Jim Balfour

The Hon James Charles Murray Balfour MP
Minister for Minerals and Energy
In office 24 August 1972 – 6 September 1977
Preceded by	new ministry
Succeeded by	Digby Crozier
Minister for Fuel & Power Minister of Mines
In office 16 May 1967 – 4 June 1981
Premier	Henry Bolte Rupert Hamer
Preceded by	George Reid (Fuel & Power) Thomas Darcy (Mines)
Succeeded by	new ministry
Minister of Lands Minister of Soldier Settlement Minister for Conservation
In office 14 July 1964 – 2 April 1967
Premier	Henry Bolte
Preceded by	Keith Turnbull
Succeeded by	Bill Borthwick
Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for Narracan
In office 29 April 1967 – 1 February 1982
Preceded by	new seat
Succeeded by	John Delzoppo
Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for Morwell
In office 28 May 1955 – 2 April 1967
Preceded by	new seat
Succeeded by	Archie Tanner
Personal details
Born	September 1914 Windsor, Victoria
Died	19 May 1990 Willow Grove, Victoria
Political party	Liberal Party
Spouse	Mary Emma Savige
Alma mater	Geelong College

James Charles Murray Balfour, (30 September 1914 – 19 May 1990) was a long-serving Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) and Cabinet Minister in the Legislative Assembly, in the State Parliament of Victoria, Australia.

Born in the Melbourne suburb of Windsor to James Miller Balfour and his wife Katrine Elizabeth Alice (née Murray), Balfour was educated at Geelong College. He went on to become a dairy farmer, settling at Willow Grove near Trafalgar in the Latrobe Valley of Gippsland, Victoria.

On 6 February 1937 he married Mary Emma Savige, with whom he had five sons.

From 1946 to 1967, Balfour served on Narracan Shire Council, and served as President from 1946-1947, 1950-1951, and 1960-1961.

In 1955, he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly for Morwell, representing the Liberal Party.

From 1958 to 1961 he was Government Whip, and from 1961 to 1964 Cabinet Secretary. In 1964, he entered Cabinet as Minister of Water Supply and Mines, a portfolio that was reorganised to become Lands, Soldier Settlement and Conservation a few months later. In 1967, he moved to the new seat of Narracan and became Minister of Fuel and Power and of Mines. In 1977 he became Minister for Minerals and Energy, a position from which he resigned in 1981, in readiness for his retirement at the 1982 election.

In 1981, his service was honoured with a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE).

Following retirement from politics at the Victorian state election in 1982, he was involved in the regional Technical and Further Education (TAFE)program and other community activities, particularly in the Latrobe Valley. He died in 1990.