Alan Carpenter | |
---|---|
28th Premier of Western Australia | |
In office 25 January 2006 –23 September 2008 | |
Monarch | Elizabeth II |
Governor | Ken Michael |
Deputy | Eric Ripper |
Preceded by | Geoff Gallop |
Succeeded by | Colin Barnett |
Leader of the Western Australian Labor Party | |
In office 24 January 2006 –16 September 2008 | |
Preceded by | Geoff Gallop |
Succeeded by | Eric Ripper |
Minister for Energy and State Development | |
In office 10 March 2005 –3 February 2006 | |
Preceded by | Eric Ripper |
Succeeded by | Fran Logan |
Minister for Education and Training | |
In office 16 February 2001 –10 March 2005 | |
Preceded by | Colin Barnett |
Succeeded by | Ljiljanna Ravlich |
Member of the Western Australian Parliament for Willagee | |
In office 14 December 1996 –2 October 2009 | |
Preceded by | Constituency created |
Succeeded by | Peter Tinley |
Personal details | |
Born | Alan John Carpenter 4 January 1957 Albany,Western Australia |
Political party | Labor Party |
Profession | Journalist |
Alan John Carpenter (born 4 January 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th Premier of Western Australia,from 2006 to 2008. From Albany,Carpenter graduated from the University of Western Australia,and worked as a journalist before entering politics. A member of the Labor Party,he was first elected to the Legislative Assembly at the 1996 state election,representing the seat of Willagee. In the Gallop ministry,which took office following the 2001 election,Carpenter was Minister for Education (later Education and Training),as well as holding several other portfolios. He replaced Geoff Gallop as premier in January 2006,following Gallop's resignation,but Labor lost office following a hung parliament at the 2008 election,with Colin Barnett becoming premier as the leader of a minority Liberal Party government. Carpenter resigned from parliament in 2009,and until 2018 held a senior management position with Wesfarmers.
Carpenter was born in Albany,Western Australia,was educated at Mount Lockyer Primary School then Albany Senior High School. After graduating in 1974,he travelled Australia,working a variety of different jobs before returning in 1977 to study political science at the University of Western Australia and graduated in 1980.
Carpenter began working for the Albany Advertiser as a journalist. In 1982 he travelled overseas,spending 11 months in Asia and then moving to Europe,where he worked in various jobs for three years. He returned to Australia in 1986,and began working for the Perth television station TVW-7 as a reporter on politics within the state. In 1990 Carpenter moved to the ABC,continuing his role as state political reporter in his new job. He moved up through the ranks in the ABC,becoming the Western Australian presenter of The 7.30 Report in 1992 (succeeding Liam Bartlett in the role),and moving on to become the first presenter of Stateline in 1996.
Carpenter resigned from the ABC in 1996 to begin a career in politics,and was preselected by the ALP to run for the new seat of Willagee,which he won. During his time in parliament he was shadow minister for disability services,sport &recreation,family &children's services,education,drugs,and as a member of the government,minister for education,sport &recreation,indigenous affairs,education and training,state development,and energy in the Gallop ministry.
When Geoff Gallop resigned due to illness in January 2006,Carpenter quickly emerged as the leading candidate to succeed him as premier,and gained crucial support from the Metal Workers Union. [1] With the decisions of potential rivals Jim McGinty and Michelle Roberts to withdraw from the race,he was elected unopposed by the Labor caucus on 24 January.
After November 2006,Carpenter removed three cabinet ministers in four months for impropriety involving former WA Premier Brian Burke,exposed by the Corruption and Crime Commission. Nevertheless,Carpenter's "no-nonsense" approach in dealing with this issue attracted a 60% public approval rating in opinion polls in late March 2007 (making him one of Australia's most popular state leaders,along with South Australian Premier Mike Rann). [2]
Late 2007 saw dissatisfaction with Carpenter rising and satisfaction falling. Two party preferred polling of 49 percent for Labor was a swing against them. [3] In what proved to be a harbinger for Carpenter,Western Australia was the only state that recorded a swing to the Coalition at the 2007 federal election. The federal election came at a bad time for the Carpenter government;despite Labor's resounding victory nationwide,it actually lost two of its seats in Western Australia to the Liberals. However,Liberal Party leader Paul Omodei was experiencing rising levels of dissatisfaction and a stagnant and low satisfaction rating. On the preferred premier measure,Carpenter out-polled Omodei 63–13.
Carpenter called a state election the day after opposition leader Troy Buswell stood aside for former Opposition Leader Colin Barnett,following a number of scandals involving Buswell. In a break with longstanding tradition,the election was set for 6 September 2008,five months earlier than it was due. [4] [5]
During the election campaign,Carpenter promised a ban on uranium mining in Western Australia if elected, [6] reversing previous ALP policy,the ALP having rejected a Greens-initiated bill to ban uranium mining in April 2008.
The election saw a substantial swing in most seats away from Labor,towards the Liberal and Greens parties,resulting in a hung parliament. While Labor remained the largest party,it was two seats short of a majority. Under pressure to resign as Parliamentary Labor leader,Carpenter began negotiations with the National Party with a view to forming a minority government. However,the Nationals ultimately decided to support the Liberals in forming a minority government. As a result,Alan Carpenter was succeeded by Colin Barnett as Western Australian Premier,and stepped down as Labor leader in favour of his deputy,Eric Ripper.
On 25 September 2009,Carpenter announced his retirement from politics,effective 2 October 2009. [7] [8]
His political legacy came to the fore in 2022 with the low prices for gas which he negotiated for Western Australians being compared to soaring prices in the Eastern States. [9]
Carpenter joined Australia's largest private sector employer Wesfarmers as executive general manager for corporate affairs in late 2009. [10] He retired in 2018. [11]
Carpenter is married and has four daughters.[ citation needed ] Carpenter is an atheist. [12]
Richard Fairfax Court is a former Australian politician and diplomat. He served as Premier of Western Australia from 1993 to 2001 and as Australian Ambassador to Japan from 2017 to 2020. A member of the Liberal Party,he represented the Perth-area electorate of Nedlands in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1982 to 2001. His father,Sir Charles Court,also served as state premier.
This is a list of members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 2005 to 2008:
Colin James Barnett is an Australian former politician who was the 29th Premier of Western Australia. He concurrently served as the state's Treasurer at several points during his tenure and had previously held various other portfolios in Western Australia's Court–Cowan Ministry.
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Eric Stephen Ripper is a retired Australian politician. From 2008 to 2012 he was Leader of the Opposition and leader of the Labor Party in Western Australia.
James Andrew McGinty is an Australian former politician. He was a Labor member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1990 to 2009,representing the district of Fremantle. He was Labor Party leader and Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1996. He served as a minister,most notably as Attorney-General,in the governments of Carmen Lawrence,Geoff Gallop and Alan Carpenter.
Nedlands is a Legislative Assembly electorate in the state of Western Australia. Nedlands is named for the inner western Perth suburb of Nedlands,which falls within its borders.
Willagee is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia. The district is located in the southern suburbs of Perth.
Paul Domenic Omodei is an Australian politician. He was the leader of the Liberal Party and Leader of the Opposition in Western Australia from 24 March 2006 until 17 January 2008.
Peter Charles Tinley is an Australian politician and former soldier. Peter has been a Labor Party member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly since November 2009,representing the electorate of Willagee.
Shelley Frances Archer is a former Australian politician. She was a Labor Party member of the Western Australian Legislative Council from May 2005,representing the Mining and Pastoral electoral region. A former union official,she was one of several state MPs to become involved in the 2006–2007 Corruption and Crime Commission investigation into the dealings of former-Premier-turned-lobbyist Brian Burke. The partner of influential unionist Kevin Reynolds,she was associated with the conservative wing of the party.
Alannah Joan Geraldine Cecilia MacTiernan is a former Australian politician. From 1988 to 2023,she has served in politics at a federal,state,and local level,including as a minister in the Western Australian state governments of Geoff Gallop,Alan Carpenter,and Mark McGowan. She is best known for her role as the minister for planning and infrastructure during the construction of the Mandurah line. Born in Melbourne,she moved to Perth to study at the University of Western Australia,graduating with a Bachelor of Arts and later with a law degree. She worked for the Department of Employment before practising as a lawyer between 1986 and 1992. During this time,she also served on the Perth City Council. In 1976,MacTiernan joined the Australian Labor Party,and at the 1993 Western Australian state election,she was elected to the Legislative Council's East Metropolitan Region. She became a shadow minister in October 1994,and she was transferred to the Legislative Assembly at the 1996 state election,winning the seat of Armadale.
Troy Raymond Buswell is an Australian former politician who was a Liberal member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 2005 to 2014,representing the seat of Vasse. He was Treasurer of Western Australia in the Barnett Ministry from 2008 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2014,and also held several other portfolios.
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John Biase D'Orazio was an Australian politician who served as the member for Ballajura in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 10 February 2001 to 6 September 2008. He was a minister in the governments of Geoff Gallop and Alan Carpenter,and a member of the Australian Labor Party until 29 August 2006,when he resigned following several controversies. Born to Italian immigrants,D'Orazio grew up on a market garden in the Perth suburb of Bayswater. He studied pharmacy at the Western Australian Institute of Technology,later opening his own pharmacy business. In 1981,he was elected to the Bayswater council,and in 1984,he became the mayor of Bayswater,in which position he served until 2001.
This is a list of members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 2008 to 2013.
The 2009 Fremantle state by-election was held in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly district of Fremantle on 16 May 2009. It was triggered by the resignation of sitting member Jim McGinty.
The 2009 Willagee state by-election was held for the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Willagee on 28 November 2009. It was triggered as a result of the resignation of former Premier of Western Australia Alan Carpenter. The election was won by Labor candidate Peter Tinley.