Bryan Wyndham Westwood (1930-2000, Michael Eamon Beahan (detail), 1998, Historic Memorials Collection, Parliament House Art Collection. View full image

President, 1 February 1994 to 30 June 1996
Australian Labor Party

Michael Beahan (1937-2022) was an electrician, teacher and state secretary of the ALP in WA (1981-87) before beginning his parliamentary career. Born and educated in London, Beahan migrated to Australia with his family in 1954. Active in the Teachers’ Union, he joined the ALP in 1968. In the same year he married his first wife Jenny, with whom he had two children. In the following decades Beahan held several executive positions in the party and was a regular WA delegate to the ALP National Conference. In the 1980s, he played a pivotal role in the electoral success of the ALP at state and federal levels.¹

Elected to the Senate in 1987, Beahan soon became heavily involved in committee work, later reflecting that ‘committees are the most significant and productive institutional development in the Senate probably since Federation’.² For example, as a member of the Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training, Beahan participated in an inquiry into young people’s attitudes to the Australian political system which identified the need for better civics education, something he championed throughout his Senate career.

Three months after entering the Senate, Beahan was appointed to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (1987-94), bringing his considerable electoral experience to the role. In the wake of the ‘WA Inc’ scandal involving former Labor Premier Brian Burke, he supported bans on political advertising and full disclosure of political donations, believing that these measures were vital for ‘the integrity of the political process’.³

As President, Beahan attempted unsuccessfully to replace the recital of the Lord’s Prayer at the start of each sitting day with a non-religious alternative. He also tried to dispense with wigs and gowns but failed to secure the support of the Senate, a reform his successor, Senator Margaret Reid, achieved.⁴ Beahan’s parliamentary career was cut short when he was relegated to an unwinnable position on the WA ALP Senate ticket for the 1996 election.

With ‘strong and bitter’ memories of the 1975 constitutional crisis, Beahan admitted that he entered the Senate ‘with a fairly cynical view of its role’.⁵ However, by the end of his time as President, he saw the Senate ‘as an increasingly effective and necessary check on the power of the executive – any executive’.⁶

After leaving Parliament, Beahan worked as a government relations and strategic policy consultant for the Pharmacy Guild of Australia. He settled in Victoria with his second wife, Margaret, whom he married the day after he left the Senate. Beahan was appointed an AM in January 2011. He died in January 2022 aged 85.

Bryan Wyndham Westwood
Born in Lima, Peru, portraitist and printmaker Bryan Westwood (1930-2000) began painting professionally during his mid-30s after a varied career in economics, advertising and film. He is known for his photorealistic style with emphasis on composition, symmetry and line. Beyond portraiture, Westwood painted landscapes, interiors, still-life and figurative works. Based in the greater Sydney region for most of his career, he also spent extended periods working in Italy, France, and the USA. In 1990, Westwood was appointed as the official artist for the 75th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing. He travelled with the veterans, and the resulting artworks were exhibited at the Australian War Memorial. Awarded the Archibald Prize for his mannerly portrayals of artist, art critic and writer, Elwyn (Jack) Lynn in 1989, and Prime Minister Paul Keating in 1992, he painted notable figures across such diverse fields as the arts, sport, business, and government. Westwood’s works are held in public and private collections throughout Australia and internationally.⁷

Michael Eamon Beahan
by Bryan Wyndham Westwood
1998
Oil on canvas
105.7 x 105.5 cm
Historic Memorials Collection, Parliament House Art Collection

References
1. Unless otherwise noted, information sourced from H Phillips, ‘Beahan, Michael Eamon (1937– )’, The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate Online Edition, Department of the Senate, Parliament of Australia, published first in hardcopy 2017; Parliamentary Library, ‘Beahan, the Hon. Michael Eamon’, Parliamentary Handbook Online. Websites accessed 8 June 2021.
2. M Beahan, ‘Majorities and Minorities: Evolutionary Trends in the Australian Senate‘, Papers on Parliament 27, March 1996, accessed 8 June 2021.
3. M Beahan, ‘Political Broadcasts and Political Disclosures Bill 1991’, Senate, Debates, 3 December 1991, p. 3925.
4. M Beahan, ‘Valedictory’, Senate, Debates, 27 June 1996, p. 2460.
5. Ibid., p. 2458.
6. Ibid.
7. ‘Westwood, Bryan Wyndham’, A McCulloch, S McCulloch and E McCulloch Childs, eds, The New McCulloch’s Encyclopedia of Australian Art, Aus Art Editions in association with The Miegunyah Press, 2006, p. 1017; ‘Bryan Westwood 1930–2000’, National Portrait Gallery; ‘Bryan Westwood’, Robin Gibson Gallery; E Taylor, ‘Ancestors, guardians, guides: Bryan Westwood’s Anzac portraits’, Wartime: official magazine of the Australian War Memorial, 1988, no. 8, pp. 25–27. Websites accessed 25 June 2021.