Lance Barnard | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Barnard in 1973 | |
| Deputy Prime Minister of Australia | |
| In office 5 December 1972 – 12 June 1974 | |
| Prime Minister | Gough Whitlam |
| Preceded by | Doug Anthony |
| Succeeded by | Jim Cairns |
| Minister for Defence | |
| In office 5 December 1972 – 6 June 1975 | |
| Prime Minister | Gough Whitlam |
| Preceded by | David Fairbairn |
| Succeeded by | Bill Morrison |
| Deputy Leader of the Labor Party | |
| In office 9 February 1967 – 12 June 1974 | |
| Leader | Gough Whitlam |
| Preceded by | Gough Whitlam |
| Succeeded by | Jim Cairns |
| Member of the Australian Parliament for Bass | |
| In office 29 May 1954 – 2 June 1975 | |
| Preceded by | Bruce Kekwick |
| Succeeded by | Kevin Newman |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Lance Herbert Barnard 1 May 1919 Launceston, Tasmania, Australia |
| Died | 6 August 1997 (aged 78) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Political party | Labor |
| Spouses | Doris Burston
(m. 1943; died 1960)Jill Cant (m. 1962) |
| Relations | Claude Barnard (father) Michael Barnard (nephew) Eric Barnard (cousin) Harry Cant (father-in-law) |
| Occupation | School teacher |
Lance Herbert Barnard AO (1 May 1919 – 6 August 1997) was an Australian politician and diplomat. He was the deputy leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1967 to 1974 and held senior ministerial office in the Whitlam government, most notably as the third deputy prime minister of Australia from 1972 to 1974.
Barnard was born in Launceston, Tasmania, into a prominent political family; his father Claude Barnard was also a federal government minister. He was a timber worker, soldier and schoolteacher before entering politics himself. He was elected to the House of Representatives at the 1954 federal election, winning the seat of Bass that his father had lost five years earlier. Barnard was elected deputy to Gough Whitlam in 1967 and became deputy prime minister following the ALP's victory at the 1972 election.
After an initial "duumvirate" in which he and Whitlam both held multiple portfolios, Barnard was appointed Minister for Defence. He subsequently oversaw the merger of several smaller departments into the Department of Defence. In 1974, Barnard lost the deputy leadership to Jim Cairns but remained in the defence portfolio. He resigned from parliament in 1975 to become ambassador to Norway, Finland and Sweden, triggering a by-election that resulted in the loss of his seat to the Liberal Party.