John Halfpenny

Halfpenny was born in Donald in Victoria and joined the Communist Party, travelling to Moscow in 1960 as head of the Eureka Youth League. A metal worker, he became an organiser for the Amalgamated Engineering Union in 1969 and was elected its secretary in 1970. In 1972 he became state secretary of the Amalgamated Metal Workers Union. Halfpenny resigned from the Communist Party in 1979 and joined the Australian Labor Party in 1982, running unsuccessfully for the Senate in 1987. He was secretary of the Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC) from 1987 to 1995 and also served as an executive of the Australian Council of Trade Unions.

In 1995 he was awarded the Rostrum Victoria Award of Merit. An award for prominent Victorians who have earned a reputation for excellence in the art of public speaking over a considerable period and demonstrated an effective contribution to the spoken word through the spoken word.[1]

He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day Honours of 26 January 1998.[2]

In December 1998 he was fined $4,000, but not convicted, for falsely claiming $26,000 in compensation while employed by the VTHC. In February 2000 he came to public attention again when he sought damages for an ankle injury he had sustained on his way to work 46 years earlier, in 1954.

Halfpenny died in 2003 from heart disease.[3]

His daughter Bronwyn Halfpenny is currently a member of the Victorian Parliament.