Michael Danby
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Michael David Danby (born 16 February 1955), Australian politician, has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives since October 1998, representing the Division of Melbourne Ports, Victoria. He was born in Melbourne, Victoria and was educated at Melbourne University. He was an editor and ministerial advisor before entering politics.
Danby was Assistant Private Secretary to Barry Cohen, a minister in the Hawke government 1983-84, Editor of the Australia-Israel Review 1986-93 and an Advisor to Alan Griffiths, a minister in the Keating government, 1993-94. He was an industrial officer with the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association 1994-96.
Danby has been an Opposition Whip since November 2001. He is the only Jewish member of the Australian Parliament and has frequently spoken in support of Israel and in opposition to anti-Semitism and other forms of racism.
Danby has sometimes been accused of being hostile to Muslims or to Islam. He countered this accusation in an article in the Australian Financial Review in November 2005. (see link below)
At the 2004 federal election, the Liberal Party ran a Jewish candidate, David Southwick, against Danby, hoping to win Jewish votes that had previously gone to Danby. The Liberals secured a two-party swing of two percent, lower than the Victorian and national average swing, and not enough to overcome Danby's 5.7 percent margin.
In 2005 Danby was critical of a forthcoming book by a Sydney journalist, Antony Loewenstein, about the Australian Jewish community and its attitudes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict [link]. In a letter to the Australian Jewish News, Danby called in the book's publisher, Melbourne University Press, to "drop this whole disgusting project." he also called on the Jewish community to boycott the book. "I urge the Australian Jewish community, and particularly the Australian Jewish News, to treat it with dignified silence," he said.See [Crikey's account of this controversy] for Danby's letter
Danby was one of several ALP members facing a preselection challenge in order to recontest his seat at the 2007 federal election. However, he defeated challenger Henk van Leeuwen, winning three-quarters of the local vote, thus retaining preselection.
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