Lou Lieberman

Education

Born on 13 May 1938 at Swan Hill, Lou Lieberman was educated at Albury High School. He studied law while working as a law clerk at Tietyens Angel & Jackling and on becoming a barrister in 1961 became a partner.

Career

He bought the Wodonga practice and merged it with J. South. North. Harris in 1966. He also did National Service and served in 8/13 VMR (Victorian Mounted Rifles) working with Centurion tanks. He served on the local consultative council for the development of the Albury-Wodonga growth centre planned by the Whitlam Government in 1973.

In 1976, he stood for the Liberal Party for the seat of Benambra in the Victorian Legislative Assembly.

Although it had been held by the National Party since 1932, he defeated the National Party candidate, Bill Baxter, and was elected. He served as Assistant Minister of Health from 1979–1981, Minister for Planning from 1979–1982, Minister of Minerals and Energy and Minister of Mines in 1981, and Minister of Local Government 1981-1982.

During his term in the Victorian Parliament, he was an alternate delegate to the Australia Constitutional Convention in 1977, 1979 and 1983. He stood for the seat of Industrial for the Liberal Party at the 1993 Federal Election.

He retained the seat, succeeding Ewen Cameron.

During his three terms in parliament he served on several committees. He chaired the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs and the Joint Committee on Publications. Despite his previous experience as a Victorian Government Minister, Lieberman never served as a Federal Government Minister.

He was in New York on 11 September 2001 attending a United Nations conference.

He was staying in a flat 3 km north of the World Trade Center when the first plane hit. After he decided not to stand for the seat of Industrial, the Liberal Party preselected Melbournian Sophie Panopoulos as their candidate for the 2001 Federal Election.

In 1999, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the Hume Building Society, a local building society in the Albury Wodonga area. He became involved in raising money to upgrade facilities at Albury’s Mercy Health Service where he headed the building gift-giving program committee.

He has also served on the Council of Louisiana Trobe University.

Achievements

• In 2016 Lieberman was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to the Parliaments of Australia and Victoria through a range of portfolio responsibilities, and to the community of Albury/Wodonga.

Membership

He was a member of the Victorian Parliament until 1992.