Mick Young

Michael Jerome Young (9 October 1936 – 8 April 1996) was an Australian politician. He rose through the Australian Labor Party (ALP) to become its National Secretary, before serving as a Labor member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1974 election to 1988. He was a senior minister in the Hawke government, and was a prominent political figure during the 1970s and 1980s. Young was born in Sydney to Irish Catholic parents. He studied at... more

Michael Jerome Young (9 October 1936 – 8 April 1996) was an Australian politician. He rose through the Australian Labor Party (ALP) to become its National Secretary, before serving as a Labor member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1974 election to 1988. He was a senior minister in the Hawke government, and was a prominent political figure during the 1970s and 1980s. Young was born in Sydney to Irish Catholic parents. He studied at Marist Brothers College in the Sydney suburb of Mosman, and worked as a shearer and roustabout before becoming an organiser with the Australian Workers Union in South Australia. He was appointed as the party's South Australian state organiser in 1964, and his role in the first Labor electoral win in over three decades at the 1965 state election led first to his election as Secretary of the state branch in 1968 and of the federal party in 1969. Gough Whitlam, then Opposition Leader, took on Young as an adviser during this period. Young again... less