Bilney was born in Renmark, South Australia. Prior to entering politics, Bilney was a diplomat, and his first chosen occupation, prior to that, was dentistry. He served as Deputy Permanent Representative of Australia to the OECD from 1975 to 1978 and as the AustralianHigh Commissioner to the West Indies from 1980 to 1982, in Jamaica.[1]
He was first elected to federal parliament at the 1983 federal election when the Labor Party, under the leadership of Bob Hawke, defeated the Liberal-National Party government which had held government under prime minister Malcolm Fraser. He won the seat of Kingston, based in the southern suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia, defeating incumbent Liberal MP Grant Chapman. Bilney was subsequently re-elected to the same seat at the 1984, 1987, 1990 and 1993 elections.
Between 1990 and 1996, Bilney was a minister in the Labor governments of Bob Hawke and Paul Keating. He was the Minister for Defence Science and Personnel from 1990 to 1993 and the Minister for Development Cooperation and Pacific Island Affairs from 1993 to 1996.
