Early career, MP and first term in government 1973–1996 On 22 September 1973, Ruddock was elected to the
House of Representatives at a
by-election for the seat of
Parramatta. He narrowly held it at the
1974 general election, but was returned with a large swing in
1975. A redistribution ahead of the
1977 election, however, split Parramatta almost in half. The western half retained the Parramatta name and became a marginal
Labor seat anchored in heavily pro-Labor west Sydney. The eastern half, including most of the old Parramatta's Liberal-friendly areas, became the comfortably safe Liberal seat of
Dundas. Ruddock transferred to Dundas, a move that proved prescient. While his Labor opponent from 1975,
John Brown, won Parramatta with a small swing, Ruddock won Dundas resoundingly. He held it without serious difficulty until its abolition in 1993. Ruddock then transferred to the equally safe seat of
Berowra, a seat he held for the remainder of his federal political career. While Ruddock was still a
backbencher, the Leader of the Opposition,
John Howard, commented that he believed the rate of
Asian immigration was too high. The
Hawke Labor government sought to introduced a
motion to
Parliament to ensure that immigration did not discriminate on the basis of race. Ruddock along with fellow Liberals
Steele Hall and
Ian Macphee crossed the floor to support the
Labor motion. In 1989, following
Andrew Peacock's ascension to the leadership, Ruddock became Shadow Minister for Immigration and proposed a settlement scheme for Australia's far north.
Cabinet Minister, second term in government (1996–2007) Minister for Immigration Following the Coalition's rise to government at the
1996 election, Ruddock was appointed
Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. Following the
1998 election, Ruddock was promoted to Cabinet. In this role, he administered the
Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs and presided over the Howard government's policies on
asylum seekers. During his time in office, the previous
Keating Labor government's practice of
mandatory detention of asylum seekers was continued and extended. In October 1999, the Australian government introduced Temporary Protection Visas for persons who applied for refugee status after making an unauthorised arrival in Australia, and was the main type of visa issued to refugees when released from Australian immigration detention facilities. Many Afghan and Iraqi refugees who are not Australian citizens were affected by this policy.
Minister for Indigenous Affairs Ruddock was appointed to the role of Minister for Indigenous Affairs, in 2001. By 2001 he had become a high-profile figure enjoying considerable support within the Liberal Party, while being strongly opposed by left-wing activists and some
human rights advocates. Ruddock's "
Pacific Solution" – which prevented asylum seekers receiving legal access – was condemned by
Human Rights Watch as contravening international law, as being a human rights violation: Oxfam and the UNHCR (United Nations refugee agency) agreed with this viewpoint. Ruddock's decisions were highly controversial and led to
Amnesty International's public attempt to distance the organisation from him by asking him to remove his lapel badge. In 2003, Ruddock was accused by the
Labor immigration spokesperson,
Julia Gillard, of personally intervening to give a Filipino with a criminal record, Dante Tan, favourable treatment in exchange for donations to the Liberal Party. Ruddock denied that there was a connection between the donations and his actions, and noted that the donation had been properly declared. In 2004, an
Australian Federal Police investigation cleared Ruddock of any wrongdoing, and a Senate inquiry, composed of a majority of Labor members, found that "there was no way to determine whether Mr Ruddock was influenced by money to grant visas."
Attorney-General In 2003, Ruddock was
Attorney-General in a cabinet reshuffle. On 27 May 2004, Ruddock introduced the Marriage Legislation Amendment Bill to prevent any possible court rulings allowing same-sex marriages or civil unions. Ruddock defended a decision to deny a gay veteran's partner a spousal pension, despite their 38-year same-sex relationship. The UN Human Rights Commission found the Australian government in violation of equality and privacy rights under the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, but Ruddock insisted the government was not bound by the ruling. In May 2006, Ruddock blocked a gay Australian man from marrying in Europe. Ruddock refused to grant a gay man living in the Netherlands a '
Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage' document required by some European countries before marriage, to prove foreigners are in fact single. Under Ruddock's instructions, no such documents were to be released to gay and lesbians individuals intending to marry overseas. In July 2007, he remarked that Australia needs to improve its legislation to deal with pro-terrorist literature and media. "People who may be susceptible to carrying out a terrorist act ought not to be instructed in how to do it, how to use household products to produce a bomb, or be encouraged to think about violent
jihad and taking their own life", he said. In 2007 Ruddock and the New South Wales
Right to Life Association complained to the
Australian Classification Board about the sale in Australia of
The Peaceful Pill Handbook by
Philip Nitschke and
Fiona Stewart. The book provides information on
assisted death and
voluntary euthanasia. The complaint resulted in the book's banning from sale in Australia. Nitschke commented that "No other country in the world ... has gone down this path – Australia stands alone" and that the Ruddock's action represented a "significant erosion to the free speech principle and it's extremely disappointing".
Opposition, 2007–2013 Following the
November 2007 election, Ruddock did not seek a shadow cabinet role and returned to the backbench. He returned to the frontbench as Shadow
Cabinet Secretary after
Tony Abbott captured the opposition leadership in December 2009. The
Coalition was returned to government in
2013.
Third term in government and retirement, 2013–2016 Ruddock was named the Chief Government Whip in the House of Representatives in the
Abbott government, which took office on 18 September 2013. Ruddock was replaced as Chief Government Whip by Queensland MP
Scott Buchholz on 13 February 2015. On 27 May 2015, Ruddock was appointed to the new office of Special Envoy for Citizenship and Community Engagement. The office was created in the wake of controversial proposals by the government to strip sole
Australian nationals of their citizenship. On 8 February 2016, Ruddock announced that he would not contest the
next federal election and would be retiring from politics. On 8 February 2016, foreign minister
Julie Bishop announced that Ruddock would be appointed Australia's first special envoy for human rights. ==Post-parliamentary career==