Johan Emiel Scheffer (born 7 February 1948, in Jakarta) is a former member of the Victorian Legislative Council for the Labor Party.
He was originally elected to the Legislative Council in 2002 for Monash Province, becoming only the second Labor member to represent that electorate since its creation in 1937. When Monash Province was abolished in 2006, he was successful in winning one of the five seats in the newly created Eastern Victoria Region of the Legislative Council.
Johan Scheffer joined the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in 1991 and shortly after joined its Socialist Left faction. He was active in the Victorian Branch, holding positions of Local FEA (Federal Electorate Assembly) Secretary and State Conference Delegate for the Federal electorate of Melbourne Ports (renamed Macnamara in 2019). He was elected to the party's State Administrative Committee and to the Agenda Committee (1996-2009), playing a key role in reorganising the policy development process through the active participation of the party's rank and file, factional groups, affiliated unions, the Parliamentary wing and adoption by State Conference. Johan Scheffer joined with other like-minded party members in efforts to stamp out branch stacking that had become rife, especially in electorates winnable for Labor. He was an active campaigner in exposing breaches of Party rules and bringing complaints to the Party's Disputes Tribunal.
In 1993 Johan Scheffer joined the staff of the Federal Member for Melbourne Ports, Hon Clyde Holding MHR, until Holding's retirement in 1998, when Scheffer joined the staff of Victorian MP, Hon Barry Pullen MLC in the then seat of Melbourne Province. Pullen did not contest the 1999 Victorian election, making way for Gavin Jennings, who was elected to represent the seat in 1999 as part of the new Labor government led by Steve Bracks. Johan Scheffer was appointed an adviser to Jennings, in his role as Cabinet Secretary (1999-2002).
In 2002, Johan Scheffer nominated for the seat of Monash Province in the Victorian Legislative Council. After a bitter pre-selection battle, he won the nomination and was elected to the Council in the Victorian State election of 30 November 2002. During his 12 years in the Parliament, Johan Scheffer focussed on promoting community understanding of Labor's program. He pushed for reforms that would address global warming and protect the environment; strengthen industrial rights and worker conditions; advance the development of environmentally sustainable urban planning; reduce gender inequality; eliminate family violence; enhance LGBT rights and understanding; protect women's reproductive rights; build cohesive local communities including harmonious ethnic and religious groups. Scheffer lead the campaign to lay underground power lines from the Latrobe Valley to the Victorian Desalination Plant to protect farming in South Gippsland. He advocated for major and long-term investment in the Latrobe Valley to protect livelihoods after the inevitable decommissioning of the Valley's coal mines. Johan Scheffer chaired a number of Joint Investigatory Committees of the Parliament, including the Drugs and Crime Prevention Committee, the Family and Community Services Committee and the Law Reform Committee. He also served on the Economic Development, Infrastructure and Outer Suburban/Interface Services and Education Committees.
Early Life
Johan Scheffer was born in Batavia (Jakarta) in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) on 7 February 1948 to Cornelis Scheffer and Aleida Charlotte Maria Eugenie Scheffer-Verwey. His family on both sides had lived in Java since the middle of the nineteenth century. On his mother's side, his antecedents are of mixed Javanese and European background, whereas on his father's side they are of Dutch origin. Johan Scheffer's early immersion in Indonesian and Dutch cultures, as well as his dual nationality has given him an international outlook and a suspicion of nationalism.