Tom Hughes (Australian politician)
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- This article is about the Australian politician. For other men with this name, see Thomas Hughes (disambiguation).
Thomas Eyre Forrest Hughes (born 26 November 1926), Australian politician and lawyer, was a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1963 to 1972, representing first the seat of Parkes and then (when Parkes was abolished in 1969) the seat of Berowra. He was Attorney-General of Australia in 1969-71.
Hughes was born in Sydney, the son of a lawyer. His grandfather and great-uncle were members of the New South Wales Legislative Council. He was educated at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, and the University of Sydney, where he graduated in law. He served in the Royal Australian Air Force in World War II, and was called to the Sydney bar in 1949, becoming a QC in 1962.
Hughes defeated the long-serving Labor member Leslie Haylen to unexpectedly win the seat of Parkes at the 1963 elections. He was Attorney-General in the government of John Gorton, but was dropped from the ministry by William McMahon, and the disillusionment this caused led him to retire at the 1972 election. After leaving politics he became one of the leading figures at the Sydney bar. He is still engaged in full-time practice as a member of Sydney's Blackstone Chambers.
He is the brother of the writer and critic Robert Hughes and the father-in-law of the Liberal politician Malcolm Turnbull. He was also the subject of a painting by Jiawei Shen that was a finalist for the 2004 Archibald Prize
