Peter Cain | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Peter Cain | |
| Member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly for Ginninderra | |
| Assumed office 17 October 2020 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 10 November 1954 |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Political party | Canberra Liberals |
Peter John Cain (born 10 November 1954) is an Australian politician, elected to the seat of Ginninderra in Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly on 17 October 2020, representing the Canberra Liberals. [1]
Cain was born in Kurri Kurri, New South Wales, and attended local primary and secondary schools. He graduated from the University of Newcastle with a bachelor's degree in Mathematics (Hons), and a Diploma of Education.
Cain's early career was in teaching in NSW, South Australia and the ACT. He returned to study at the University of Canberra obtaining a Bachelor of Laws (Hons), followed by a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice at the Australian National University.
Following graduation, Cain worked in the ACT Government in the Revenue Management Branch of Treasury, where his most senior role was managing the tax disputes section, Objection and Appeals.
He served as Vice President of the ACT Law Society from September 2017 to September 2020.
Cain was pre-selected for the Canberra Liberals' ticket for Ginninderra in December 2019. In October 2020, Cain was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly. Cain was appointed the following shadow portfolios; Attorney-General, Planning and Land Management, Multicultural Affairs and Assistant Treasurer. Cain's former portfolios were Regulatory Services and Jobs and Workplace Affairs, that were redistributed to other Liberal MLAs in the mid-2022 reshuffle. Cain is also an Assistant Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
In June of 2023, Cain shared a link on his social media account X (formerly known as Twitter) calling for the Prime Minister to 'sack the ACT government'. [2] This led the Canberra Liberals to clarify Cain's comments and deny that they want to see an end to self-government in the ACT. [2] Chief Minister Andrew Barr said it was "a new low" for Cain, continuing by saying "[t]he Canberra Liberals are now adding democracy to the list of things they are opposed to". [2]
In early 2024, Cain nominated to recontest the seat of Ginninderra, alongside Liberal incumbent Elizabeth Kikkert. [3] Cain was not contested for the nomination as the Canberra Liberals did not have sufficient nominations to fill the ticket in Ginninderra, meaning the party's board needed to select an additional candidate to contest the election at a later date. [3]
In early 2024, Cain was required to apologise after it was found that he had twice breached the ACT Ministerial Code of Conduct. [4] [5] [6] The document finding these breaches is entitled 'Report on the conduct of Mr Cain MLA' and was published in February of 2024. [7]
Ken Crispin KC, the Standards Commissioner, received two complaints about Cain in later 2023. [4] [5] The first complaint and finding pertained to Cain employing his son-in-law as an intern in his office and thus 'sought to gain a benefit for a family member'. [5] In the ACT it is against the law for an MLA to employ a family member as staff. [4] [5] [6]
The second complaint regarded a 'misuse of public resources' when Cain sent a widespread email via his Legislative Assembly address to constituents in November 2023 that promoted a new Liberals policy. [4] It is against the Code to use such official Legislative Assembly resources for political purposes. [4] [5] Despite findings that this email breached the Code, the Riotact reports that Cain 'took no responsibility'. [4] Instead, Cain argued that it was his staff that sent the communication 'without my personal review'. [4] The Standards Commissioner did not accept this reply, stating in his findings:
"[Cain] had failed to ensure that his personal staff were mindful of his commitment to the code ... To suggest Mr Cain was unaware of the email is disingenuous. It is hard to imagine that the staff initiated, crafted and disseminated the email without Mr Cain’s input or would have done so of their own accord". [4]
The complaints were originally made by Labor minister Tara Cheyne. [5]
In April of 2024, the Canberra Times published a story reporting allegations from City Services Minister Tara Cheyne that Cain has not been 'upfront about his former career'. [8] Although Cain has spoken on multiple occasions about being a school principal, Cheyne alleged in the ACT Legislative Assembly that Cain was 'never' a school principal and effectively pretended to be a principal. [8] The allegation stems from questions pertaining to if the school Cain 'led' was properly 'registered'. [8] In supporting the allegation, Cheyne stated:
"On the information I have I believe what I said to be true. My understanding is Mr Cain was only a principal of a school that was de-registered by the South Australian government back in the mid-1980s because it had too few students". [8]
Cheyne was forced to withdraw the comments following a ruling from Speaker Joy Burch as the comments breached standing orders relating to personal reflections on members. [8]
Cain is married to Claire with seven children, and lives in Belconnen. He is a practising Christian and a vegetarian.
Jonathan Donald Stanhope is a former Australian politician who was Labor Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory from 2001 to 2011. Stanhope represented the Ginninderra electorate in the ACT Legislative Assembly from 1998 until 2011. He is the only ACT Chief Minister to have governed with a majority in the ACT Assembly. From 2012 to 2014 Stanhope was Administrator of the Australian Indian Ocean Territories, which consists of Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands.
The Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory is the unicameral legislature of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It sits in the Legislative Assembly Building on Civic Square, close to the centre of the city of Canberra.
Elections to the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly were held on Saturday, 18 October 2008. The incumbent Labor Party, led by Jon Stanhope, was challenged by the Liberal Party, led by Zed Seselja. Candidates were elected to fill three multi-member electorates using a single transferable vote method, known as the Hare-Clark system. The result was another hung parliament with Labor winning seven seats, the Liberals six seats and the Greens finishing with four seats, giving the Greens the balance of power in the 17-member unicameral Assembly. On 31 October 2008, after almost two weeks of deliberations, the Greens chose to support a Labor minority government. Consequently, Labor was re-elected to a third consecutive term of government in the ACT. Stanhope was elected Chief Minister at the first sitting of the seventh Assembly on 5 November 2008. The election was conducted by the ACT Electoral Commission.
Shane Stephen Rattenbury, is the Attorney-General of the ACT and former Speaker of the ACT Legislative Assembly, and a member of the multi-member district unicameral Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Molonglo from 2008 to 2016 and the electorate of Kurrajong since 2016 for the ACT Greens. He was the first Speaker in any Parliament in the world representing a Green political party.
Meredith Hunter is an Australian former politician who was a member of the multi-member unicameral Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Ginninderra for the ACT Greens from 2008 to 2012. She was also the Parliamentary Convenor of the ACT Greens.
Alistair Bruce Coe is an Australian politician and a former leader of the Liberal Party and Leader of the Opposition in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). He was a member of the ACT Legislative Assembly from 2008 to 2021, representing the Ginninderra electorate from 2008 to 2016 and the Yerrabi electorate from 2016 to 2021. As Opposition Leader Coe led the Liberal Party to defeat at the 2020 election. He chose not to re-contest the party's leadership position, and resigned from the Assembly in 2021.
Harold James Hird is a former Australian politician who was a member of the unicameral Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Ginninderra for the Liberal Party from 1995 to 2001. Hird also served in the elected ACT House of Assembly, representing the electoral district of Fraser, from 1975 until 1986 as an Independent. He was the Speaker from 1982 to 1986.
David Ross Rugendyke is an Australian politician, and was a member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly for the multi-member electorate of Ginninderra.
Elections to the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly occurred on Saturday, 20 October 2012. The 11-year incumbent Labor Party, led by Chief Minister Katy Gallagher, won a fourth term over the main opposition Liberal Party, led by opposition leader Zed Seselja.
Giulia Jones is an Australian politician. She was a member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly representing the electorates of Molonglo and then Murrumbidgee for the Liberal Party from 2012 until her resignation in 2022. Jones was the deputy leader of the Liberal Party in the ACT from October 2020 to January 2022.
North Canberra Hospital, formerly the Calvary Public Hospital Bruce, is an Australian public hospital located in Bruce, Australian Capital Territory, serving the northern suburbs of Canberra. It is classified as a secondary care facility. The hospital is operated by Canberra Health Services, the health service of the ACT Government. It was established as the Calvary Public Hospital Bruce in 1979 and was operated by a division of the Little Company of Mary Health Care (LCMHC), Calvary Health Care ACT, on behalf of the ACT Government. In 2023, the ACT Government compulsorily acquired the hospital with a view to building a new hospital on the site. It is a teaching hospital affiliated with the Australian Catholic University, the Australian National University and the University of Canberra. The Calvary Private Hospital and Hyson Green Mental Health Clinic are co-located on the site and share many facilities with the public hospital.
The 2020 Australian Capital Territory general election was held between 28 September and 17 October 2020 to elect all 25 members of the unicameral ACT Legislative Assembly.
Gordon Ramsay is an Australian politician who served in the Legislative Assembly of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), representing the Ginninderra electorate from 2016 to 2020. He was elected to be a Minister in the Barr government.
Tara Maree Cheyne is an elected Member for the Ginninderra electorate in the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly as of 26 October 2016.
Elizabeth Lee is an Australian politician. She has been a Liberal member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly since 2016, representing the electorate of Kurrajong. Prior to entering the ACT Legislative Assembly in 2016, Elizabeth was a successful lawyer in the private sector and later a lecturer at the Australian National University and University of Canberra. Having migrated to Australia from Korea at the age of seven, Elizabeth moved to Canberra when she turned 18 to study Law and Asian Studies at The Australian National University.
Mark Stuart Parton is an Australian politician. He has been a Liberal member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly since 2016, representing the electorate of Brindabella. He was a long-running local radio announcer on 2CC before entering politics.
Candice Burch is an Australian politician who was a Liberal member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly. Candice Burch is not to be confused with nor is biologically related to Joy Burch, who is another member of the ACT Legislative Assembly. Candice Burch was one of three Canberra Liberals who lost their seat in the 2020 ACT Election. Since losing her seat in the Assembly, Candice now works as Public Affairs and Communications Manager for the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia.
The 2024 Australian Capital Territory general election will be held on or before Saturday 19 October 2024 to elect all 25 members of the unicameral ACT Legislative Assembly.
The Opposition in the Australian territory of the Australian Capital Territory comprises the largest party or coalition of parties not in Government. The Opposition's purpose is to hold the Government to account and constitute a "Government-in-waiting" should the existing Government fall. To that end, a Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Ministers for the various government departments question the Chief Minister and Ministers on Government policy and administration, and formulate the policy the Opposition would pursue in Government. It is sometimes styled "His Majesty's Loyal Opposition" to demonstrate that although it opposes the Government, it remains loyal to the King.
Ed Cocks is a member of parliament in the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly representing the Canberra Liberals.