John Hill was born in Sydney in 1949 and after completing an Arts degree at Sydney University [and dropping out of Law] hitchhiked to Adelaide in 1974.
Despite being told by his father, an oil company executive, that he couldn’t get a job because of his shoulder length hair and beard, on arrival in Adelaide he took up a position as a high school teacher with the Department of Education.
While enjoying teaching very much John soon realised that his passion was politics and before long he cut his hair and became an activist in the teachers’ union. That led to a stint as an advisor to the Education Minister, the State Secretary of the Labor Party and ultimately a member of the State Parliament representing the southern suburbs electorate of Kaurna. During this time John completed his Law degree at Adelaide University.
During John’s Parliamentary career which began in 1997 he was the Opposition Shadow Minister for the Environment until Labor’s election in 2002, from which date until 2013 he served in a number of ministerial roles - including Minister for Environment and Conservation [2002 - 2006], Minister for Health [2005 - 2013] and assistant Minister and Minister for the Arts [2002 - 2013].
John retired from the Cabinet in 2013 and Parliament in 2014 and is now enjoying his third and ‘encore’ career as a member of various boards - including ACH Group, Bellberry Ltd, the SA Institute of Educational Leadership and the SALA Festival. John also chairs the University of South Australia’s Sci/C/Ed Start-up Program Steering Committee.
