Jeff Seeney

The Honourable Jeff Seeney
33rd Deputy Premier of Queensland
In office 26 March 2012 –14 February 2015

Following the Coalition's loss at the 2006 state election, standing leader Lawrence Springborg relinquished leadership of the opposition and the Queensland National Party.

On 18 September 2006, Seeney was endorsed as the new state National Party leader, with Maroochydore representative Fiona Simpson as his deputy. ^[2]

Seeney had stood for the position on a ticket with Toowoomba based colleague Stuart Copeland and Seeney and Simpson are reported to have never got along from the beginning. This conflict, combined with the leadership instability and performance of the Liberal Party under their leader Bruce Flagg combined to keep the opposition on the back foot. ^[3]

On 21 January 2008, after opinion polls showed Seeney well behind newly installed premier Anna Bligh, Springborg launched a party-room coup with the support of Simpson and ousted Seeney as leader. ^[4] After the merging of the National and Liberal parties, Seeney became a member of the Liberal National Party. Springborg kept him in the shadow ministry as Shadow Minister for Mines and Energy ^[5] which he retained under Springborg's successor, John-Paul Langbroek. ^[6]

On 22 March 2011, Seeney once again became opposition leader for a second time following Langbroek's resignation from that position after the LNP’s party hierarchy supported Campbell Newman in his effort to become Premier even though Seeney’s return to the Opposition leader’s position was not part of the Newman plan and came as a shock to LNP Party officials driving the Newman for Premier plan. web|url=https://www.farmonline.com.au/story/3627160/seeney-success-a-shock-to-lnp-system/%7Ctitle=Seeney success a shock to LNP system|date=15 April 2011}}</ref> After it became apparent that a by-election could not be arranged to get Newman into the legislature, it was announced that Seeney would act as interim parliamentary leader of the LNP—and hence Leader of the Opposition. Tim Nicholls served as his deputy. Newman, who had won preselection for Ashgrove, would lead the LNP election team from outside parliament. Seeney agreed that if Newman was elected to the legislature, he would cede his post as parliamentary leader to Newman. ^[7]

The LNP won the largest majority government in Queensland history at the 2012 election. The next day, with counting still underway even though the LNP's victory was beyond doubt, Bligh resigned as premier and state Labor leader and announced her retirement from politics. Seeney resigned as leader of the LNP Parliamentary Party to make way for Newman in accordance with their pre-election agreement and Newman announced that he would name Seeney as Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development, with additional responsibility for the Coordinator General. Seeney served in an interim three-man cabinet with Newman and Nicholls until the full ministry was sworn in on 3 April. ^[8] He was the highest-ranking minister from the Nationals side of the merger.

Seeney was Deputy Premier for the entirety of the Newman Government's tenure despite deep divisions developing between the Premiers office on the one hand and Seeney andTreasurer Tim Nicholls on the other. His tenure as Deputy Premier though repeatedly threatened by Newman only came to an end with the Government’s defeat at the 2015 election with Newman himself losing his seat. After the election defeat Springborg made his comeback as LNP leader.

The following year in 2016, Seeney's past leadership feud with Springborg resurfaced when Seeney was the key architect in displacing Springborg as leader by Seeney's former deputy and long time friend and parliamentary ally Tim Nicholls.

Personal life

Seeney holds a Masters degree in Business Management MBA from the University of New England and a certificate in rural business management from QUT and was the former Deputy Mayor of Monto a shire Council and chairman of the Burnett Inland Economic Development Organisation (BIEDO).^{[ citation needed ]}

References

1. Antony Green (7 September 2006). "Queensland Election, 2006". ABC News. Retrieved 18 September 2006.
2. Steven Wardill and Rosemary Odgers (18 September 2006). "Seeney takes National Party reins". Herald Sun. Retrieved 18 September 2006.^{[ dead link ]}
3. "Labor Bad, Coalition Worse". Courier Mail.
4. "Springborg to lead QLD Nationals - again". Australian Broadcasting Corporation . 21 January 2008.
5. "New Queensland shadow cabinet". 12 August 2008.
6. John-Paul Langbroek. "New Shadow Cabinet to focus on making Queensland the economic powerhouse again". Archived from the original on 8 December 2010.
7. Green, Antony. Queensland election preview. Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 25 January 2012.
8. Newman to form interim cabinet on Monday ^{[ permanent dead link ]}. Seven News Brisbane, 25 March 2012.

External links

• Official Biography

Political offices
Preceded by Andrew Fraser	Deputy Premier of Queensland 2012–2015	Succeeded by Jackie Trad
Preceded by Lawrence Springborg	Leader of the Opposition in Queensland 2006–2008	Succeeded by Lawrence Springborg
Preceded by John-Paul Langbroek	Leader of the Opposition in Queensland 2011–2012	Succeeded by Annastacia Palaszczuk
Party political offices
Preceded by Lawrence Springborg	Leader of the National Party in Queensland 2006–2008	Succeeded by Lawrence Springborg
Preceded by John-Paul Langbroek	Parliamentary Leader of the Liberal National Party in Queensland 2011–2012	Succeeded by Campbell Newman
Parliament of Queensland
Preceded by Di McCauley	Member for Callide 1998–2017	Succeeded by Colin Boyce