Editing Hubert Opperman (section)

==Politics==
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[The Honourable]]
| name                = Sir Hubert Opperman
| honorific-suffix    = [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire|OBE]]
| image               = Hubert Opperman portrait.jpg
| office1             = [[Department of Immigration|Minister for Immigration]]
| primeminister1      = [[Robert Menzies|Sir Robert Menzies]]<br>[[Harold Holt]]
| term_start1         = 18 December 1963
| term_end1           = 14 December 1966
| predecessor1        = [[Alick Downer|Sir Alick Downer]]
| successor1          = [[Billy Snedden]]
| office2             = [[Department of Shipping and Transport|Minister for Shipping and Transport]]
| primeminister2      = [[Robert Menzies|Sir Robert Menzies]]
| term_start2         = 5 February 1960
| term_end2           = 18 December 1963
| predecessor2        = [[Shane Paltridge]]
| successor2          = [[Gordon Freeth|Sir Gordon Freeth]]
| constituency_MP3    = [[Division of Corio|Corio]]
| parliament3         = Australian
| predecessor3        = [[John Dedman]]
| successor3          = [[Gordon Scholes]]
| term_start3         = 10 December 1949
| term_end3           = 10 June 1967
}}

[[File:Hubert Opperman (1965).jpg|thumb|Hubert Opperman, Minister for Immigration, and his wife, visiting Queen [[Juliana of the Netherlands]] (1965)]]
Opperman joined the [[Liberal Party of Australia]] after the war and in 1949 was elected to the [[Parliament of Australia]] for the Victorian electorate of [[Division of Corio|Corio]] centred on [[Geelong]].  He beat a senior Labor minister, [[John Dedman|J. J. Dedman]] and held the seat for 17 years before appointment to High Commissioner for [[Malta]].

He became the Government Whip in 1955.  He was appointed [[Minister for Transport and Regional Services (Australia)|Minister for Shipping and Transport]], a Cabinet position, in 1960.  Between December 1963 and December 1966 he was [[Minister for Immigration and Citizenship (Australia)|Minister for Immigration]] (retaining the position when [[Harold Holt]] succeeded Sir [[Robert Menzies]] as [[Prime Minister of Australia|Prime Minister]]).  He oversaw a relaxation of conditions for entry into Australia of people of mixed descent and a widening of eligibility for well-qualified people.  One assessment said: "He was the perfect party man: unswervingly loyal, safe with secrets, an honest adviser and a shoulder for fellow ministers to cry on, sometimes literally. He made no pretence of statesmanship."<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

The assessment added:

:He found the [opposition] Labor Party's socialist platform of the day too close to communism to allow any compromise. His dedication to hard work left him with little sympathy for organised labour in any form, and probably inspired one of his campaign slogans 'Opperman for the Working Man.' His autobiography, ''Pedals, Politics and People'' (1977), showed that – like his political idol, [[Robert Menzies|Menzies]] – he was a lover of tradition, European pageantry, and decorous manners. He never quite forgave [[Harold Macmillan]] for forgetting, during a visit to [[Corio, Victoria|Corio]], to give proper thanks for a rug specially woven by local mills in the Macmillan tartan.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Opperman became Australia's first High Commissioner to Malta in 1967, a job he held for five years.