Russell Cooper | |
---|---|
33rd Premier of Queensland | |
In office 25 September 1989 –7 December 1989 | |
Monarch | Elizabeth II |
Governor | Walter Campbell |
Deputy | Bill Gunn |
Preceded by | Mike Ahern |
Succeeded by | Wayne Goss |
27th Leader of the Opposition in Queensland | |
In office 7 December 1989 –10 December 1991 | |
Deputy | Rob Borbidge |
Preceded by | Wayne Goss |
Succeeded by | Rob Borbidge |
Minister for Police of Queensland | |
In office 16 February 1996 –26 June 1998 | |
Premier | Rob Borbidge |
Preceded by | Paul Braddy |
Succeeded by | Tom Barton |
In office 19 January 1989 –29 August 1989 | |
Premier | Mike Ahern |
Preceded by | Bill Gunn |
Succeeded by | Vince Lester |
40th Treasurer of Queensland | |
In office 25 September 1989 –7 December 1989 | |
Preceded by | Mike Ahern |
Succeeded by | Keith De Lacy |
10th Leader of the National Party in Queensland Elections:1989 | |
In office 25 September 1989 –10 December 1991 | |
Deputy | Bill Gunn Rob Borbidge |
Preceded by | Mike Ahern |
Succeeded by | Rob Borbidge |
Minister for Corrective Services of Queensland | |
In office 9 December 1987 –19 January 1989 | |
Premier | Mike Ahern |
Preceded by | Don Neal |
Succeeded by | Paul Clauson |
Member of the Queensland Parliament for Crows Nest Roma (1983–1992) | |
In office 22 October 1983 –17 February 2001 | |
Preceded by | Ken Tomkins |
Succeeded by | Seat abolished |
Personal details | |
Born | Theo Russell Cooper 4 February 1941 Brisbane,Queensland,Australia |
Political party | National Party |
Occupation | Cattle breeder |
Theo Russell Cooper AM (born 4 February 1941) is an Australian retired National Party politician. [1] He was Premier of Queensland for a period of 73 days,from 25 September 1989 to 7 December 1989. [2] His loss at the state election of 1989 ended 32 years of continuous National Party rule over Queensland. [3] [4]
Cooper,a cattle breeder,followed the customary path to politics in the National Party,becoming involved in the Bendemere Shire Council before being elected for the seat of Roma in 1983. [1] At various times,Cooper was Chairman of the National Party's Wallumbilla/Yuleba branch and Vice-President of the National Party's Roma Electorate Council. [1] At the time of Cooper's election to the seat of Roma,Queensland was under the reign of long-serving Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen.
By the late 1980s,the once impregnable Bjelke-Petersen government had begun to falter amid the failure of Bjelke-Petersen's ill-fated foray into national politics,and the establishment of the Fitzgerald Inquiry into police corruption,which implicated a great many senior governmental and police figures in widespread official corruption. In December 1987,the National Party replaced Bjelke-Petersen as leader and Premier with Mike Ahern. Ahern appointed Cooper to cabinet as part of an influx of younger National parliamentarians who had not been associated with the previous Cabinet. Cooper was given the difficult portfolio of Corrective Services.
Ahern was a very different leader from Bjelke-Petersen. His moderation and focus on consensus leadership was to many Nationals a rude shock after the legendary strong-willed approach of his predecessor. An embittered Bjelke-Petersen worked publicly to undermine and destabilise the National Party leadership,and still held the allegiance of many Nationals supporters.
In the beginning of 1989,Cooper was promoted to Minister for Police,another challenging portfolio that had been at the heart of the turmoil associated with the Fitzgerald Inquiry. The report was particularly damaging,since the Nationals faced a statutory general election later that year. A Newspoll released after the inquiry came out showed the Nationals at only 22 percent—the lowest result ever recorded at the time for a state government in Australia. [5] Moving Cooper to the Police Ministry was seen as an attempt by Ahern to remove the stigma of Fitzgerald from the area. The effect,however,was to raise Cooper's personal profile among Nationals supporters disaffected with Ahern. Polls showing Labor having its best chance in years to win government;indeed,if the result of the Newspoll were to be repeated at the election,the Nationals would have been swept out in a massive landslide. Cooper was promoted as an alternative leader to Ahern. In particular,it was thought he could shore up the National Party's vote in its conservative rural heartland. Portraying himself as a strong leader who was closer to the Bjelke-Petersen mould,Cooper launched a leadership challenge and toppled Ahern as party leader on 25 September. He was sworn in as premier later that day.
All three political parties in Queensland had changed their leaders by 1989 —in addition to the Nationals,the Liberals were now led by Angus Innes and Labor by Wayne Goss. Cooper had a dimmer view of the proposed Fitzgerald reforms than Ahern and put off their implementation. Although the legislation establishing the Criminal Justice Commission (CJC) was passed under Cooper,he would later have an adversarial relationship with the Commission itself. Although Cooper's elevation did have some effect within rural electorates,the Nationals' overall fortunes continued to tail off.
Cooper waited as long as he could to call an election,finally doing so for 2 December. The Nationals campaigned on traditional focuses:law and order,social conservatism,and attacks on the federal Labor government. The Nationals produced a number of controversial advertisements,one of which alleged that the Labor Opposition's plan to decriminalise homosexuality would lead to a flood of gays from southern states moving to Queensland. [6] These advertisements were satirised by Labor ads depicting Cooper as a wild-eyed reactionary.
In the election,the Nationals were heavily defeated,suffering the worst defeat of a sitting government in Queensland. This was mainly due to a massive Labor wave that swept through Brisbane;Labor took all but five of the capital's 36 seats. However,Cooper was not blamed for the debacle—which was widely seen as a vote against Bjelke-Petersen—and stayed on as Leader of the Opposition.
In 1991,allegations were made in The Courier-Mail that a large number of Queensland parliamentarians from all parties had abused their travel entitlements (the "travel rorts affair"). The CJC began an investigation,and although the names of those under investigation were suppressed,it became obvious through indirect published hints that one of them was Cooper. On 9 December Cooper announced that he was under investigation for the funding of a trip to Hamilton Island with his wife,refunded the cost of the trip,and stood down as National Party leader. This was widely seen as a tactical move aimed at shaming senior members of the government such as Terry Mackenroth. Cooper was succeeded by Rob Borbidge. The CJC subsequently cleared Cooper of impropriety.
Following the redistribution,which followed legislation designed to rid Queensland's electoral system of malapportionment in favour of rural areas,Cooper transferred to Crows Nest at the 1992 election. He returned to the Nationals' front bench in November of that year as Shadow Minister for Police. In February 1996,when Borbidge formed a minority government after winning a closely fought by-election in Mundingburra,Cooper became Minister for Police,Corrective Services,and Racing.
Soon afterwards Cooper was named in what would become the central scandal of the Borbidge government,when it was revealed that during the Mundingburra by-election campaign,Borbidge and Cooper had signed a secret Memorandum of Understanding with the Queensland Police Union guaranteeing the QPU the repeal of unpopular Goss government measures,the power of veto over senior police appointments,and increased police funding in return for a donation of A$20,000 to the by-election campaign. This close relationship evoked many memories of the Bjelke-Petersen era,where relations between the executive and the police service were (sometimes improperly) close. When the matter came under investigation by the CJC (the Carruthers Inquiry),Cooper led strident attacks on the body and its independence. Cooper ignored repeated Opposition calls for him to resign.
In 1998,the Coalition suffered an 11-seat swing,and Labor's Peter Beattie formed a minority government. Cooper became Shadow Minister for Primary Industries but stepped down from the front bench in December 1999. He retired from Parliament in the state election of 2001. [1]
He has 4 children,12 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.
Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen,known as Joh Bjelke-Petersen or simply Sir Joh,was a conservative Australian politician. He was the longest-serving and longest-lived premier of Queensland,holding office from 1968 to 1987,during which time the state underwent considerable economic development. He has become one of the most well-known and controversial figures of 20th-century Australian politics because of his uncompromising conservatism,political longevity,and the institutional corruption of his government.
Peter Douglas Beattie is an Australian former politician who served as the 36th Premier of Queensland,in office from 1998 to 2007. He was the state leader of the Labor Party from 1996 to 2007.
Wayne Keith Goss was Premier of Queensland from 7 December 1989 until 19 February 1996,becoming the first Labor Premier of the state in over thirty two years. Prior to entering politics,Goss was a solicitor,and after leaving politics he served as Chairman of the Queensland Art Gallery and Chairman of Deloitte Australia.
The Joh for Canberra campaign,initially known as the Joh for PM campaign,was an attempt by Queensland National Party premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen to become Prime Minister of Australia. The campaign was announced in January 1987 and drew substantial support from Queensland businessmen and some conservative politicians. The campaign caused a split in the federal Coalition. It did not attract widespread support and collapsed in June 1987. The Australian Labor Party,led by Bob Hawke,went on to win the 1987 federal election with by an increased majority,gaining its highest-ever number of seats. Bjelke-Petersen came under increasing scrutiny as the Fitzgerald Inquiry gained traction,and was forced out of politics altogether in December 1987.
The Commission of Inquiry into Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct into Queensland Police corruption was a judicial inquiry presided over by Tony Fitzgerald QC. The inquiry resulted in the resignation of Queensland's premier,Joh Bjelke-Petersen,the calling of two by-elections,and the jailing of three former ministers and the Police Commissioner Terry Lewis. It also contributed to the end of the National Party of Australia's 32-year run as the governing political party in Queensland.
Robert Edward Borbidge is a former Australian politician who served as the 35th Premier of Queensland from 1996 to 1998. He was the leader of the Queensland branch of the National Party,and was the last member of that party to serve as premier. His term as premier was contemporaneous with the rise of the One Nation Party of Pauline Hanson,which would see him lose office within two years.
Michael John Ahern was an Australian National Party politician who was Premier of Queensland from December 1987 to September 1989. After a long career in the government of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen,Ahern became his successor amid the controversy caused by the Fitzgerald Inquiry into official corruption. Ahern's consensus style and political moderation contrasted strongly with Bjelke-Petersen's leadership,but he could not escape the division and strife caused by his predecessor's downfall.
The 1989 Queensland state election was held in the Australian state of Queensland on 2 December 1989 to elect the 89 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. This was the first election following the downfall of seven-term premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen at the end of 1987.
This is a list of members of the 45th Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 1986 to 1989,as elected at the 1986 state election held on 1 November 1986.
Donald Frederick Lane was a Minister of Transport in the Bjelke-Petersen state of Queensland's coalition government. A former policeman in the Special Branch,in 1971 he was elected as the Liberal member for Merthyr,an electorate which included the Fortitude Valley where a lot of the then illegal brothels and casinos were located. During his time with the Police,he had gotten to know Jack Herbert the Chief Organiser of The Joke,and the "Rat Pack" of Terry Lewis,Tony Murphy and Glenn Hallahan well. Following the 1983 Queensland state election he switched to the National Party,providing it with an outright majority,and was rewarded with a ministry. He went on to lead the National Party’s submission to the Electoral Commission to more effectively gerrymander and malapportion seats to increase National Party control. It was revealed in the Fitzgerald Inquiry,that Lane had significant unexplained income,and was alleged by Jack Herbert to have taken bribes. Lane didn’t admit to taking bribes,instead he admitted to abusing Ministerial expenses and claimed a lot of other Ministers had done the same. In the end Lane and three other Bjelke-Petersen ministers were tried in the District Court and sentenced to twelve months imprisonment for falsifying their expense accounts.
Brian Douglas Austin is an Australian politician and Minister of Health and Minister for Finance and Minister Assisting the Premier and Treasurer and who represented the state seat of Wavell for the Liberal Party (1977–1983) and then for the National Party (1983–1986). In 1983,Austin switched to the National Party (along with Don Lane,who was the Transport Minister,after Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen lobbied several Liberals to cross the floor,thus enabling the National Party to form government with a very slim majority. Prior to their defection,the Nationals were one seat short of governing in their own right. At the 1986 Queensland state election,Austin became the first MP for the new Queensland electorate of Nicklin.
William Angus Manson Gunn AM was an Australian politician who represented the Queensland Legislative Assembly seat of Somerset from 1972 until 1992. A member of the National Party,he also served as a Minister and Deputy Premier in various Queensland administrations during the 1980s,and was instrumental in establishing the Fitzgerald Inquiry.
Kevin Rowson "Kev" Lingard is an Australian politician. He was a National Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 1983 to 2009 and a former Deputy Leader of the Nationals in Queensland.
The 1996 Mundingburra state by-election was a by-election held on 3 February 1996 for the Queensland Legislative Assembly seat of Mundingburra,located in the southern suburbs of Townsville. It was brought on by the Court of Disputed Returns declaring void the close result of the July 1995 election in the normally safe Labor seat,and resulted in the end of the Goss Ministry headed by Labor Premier Wayne Goss,and the swearing in of a minority government led by Nationals leader Rob Borbidge.
The 1988 Barambah state by-election was a by-election held on 16 April 1988 for the Queensland Legislative Assembly seat of Barambah,based in the town of Kingaroy. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of National MP and former Premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen. Until the by-election,the seat had been considered the Nationals' safest seat in Queensland.
The 1989 Merthyr state by-election was a by-election held on 13 May 1989 for the Queensland Legislative Assembly seat of Merthyr,based in the inner Brisbane suburb of New Farm.
A by-election was held in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland seat of South Coast on 28 August 1988. It was triggered by the resignation of sitting National Party member Russ Hinze.
Andrew Anthony FitzGerald is a former Queensland,Australia,National Party politician who served in the state's Legislative Assembly for Lockyer from 1980 to 1998.
The National Party of Australia –Queensland (NPA-Q),commonly known as Queensland Nationals,or the National Party of Queensland,was the Queensland-state branch of the National Party of Australia (NPA) until 2008. Prior to 1974,it was known as the Country Party. The party was disestablished in 2008.
The Ahern Ministry was a ministry of the Australian Government of Queensland and was led by National Party Premier Mike Ahern and Deputy Premier Bill Gunn. It succeeded the Bjelke-Petersen Ministry on 1 December 1987 following Joh Bjelke-Petersen's resignation as Premier and from Parliament,and was in turn succeeded by the Cooper Ministry on 25 September 1989,led by Russell Cooper.