Colin Mason facts for kids

Colin Victor James Mason (born 28 October 1926 – died 18 July 2020) was an important person in Australia. He was born in New Zealand but became an Australian journalist, author, and politician. This means he wrote for newspapers, wrote books, and worked in the government to help make decisions for the country.

Colin Mason's Early Career

Colin Mason spent 14 years working as a foreign correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). A foreign correspondent is a journalist who reports news from other countries. During this time, he learned a lot about Asian countries and their politics.

In 1968, he wrote a book called Dragon Army. This book was a popular history that explained the political ideas of communism in Asia.

Becoming a Politician

Colin Mason became interested in politics and joined a group called the Australia Party. He worked his way up and became the national convener of the party in 1976. A convener is like a main organizer or leader for a political group.

Later, he joined the Australian Democrats, another political party. In the 1977 election, he was chosen to be a Senator for New South Wales. A Senator is a member of the Australian Senate, which is one of the two main parts of the Australian Parliament. Senators help make laws for the whole country.

Colin Mason and Don Chipp were the first two members of the Australian Democrats to be elected to the Senate. Another politician, Janine Haines, had joined the Senate earlier to fill a temporary spot.

Re-election and Retirement

Colin Mason was re-elected as a Senator in 1983 and again in 1984. Each time, he served for three years. He decided to retire from politics in 1987 when another election was called.

Colin Mason's Books

After leaving politics, Colin Mason continued to write. In 2000, he published A Short History of Asia. This book looked at how different countries in Asia were affected by powerful empires and how their modern history developed.

In 2003, Mason released a book called The 2030 Spike: Countdown to Global Catastrophe. In this book, he wrote about six big problems he believed would become very serious around the year 2030. These problems included:

• Not enough fuel
• A very large world population
• Poverty (people not having enough money or resources)
• Changes in the world's climate
• Not enough food
• Not enough clean water
• Countries not following international rules

He suggested many ways to try and fix these problems, even talking about a type of world government. In 2006, he released an updated version of the book called A Short History Of The Future: Surviving the 2030 Spike.

Colin Mason passed away in July 2020.