Tony Vinson

Vinson died at Woollahra, New South Wales on 17 February 2017.

This purpose-built community centre in Mildura, named after Vinson is designed to co-locate agency programs Chances for Children, Reading Discovery, Learning for Life, The Portland House Project and the proposed Youth Engagement Program for Early years. It opened in 2008.

On 21 May 2008 Vinson was announced as a founding member of the Australian Social Inclusion Board, which brought together leaders from around the country to tackle disadvantage.

Vinson was appointed a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day honours list 2008 for service to social welfare through academic, government and community roles, as a contributor to state and federal policy formulation, and as a champion of social justice.

The Vinson Inquiry was commissioned by the New South Wales Teachers Federation and the Federation of Parents and Citizens Associations in 2002 to consider the state of public education in New South Wales and provide recommendations for the future. The inquiry visited and conducted public hearings at schools and TAFE colleges throughout the state.

In September 1986 Vinson released a report dealing with the sentencing of drug cases in the NSW District Court between 1980 and 1982, which purported to find that a particular judge had exercised leniency in dealing with clients of a particular solicitor. It was revealed later that Judge John Foord was the judge in question. He was stood down from the District Court in September 1986 and resigned on medical grounds later that year. One consequence of these and other events was the passing of the Judicial Officers Act 1986, establishing a formalised system of judicial accountability.

Following three years as Head of the NSW Department of Corrective Services (1979–81) during a period of intense penal reform, Vinson took up an appointment as Professor of Social Work at the University of New South Wales. Over subsequent years he has served as Head of School and Dean. He has twice been a Visiting Professor at the University of Stockholm and has observed the operation of Swedish social services, including early schooling. There have also been Visiting Professor appointments in the Netherlands and government consultancies in the South Pacific. In 1980 Vinson chaired a Commonwealth Government Inquiry into health and social services in the ACT.

His work as the Foundation Professor in Behavioural science within the University of Newcastle (NSW) in the 1970s followed research into connections between social factors, and pregnancy outcomes, including the health and progress of young children. At Newcastle, an important educational experience was his involvement in the development of the problem-based learning approach adopted for the new medical course. This approach incorporated many of the key elements of the educational approach considered as somewhat radical departures in the field of school education. Vinson also instigated the broadly based admission procedures adopted by the medical faculty.

Vinson was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters in Social Work (honoris causa) from the University of Sydney, as well as being an Honorary Professor in the School of Social Work and Policy Studies at the University of Sydney from which he graduated in 1956. He is also an Emeritus Professor of the University of New South Wales.

B.A., Dip. Soc. Studies (Sydney) 1956; Dip. Sociology (N.S.W.) 1962; M.A. Hons. (N.S.W.) 1965; PhD (N.S.W.) 1972: Thesis – Social Factors Associated with the Occurrence of Low Birth Weight

Tony Vinson AM (11 November 1935 – 17 February 2017) was an Australian academic, regarded as "one of Australia's leading social scientists and outspoken public intellectuals". His career spanned the disciplines of social work, social policy, psychology, education, public administration and social research.