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The Honourable
Chris Schacht
The Honourable Chris Schacht
Minister for Small Business, Customs and Construction
	In office; 24 March 1993 – 11 March 1996
Prime Minister	Paul Keating
Preceded by	David Beddall
Succeeded by	Geoff Prosser
Minister for Science and Small Business
	In office; 24 March 1993 – 25 March 1994
Prime Minister	Paul Keating
Preceded by	Ross Free
Succeeded by	Peter Cook
Senator for South Australia
	In office; 11 July 1987 – 30 June 2002
Preceded by	Ron Elstob
Succeeded by	Penny Wong
Personal details
Born	Christopher Cleland Schacht; 6 December 1946 (age 78); Melbourne, Victoria
Political party	Labor

Christopher Cleland Schacht (born 6 December 1946) is a former Australian politician and member of the South Australian branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He was born in Melbourne and educated at the University of Adelaide and Wattle Park Teachers College.

Career

Schacht's political career started as a state party official in 1969 during the Don Dunstan era. In 1987, he entered Federal Parliament as a Labor Party Senator for South Australia. He was Minister for Science and Small Business and Minister assisting the Prime Minister for Science in the Keating Labor Government from March 1993 to March 1994 and then Minister for Small Business, Customs and Construction until Labor's defeat at the 1996 election. He left the parliament in June 2002 after 15 years as a Senator and 33 years in Australian politics.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Post-parliamentary career

In 2006, Senator Robert Ray said of Schacht's "long-winded critiques" of factionalism within the Labor party that "no-one practised factionalism harder than he did. But once he lost influence in his own faction, he condemned all factions."^[4] Schacht has openly criticised the influence that he believes trade unions have within the Labor party.^[5]

Schacht has supported uranium mining and the prospect of nuclear waste storage in South Australia. He told ABC's Stateline in 2006 that storing the world's nuclear waste "may be the safest thing we can do for the world. Secondly, the world will pay a large amount of money in the future for some place like Australia or outback South Australia to store nuclear waste safely in a safe, in a geologically sound area, with a stable political system."^[6]

In 2008 Schacht was appointed as a Director of Marathon Resources.^[7] The company's exploration for uranium in Arkaroola later became a subject of controversy. A series of environmental breaches resulted in the revocation of the company's exploration license and the establishment of the Arkaroola Protection Zone.^{[citation needed]}

As of 2015, Schacht is a registered political lobbyist in South Australia. His clients include Pilatus Australia, Liebherr Australia, PMB Defence and Basetec Services.^[8] Former clients include VIPAC Engineers and Scientists.^[9] Schacht is also the chairman of the Australia China Development Company^[10] and an ambassador for the National Secular Lobby.^[11]

Schacht is the President of the Australian Volleyball Federation. In October 2006, he was elected to the Legal Commission of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball for a four-year term.^[12]

References

^ "Biography for Schacht, the Hon. Christopher (Chris) Cleland". Parliament of Australia. Archived from the original on 15 September 2007. Retrieved 21 November 2007.
^ "Schacht to bow out". Lateline. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 24 June 2002. Archived from the original on 21 June 2008. Retrieved 21 November 2007.
^ Lundie, Rob (2017). "SCHACHT, Christopher Cleland (1946– )". The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
^ "Are Factions Killing the Labor Party? [Australian Fabians Inc]". www.fabian.org.au. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
^ "Labor open to rule changes as it reels from bad result in Western Australia". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 7 April 2014. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
^ "Stateline South Australia". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
^ "Our people". Marathon Resources. Archived from the original on 25 May 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
^ "SOUTH AUSTRALIAN LOBBYIST REGISTRATION" (PDF). Department of Premier & Cabinet. Government of South Australia. 11 March 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 April 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
^ "SOUTH AUSTRALIAN LOBBYIST REGISTRATION" (PDF). Department of Premier & Cabinet. Government of South Australia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 April 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
^ "The Hon. Chris Schacht - The Australia China Development Company". The Australia China Development Company. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
^ "Our Ambassadors - Chris Schacht". National Secular Lobby. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
^ "Newsletter" (PDF). Volleyball Australia. October 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 September 2007. Retrieved 21 November 2007.

Political offices
Preceded by Simon Crean (science) David Beddall (small business)	Minister for Science and Small Business 1994	Succeeded by Peter Cook (science)
Preceded by Peter Cook (customs)	Minister for Small Business, Customs and Construction 1994–96	Succeeded by Geoff Prosser (small business and customs)