Brown was born in the western suburbs of Sydney and was educated at Christian Brothers College, Burwood, St Patrick's College, Strathfield and the University of Sydney. He was one of the founders of Brown and Hatton, a meat distribution company and helped create the Pork and Bacon Marketing Council. He has been an active member of the Meat Industry Employees Union since that time, but was also chairman of the Employers Association for five years. In 1963, he married Jan Murray, who ran a public relation consultancy from 1982 to 1995, and they have five children. He was an alderman on Parramatta Council from 1977 to 1980.
Federal political career
In 1975, Brown entered politics when he won the Australian Labor Party nomination for the seat of Parramatta. He was soundly defeated by LiberalPhillip Ruddock in that year's Liberal landslide. However, a redistribution ahead of the 1977 election split Parramatta almost in half. The western half retained the Parramatta name and became a marginal Labor seat anchored in Labor's heartland of west Sydney. Ruddock transferred to the comfortably safe Liberal Dundas, essentially the eastern half of his old seat. Brown won the reconfigured Parramatta with a modest swing in his favour, becoming only the second Labor member ever to win it. With the election of Bob Hawke in 1983, he was appointed Minister for Sport, Recreation and Tourism in the First Hawke Ministry, a position he retained until 1988. He was also appointed Minister for Administrative Services until 1984, when he gained the position of Minister assisting the Minister for Defence. Brown is notable for initiating a series of television advertisements commencing in 1986 for the American market by the Australian Tourism Commission starring Paul Hogan saying, "I'll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for you". He gained notoriety for describing koalas as "flea-ridden, piddling, stinking, scratching, rotten little things". He was also responsible for substantially increasing expenditure on sports facilities around Australia and the Australian Institute of Sport. In July 1987, Brown entered cabinet with the expanded portfolio of Minister for Arts, Sport, the Environment, Tourism and Territories, which he held until his resignation in January 1988 for misleading the House, in response to a question from Neil Brown regarding the assessment of tenders for the Australian Pavilion at Expo '88, which suggested possible impropriety. He did not stand for re-election in 1990. He and Jan Murray later divorced.
Post-political career
Brown established the Sport and Tourism Youth Foundation to award scholarships to talented young Australians in both sport and tourism. A member of the Sydney Olympics 2000 Bid Committee, he was also a founding Director of the Sydney Olympic Games Organising Committee. He has held positions including Director of Macquarie Tourism and Leisure, Director of Canterbury Bankstown Leagues Club and a consultant to Service Corporation International Australia. In mid June 2012, John Brown sparked local controversy after supporting a full page ad in the local Inner West Courier newspaper, supporting the actions of the Rozelle Village development. The development, which has sparked large controversy in the Sydney inner west suburb of Rozelle, is before the NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure.
