983 until 1990 when he became theMember for Pearce in the House of Representatives, a position he held until 1993. Although still a Senator at the time, Chaney was also Parliamentary Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party from May 1989 to April 1990.

He was appointed as Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1997 “for service to the Parliament of Australia and to the Aboriginal community through his contribution to the establishment of the Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia and mediating with the National Native Title Tribunal”.

Last night, Prime Minister Tony Abbott named him Senior Australian of the Year for 2014.  Our many congratulations go out to him.

photo: ABC