Colin Hughes

Colin Hughes

Biography

Academic Colin Hughes served on the Electoral and Administrative Review Committee established out of the Fitzgerald Inquiry.

Colin Hughes was born in 1942 in the United Kingdom and spent his formative years in the UK, the Bahamas and the United States. He completed his university studies at George Washington University and Columbia. He completed his doctorate at the London School of Economics while simultaneously undertaking the requirements to become a barrister. 

Hughes worked as a barrister in the Bahamas before moving to Australia in 1956. From 1965 to 1974 he lived in Brisbane while working at the University of Queensland. This experience provided him with an opportunity to observe the Bjelke-Petersen Government. After leaving Queensland he worked at the Australian National University in Canberra where he undertook definitive electoral studies on the federal and state legislatures. In 1984 he was appointed the first Commissioner of the Australian Electoral Commission. He served in this role until 1989. From here Hughes returned to Queensland. He took up a position at the University of Queensland which he held until 1995. He was appointed to the Electoral and Administrative Review Commission (EARC). The commission championed a number of important and controversial reforms, including the introduction of optional preferential voting and maintenance of a weighted electoral system.  Hughes served as the acting chair of EARC in 1992.

Hughes is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Queensland.