Michael Armitage (politician)

Last updated

Dr Michael Harry Armitage (born 3 May 1949) is a former Australian politician. He was a Liberal Party member of the South Australian House of Assembly between 1989 and 2002, representing the electorate of Adelaide.

Contents

Education

Armitage was educated at St. Ignatius College and the University of Adelaide, where he studied medicine. [1] He worked as a doctor before entering politics.

Political career

Armitage won the seat of Adelaide the 1989 state election, becoming the first non-Labor member to win it in its single-member incarnation.

Armitage was comfortably reelected in the 1993 election as the Liberals swept to power in a landslide. Over the next nine years he held portfolios including Minister for Health, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Minister for Disability Services, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister for Administrative and Information Services, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister Assisting the Premier for Information Economy, Minister for Government Enterprises and Minister for Information Economy.

In 1994, Armitage was criticized for a racial slur he used in parliament. On November 22nd Armitage used the metaphor "n**ger in the woodpile" during question time, in response to a question about the Modbury Hospital by then-opposition leader Mike Rann. [2] Rann immediately criticized Armitage for his use of the word, [3] and a number of aboriginal groups demanded his removal from the ministry. [4]

Armitage was narrowly reelected in 1997. After a redistribution ahead of the 2002 election made Adelaide even more marginal, Armitage tried to transfer to Bragg, the safest Liberal seat in Adelaide. He was soundly defeated for Liberal preselection by Vickie Chapman. Meanwhile, his replacement as Liberal candidate in Adelaide, Deputy Mayor Michael Harbison, lost the seat to former Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith. [5] [6]

Post-politics

In 2005 he was appointed as CEO of Private Healthcare Australia (formerly the Australian Health Insurance Association) and remained in that role until October 2015. [7]

Related Research Articles

Country Liberal Party Northern Territory political party

The Country Liberal Party (CLP), officially the Country Liberals , is a liberal conservative political party in Australia founded in 1974, which operates solely in the Northern Territory, however due to Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands forming part of the Division of Lingiari they also vote for the Country Liberal Party.

Mike Rann Australian politician

Michael David Rann,, is an Australian former politician who was the 44th Premier of South Australia from 2002 to 2011. He was later Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 2013 to 2014, and Australian Ambassador to Italy, Albania, Libya and San Marino from 2014 to 2016.

David Tonkin Australian politician

David Oliver Tonkin AO was an Australian politician who served as the 38th Premier of South Australia from 18 September 1979 to 10 November 1982. He was elected to the House of Assembly seat of Bragg at the 1970 election, serving until 1983. He became the leader of the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia in 1975, replacing Bruce Eastick. Initially leading the party to defeat at the 1977 election against the Don Dunstan Labor government, his party won the 1979 election against the Des Corcoran Labor government. Following the 1980 Norwood by-election the Tonkin government was reduced to a one-seat majority. His government's policy approach combined economic conservatism with social progressivism. The Tonkin Liberal government was defeated after one term at the 1982 election by Labor led by John Bannon.

Jane Diane Lomax-Smith, AM is an Australian politician and histopathologist. She was in Local Government for 9 years, as a councillor for three terms and Lord Mayor of Adelaide for two terms. She was elected to the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Adelaide representing the Labor Party from 2002 to 2010, and throughout this time was a Minister of Education and Tourism and a range of other portfolios. In 2010–2011, she was the Interim Director of the Royal Institution of Australia (RiAus). Since 2011, she has been the chair of the Board of the South Australian Museum.

2006 South Australian state election

The state election for the 51st Parliament of South Australia was held in the Australian state of South Australia on 18 March 2006 to elect all members of the South Australian House of Assembly and 11 members of the South Australian Legislative Council. The election was conducted by the independent State Electoral Office.

Vickie Chapman Australian politician

Vickie Ann Chapman is an Australian politician, representing the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Bragg for the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia since the 2002 election. Chapman has served as the Deputy Premier of South Australia and Attorney-General since 19 March 2018 in the Marshall government. She is the first woman to hold either post.

Robert Brokenshire Australian politician

Robert Lawrence Brokenshire is a South Australian dairy farmer and former member of the South Australian Parliament. He represented the Australian Conservatives party from 26 April 2017, and Family First Party before that.

Michael Atkinson (politician) Australian politician

Michael John Atkinson, a former Australian politician in the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party, was a member of the Parliament of South Australia from 1989 to 2018.

Electoral district of Adelaide

Adelaide is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. The 22.8 km² state seat of Adelaide currently consists of the Adelaide city centre including North Adelaide and suburbs to the inner north and inner north east: Collinswood, Fitzroy, Gilberton, Medindie, Medindie Gardens, Ovingham, Thorngate, Walkerville, most of Prospect, and part of Nailsworth. The federal division of Adelaide covers the state seat of Adelaide and additional suburbs in each direction.

Jay Weatherill Australian politician

Jay Wilson Weatherill is an Australian politician who was the 45th Premier of South Australia, serving from 21 October 2011 until 19 March 2018. Weatherill represented the House of Assembly seat of Cheltenham as a member of the South Australian Labor Party from the 2002 election to 17 December 2018, when he retired.

Paul Caica is an Australian politician, representing the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party. He represented the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Colton from the 2002 election until his retirement in 2018. He served in the state ministry from 2006 to 2013 under both Mike Rann and Jay Weatherill.

Electoral district of Fisher

Fisher was an electoral district of the House of Assembly in the Australian state of South Australia. It was created in 1970 and named after Sir James Fisher, a colonial politician and the first mayor of Adelaide. It was abolished in a 2016 redistribution and its last MP, Nat Cook was elected to represent its replacement, Hurtle Vale, at the 2018 state election. It covers a 94.2 km2 suburban and semi rural area on the southern fringes of Adelaide, taking in the suburbs of Aberfoyle Park, Chandlers Hill, Cherry Gardens, Coromandel East, Happy Valley, Reynella East and parts of Clarendon, O'Halloran Hill and Woodcroft.

1997 South Australian state election

State elections were held in South Australia on 11 October 1997. All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Premier of South Australia John Olsen defeated the Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the Opposition Mike Rann, forming a minority government with the SA Nationals and independent MPs.

Bob Such Australian politician

Robert Bruce Such was a South Australian politician. He was the member for the seat of Fisher in the South Australian House of Assembly from 1989 until his death in 2014. He defeated Labor MP Philip Tyler at the 1989 election and was a member of the Liberals until 2000 when he became an independent. Such was Minister for Employment, Training and Further Education, and Minister for Youth Affairs, in the Brown Liberal government from 1993 to 1996. He served as Speaker of the South Australian House of Assembly for the Rann Labor government from 2005 to 2006. Such was joint Father of the House with Michael Atkinson from 2012.

Garry Bruce West is an Australian politician. He was a National Party Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1976 to 1995, representing the electorate of Orange. He held several Ministerial positions in the Nick Greiner and then John Fahey Liberal-National coalition Government.

2010 South Australian state election

The 2010 South Australian state election elected members to the 52nd Parliament of South Australia on 20 March 2010. All seats in the House of Assembly or lower house, whose current members were elected at the 2006 election, and half the seats in the Legislative Council or upper house, last filled at the 2002 election, became vacant.

Victor Dominello Australian politician (born 1967)

Victor Michael Dominello, is an Australian politician who has been the New South Wales Minister for Customer Service in the second Berejiklian ministry since April 2019. Dominello is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing the electorate of Ryde for the Liberal Party since 2008.

2014 South Australian state election

The 2014 South Australian state election elected members to the 53rd Parliament of South Australia on 15 March 2014, to fill all 47 seats in the House of Assembly and 11 of 22 seats in the Legislative Council. The 12-year-incumbent Australian Labor Party (SA) government, led by Premier Jay Weatherill, won its fourth consecutive four-year term in government, a record 16 years of Labor government, defeating the opposition Liberal Party of Australia (SA), led by Opposition Leader Steven Marshall.

2012 Ramsay state by-election

A by-election occurred in the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Ramsay on 11 February 2012. The seat was won by Labor candidate Zoe Bettison. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of former Premier and state Labor MHA Mike Rann.

John David "Jack" Wright was an Australian politician and Deputy Premier of South Australia under John Bannon from 1982 to 1985. Wright represented the House of Assembly seat of Adelaide for the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party from 1971 to 1985. Wright was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the 1986 Australia Day Honours for "service to politics, industrial relations and the community".

References

  1. ↑ South Australian Parliament, Former Member of Parliament Details.
  2. ↑ Hansard, South Australian House of Assembly, Tuesday 22 November 1994, page 1143.
  3. ↑ Hansard, South Australian House of Assembly, Tuesday 22 November 1994, page 1150.
  4. ↑ "News briefs". Green Left. 30 November 1994. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  5. ↑ Green, Antony (21 April 2006). "Adelaide Profile". www.abc.net.au.
  6. ↑ Green, Antony (21 April 2006). "Bragg Profile". www.abc.net.au.
  7. ↑ "New chief for AHIA".
Parliament of South Australia
Preceded by
 Member for Adelaide
1989–2002		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.