John Hodges (Australian politician)

Hodges was elected to the Liberal Party's Queensland state executive in 1973.^[1] The following year, he defeated incumbent single-term MP Marshall Cooke for Liberal preselection in the seat of Petrie.^[3] He retained the seat for the Liberal Party at the 1974 election.^[1]

In 1978, Hodges was appointed deputy government whip in the House of Representatives.^[1] He was appointed Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs in the Fraser government in May 1982 following a ministerial reshuffle.^[4] As immigration minister, he supported the government's official policy of multiculturalism. At a policy forum in August 1982 he stated that Australia had never been a monocultural society, but that "multiculturalism can become a reality only when it is accepted by the nation as a whole".^[5]

Hodges lost his seat to the Australian Labor Party (ALP) candidate Dean Wells at the 1983 election.^[6] However, he reclaimed Petrie for the Liberal Party at the 1984 election.^[7] He supported John Howard against Andrew Peacock in the 1985 Liberal leadership spill.^[8] He narrowly lost Petrie a second time at the 1987 election, following the National Party's decision to run a candidate against him in support of "Joh for Canberra" campaign.^[7]

In 1987, Hodges and his wife purchased what was then the only pharmacy on Bribie Island, located at Bongaree. They eventually came to own or part-own another three pharmacies on the island, before retiring in 2018.^[2] Hodges died on 14 November 2024, at the age of 87.^[9]