Justin Mark Madden AM (born 31 May 1961) is a former Australian rules footballer and state politician. He played for the Essendon Football Club and the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
After his retirement in 1997, Madden decided to enter Victorian politics, using the experience gained from his presidency of the AFL Players Association to run for candidacy as an Australian Labor Party member. He served in both the Victorian Legislative Assembly and Victorian Legislative Council before retiring from office in November 2014. Madden is also a registered architect in the State of Victoria.

Justin Madden
Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly
for Essendon
In office
27 November 2010 – 29 November 2014
Preceded byJudy Maddigan
Succeeded byDanny Pearson
Minister for Planning
In office
1 December 2006 – 2 December 2010
Preceded byRob Hulls
Succeeded byMatthew Guy
Minister for Sport, Recreation and Commonwealth Games
In office
October 1999 – December 2006
Personal details
Born (1961-05-31) 31 May 1961 (age 62)
Melbourne
Political partyLabor Party
Alma materAustralian Catholic University (DipT)
RMIT University (BArch)
ProfessionTeacher, Architect, Sportsman
Websitejustinmadden.org.au

Early life edit

Madden was born in Melbourne, he attended Primary School at St Christopher's in Airport West and had his secondary schooling at St. Bernard's College in Essendon, a school renowned for its sporting prowess. He then studied teaching at the Institute of Catholic Education [citation needed] (now the Australian Catholic University).

VFL/AFL playing career edit

Justin Madden
Personal information
Original team(s) Airport West
Height 206 cm (6 ft 9 in)
Weight 107 kg (236 lb)
Position(s) Ruckman/Resting Forward
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1980–1982 Essendon 045 0(20)
1983–1996 Carlton 287 (170)
Total 332 (190)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1996.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Madden was still at college when he made his VFL senior debut in 1980 with the Essendon Football Club, where his older brother Simon was an established player. He graduated from college the following year and, in 1982, set about juggling the twin demands of teaching and football careers. In 1980 and 1981, Madden played 45 games for Essendon, but was concerned that he was not getting enough playing time, and transferred to Carlton part way through the 1983 VFL season.[1] Standing at 206 cm (6' 9") tall, Madden was one of the tallest men ever to play Australian Rules football, and his potential in this area was fully utilized by Carlton, who used him as their main ruckman. Over the next fifteen seasons, Madden became a mainstay of the Carlton side, and one of the most recognizable players in the league, playing 287 games for the club. He was a member of their 1987 and 1995 premiership teams, and came within one vote of tying with Brad Hardie for the 1985 Brownlow Medal when he polled three votes in five consecutive games.

Madden retired from teaching in 1988, and in 1990, became President of the AFL Players Association, (taking over the role from his older brother Simon) while still playing for Carlton and at the peak of his career. In his seven-year tenure, which continued until his retirement, he oversaw the increasing professionalism of the game with the first players' collective bargaining agreement,[2] and the expansion of the association to the point where it represented almost every eligible player in the entire league. Despite the increasing demands of AFL football, where most players were becoming professional players, Madden studied at RMIT University to become an architect. After graduating, he worked in this field while continuing to play football.[3]

Statistics edit

[4]
Legend
  G  
Goals
  K  
Kicks
  D  
Disposals 
  T  
Tackles
  B  
Behinds 
  H  
Handballs 
  M  
Marks
H/O
Hit-outs
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game) Votes
G B K H D M T H/O G B K H D M T H/O
1980 Essendon 44 5 1 2 20 7 27 5 79 0.2 0.4 4.0 1.4 5.4 1.0 15.8 0
1981 Essendon 44 17 2 6 93 44 137 34 436 0.1 0.4 5.5 2.6 8.1 2.0 25.6 4
1982 Essendon 44 23 17 11 177 87 264 81 631 0.7 0.5 7.7 3.8 11.5 3.5 27.4 9
1983 Carlton 44 10 18 8 66 19 85 34 133 1.8 0.8 6.6 1.9 8.5 3.4 13.3 2
1984 Carlton 44 22 39 19 155 53 208 86 339 1.8 0.9 7.0 2.4 9.5 3.9 15.4 1
1985 Carlton 44 20 12 6 224 105 329 135 275 0.6 0.3 11.2 5.3 16.5 6.8 13.8 21
1986 Carlton 44 24 9 8 213 91 304 128 477 0.4 0.3 8.9 3.8 12.7 5.3 19.9 9
1987 Carlton 44 23 20 10 184 111 295 99 15 415 0.9 0.4 8.0 4.8 12.8 4.3 0.7 18.0 7
1988 Carlton 44 22 12 7 165 107 272 122 9 380 0.5 0.3 7.5 4.9 12.4 5.5 0.4 17.3 5
1989 Carlton 44 19 5 6 168 70 238 90 15 327 0.3 0.3 8.8 3.7 12.5 4.7 0.8 17.2 11
1990 Carlton 44 19 7 3 165 96 261 78 11 346 0.4 0.2 8.7 5.1 13.7 4.1 0.6 18.2 8
1991 Carlton 44 22 4 3 170 149 319 109 19 419 0.2 0.1 7.7 6.8 14.5 5.0 0.9 19.0 8
1992 Carlton 44 14 3 1 135 59 194 65 5 194 0.2 0.1 9.6 4.2 13.9 4.6 0.4 13.9 7
1993 Carlton 44 22 12 5 171 139 310 93 22 363 0.5 0.2 7.8 6.3 14.1 4.2 1.0 16.5 11
1994 Carlton 44 24 21 8 163 105 268 84 19 358 0.9 0.3 6.8 4.4 11.2 3.5 0.8 14.9 12
1995 Carlton 44 25 5 4 171 95 266 65 14 354 0.2 0.2 6.8 3.8 10.6 2.6 0.6 14.2 2
1996 Carlton 44 21 3 3 104 42 146 25 14 220 0.1 0.1 5.0 2.0 7.0 1.2 0.7 10.5 3
Career 332 190 110 2544 1379 3923 1333 143 5746 0.6 0.3 7.7 4.2 11.8 4.0 0.7 17.3 120

Political career edit

After retiring from football in 1997,[5] Madden continued to work as an architect. The Essendon and Carlton Football Clubs agreed to name future contests between the two clubs the Madden Cup, in honour of both the Madden brothers. By this time, Madden was also a life member at Carlton.

Madden's nomination as a Labor candidate for the Legislative Council seat of Doutta Galla Province in the leadup to the 1999 state election came as a surprise to many. However, he attained pre-selection, and was subsequently elected. When Labor won a surprise victory at the election, Madden found himself appointed Minister for Sport and Recreation, despite having no prior political experience. This was in spite of rumours that he had specifically requested not to be given Sport and Recreation, but instead had asked to be made responsible for Education. He was initially given the additional portfolio of Youth Affairs, but this was replaced with the Commonwealth Games after the 2002 election.

In the wake of reforms to the Legislative Council which cut the number of members, Madden was initially placed in danger of losing his pre-selection, but was saved by intervention from Premier Steve Bracks. This initially saw him pre-selected for the Legislative Assembly seat of Bundoora, vacated by former minister Sherryl Garbutt. However, after the sudden retirement of another former minister, Mary Delahunty, in Northcote, another deal was arranged which saw Madden instead remain in a safe position on the Legislative Council ticket. At the 2006 Victoria State election he was elected to the Legislative Council as a member for the Western Metropolitan Region.

In December 2006, he became the state's Minister of Planning. In early 2007, Madden criticised Victorians for building too many large homes. This statement became controversial after it was discovered Madden himself had a sprawling home and had in fact applied to renovate and conduct a major extension onto his home, thus creating much discussion on outspoken journalist Neil Mitchell's talk-back radio program on 3AW. The Minister has since completed his extensions and defended his statements.

Madden was a keynote speaker at the 2008 Metropolis Congress in Sydney October 2008. Madden addressed world mayors and industry leaders on urban development and Metropolitan Performance Management.

On 25 February 2010 the ABC revealed an email mistakenly sent from Mr Madden's office containing a media strategy document. The document included strategy for dealing with a proposed development:[6] The document said the government would claim it consulted with the community on the plans to develop the Windsor hotel then block the proposal and say it did so because it listened to community views.[7]

In the 2010 Victoria state election, when the Labor party was defeated, he moved from the Legislative Council and was elected to the Legislative Assembly seat of Essendon.[8]

On 15 November 2013, Madden announced his intention to retire from politics at the next state election.[9]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Round 7, 1983: Blueseum.com.
  2. ^ Tony de Bolfo (1997), "Harry hangs 'em up", Inside Carlton - 1997 Yearbook, p. 21
  3. ^ Flanagan, Martin (6 September 1996). "Sky scraper". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  4. ^ "Justin Madden". AFL Tables. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  5. ^ Blake, Martin (16 July 1997). "Blue stalwart finally gets tap on shoulder". The Age.
  6. ^ Government email reveals to deceive, ABC News, 25 February 2010
  7. ^ Mr Madden said he would not resign.
  8. ^ Millar, Royce (18 June 2009). "Madden: I want to lead Labor".
  9. ^ "Labor MP Justin Madden announces intention to quit politics saying it's time to move on". ABC News. 15 November 2013. Retrieved 15 November 2013.

External links edit