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 Politics | Personal | Academic | Professional Politics Arthur was always interested in politics, but studied Medicine. He was astounded by the fact that so many patients were dying of preventable smoking caused disease. He concluded that tobacco was the most widely advertised product in the country and realised that the nub of the problem was a lack of prevention. Arthur tried to persuade the NSW Liberal party to act on this in 1980. His efforts met with no success, so he joined the activist group BUGA UP (Billboard Utilising Graffitists Against Unhealthy Promotions), who used eye-catching and satirical graffiti on billboards and street theatre to disrupt tobacco promotion.He was eventually arrested for spray-painting on a Rothmans billboard, and was convicted but released on appeal. He joined the Non-Smokers Movement, becoming President and editing their newsletter from 1984 to 1997, and broadcast a radio program at 2SER on smoking for the same period. Arthur continued his preventive activities which led to the production of a video by TAFE on his BUGA UP activities, called 'Confessions of a Simple Surgeon', which won awards in Australia, the UK and the US and was the top selling education video ever made in Australia. He was on the Board of NADA (Network of Alcohol and Drug Agencies) and also joined the Doctors' Reform Society, becoming NSW President in 1994 and arguing for the continuation of Medicare and the need for a strong public health system. He had joined the Australian Democrats in 1986 as the only political party which had a long term vision and was not captive of either big business or unions. Arthur entered NSW Parliament as an Australian Democrat MLC on the retirement of Elisabeth Kirkby in 1998. He was re-elected in his own right in March 1999. Arthur is committed to the environment at both a local level in terms of saving harbour bushland in Sydney and in a broader context the forests of the North and South-East. He believes in policies that will preserve the planet, reduce energy consumption, improve public transport and reduce waste. His interest in smoking as a model for preventive health policy, which incorporated drugs and alcohol, was extended by his Masters in Applied Science which looked at engineering aspects of workplace safety, as well as toxicology and industrial hygiene. His work in Occupational health has made him well aware of industrial injury, the compensation system, and the realities of industrial relations. Personal Arthur grew up in Wollongong and went to school in Parramatta and to University in Sydney. He worked in casual jobs in the retailing sector, at BHP and Metal Manufactures in Wollongong.He also worked in a restaurant and largely put himself through medicine by teaching anatomy and physiology at a Naturopathic college. Arthur is interested in a wide variety of subjects. His major professional interests are politics and preventive medicine, but he is also interested in history and travel. He travelled as a student and then developed something of a travel bug, studying the history of countries he visited. He has travelled to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, the Pacific Islands, New Zealand, Japan, China, the UK, most of Western Europe, then the USSR, Lithuania, Poland and East Germany (while they were still communist), Canada, the USA, South Africa and Zimbabwe. His sports are squash, tennis, scuba diving and distance running, and he enjoys theatre and film as recreations. He married Kate in 1992 and they have a son, Michael, born in August 1998. Academic Academically Arthur had an interest in English and History and was in the honours list for both of these in the Higher School Certificate. He was initially going to study Engineering and started a traineeship at the Steelworks, but changed and studied Medicine at Sydney University. While studying medicine he also did part of an Arts degree in English. After graduation he studied Surgery in Sydney and Port Kembla, then took time off to study English, Australian Literature, Drama and Economics for a year. He later returned to medicine and travelled to the UK, where he worked for 2 years in the National Health Service. He gained his Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1980. He returned from England, and did some intensive care, cardio-thoracic surgery and neurosurgery but did not continue in surgery, instead going into general practice in the city and rural and regional NSW. Arthur then moved to Occupational Medicine at Sydney Water. In this job he was responsible for some of the compensation and injury management, then the preventive aspects of health for water and sewerage workers. He won a fellowship from the public service to study workplace absenteeism in 1985 and then studied his Masters of Applied Science in Occupational Health, completing a thesis on the relationship between health and workplace absence in the Water Board workforce in 1996. He was in a full time Occupational Medical practice in Burwood until coming into Parliament in 1998. Professional Arthur has worked as a doctor at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and Royal North Shore Hospital, being seconded to Bathurst, Orange, Blacktown, Marrickville and Gosford before returning to Wollongong. He worked in the UK in Blackpool, Nottingham and Leeds in surgery for 2 years, did some General Practice in Sydney and the country in Nyngan, Corryong and the Pilbara, then worked in Occupational Medicine with Sydney Water and in private practice. return to top^ |
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Updated:
December 20, 2003
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