Hendy Cowan
James McMillan Brown | |
|---|---|
| Succeeded by | Brendon Grylls |
| Personal details | |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Political party | National Party |
| Alma mater | Hale School |
| Profession | Farmer |
Hendy John Cowan
He had served in the
Cowan retired from the parliament on 16 October 2001, having been the Western Australian assembly's Father of the House since 14 December 1996.[1]
Biography
Cowan was born in Merredin on 25 April 1943, the son of James Cowan, a farmer from Narembeen and Ruth Anderson. He is a grandnephew of Edith Cowan, the first woman elected as a representative in an Australian parliament.[4]
He was educated at Mount Walker Primary school and later at Hale School. He returned to the family farm in 1959 and married Anita Treloar on 2 January 1965.
Cowan was an active sports participant in the district, playing and coaching local football, tennis, golf and basketball clubs. He played more than 350 games for the Narembeen Football Club and in his last seven years with the club played in six grand finals, helping to win four flags.[3] He was awarded a life membership of the club.
Parliamentary career
Representing the
Cowan was the state parliamentary secretary for the NCP from 1975 until 1978 when the party divided in July of that year. The schism was triggered over a political donation of $200,000 from mining entrepreneur Lang Hancock through the party president from which offers of campaign assistance were made to parliamentary officeholders to vote to oust Dick Old, the parliamentary leader.[5] The NCP had completely fractured by August when Cowan, the vice president of the party and Jim Fletcher, the general president, walked out of a strategy planning meeting. The allegation of the campaign offer had been made against Mr. Fletcher. Liberal Premier Sir Charles Court dominated conservative politics during the period and the rural party was seen as having only minor influence.
A new party, The National Party, was established which Cowan and a series of disaffected NCP members joined. By November 1978 it had three parliamentary members in Cowan,
In April 1981 the parliament voted on a bill to abolish the death penalty—Western Australia was the last remaining Australian state with the death penalty still in its statutes and opposition members were granted a conscience vote on the bill.[7] Cowan was the only non-Labor MP in the Legislative Assembly to support the bill, in opposition to the National Party national conference which had supported retention of the penalty.[8]
The conservative parties were in opposition through most of the 1980s with
In the 1993 state election, the conservative forces finally regained government, largely by just being able to finally present themselves as united. This was despite what should have been a relatively easy ride given Labor's problems with WA Inc. and the findings of the associated Royal commission which had been handed down the year before. The Coalition won a small, but absolute majority in both houses with the Nationals holding 6 seats in the lower house and 3 in the upper house. Nevertheless, a Liberal-National Party coalition was formed with Court as Premier. Cowan served as Deputy Premier from 1993 to 2001, as well as holding ministerial portfolios of Commerce and Trade (16 February 1993 to 16 February 2001), Small Business and Regional Development (10 February 1995 to 16 February 2001). Richard Court was Premier during the period.
In October 2001 he resigned from the Western Australian Parliament to contest the
Post-parliament
After his retirement, Cowan re-established himself at his farm in Narembeen as well as taking appointments on a number of boards including:
- Chancellor of Edith Cowan University
- Chairman of Wescorp QA
- Chairman of the State Agriculture Biotechnology Centre at Murdoch University
- Chairman of the Advisory Group of UWA's Centre for Enterprise Management and Innovation
- Chair of the Institute of Natural Resources Management at Notre Dame University
- President of the Cancer Council Western Australia
- Member of the board of the Wheatbelt Area Consultative Committee
- Director of the Exports Grain Council
- Director of IBC Australia New Zealand
In 2003 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Science from Murdoch University.[3] He was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Commerce from Edith Cowan University.
In 2007 he was appointed to conduct an independent review of the
References
- ^ a b "Hon. Hendy John Cowan". Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 12 September 2008.
- ^ "Council Members". Edith Cowan University. Retrieved 9 September 2008.
- ^ a b c "Honorary Degree Citation – The Hon Hendy Cowan" (PDF). Murdoch University. 14 March 2003. Retrieved 9 September 2008.
- ISBN 0731697839. p.33
- ^ ISSN 0004-9522.
- ^ Gallop, Geoff (December 1985). "Australian Political Chronicle". Australian Journal of Politics and History. 31 (3): 521.
- ^ Gallop, Geoff (August 1985). "Australian Political Chronicle". Australian Journal of Politics and History. 31 (2): 324.
- ^ Penrose, Sandra (April 1981). "Australian Political Chronicle". Australian Journal of Politics and History. 27 (1): 94.
- ^ Oswald, Frank (August 1990). "Australian Political Chronicle". Australian Journal of Politics and History. 36 (2): 256.
- ^ Oswald, Frank (February 1990). "Australian Political Chronicle". Australian Journal of Politics and History. 36 (3): 448–449.
- ^ "Legislative Election of 10 November 2001 – Senate Voting By State – Western Australia". Adam Carr's Electoral Archive. Retrieved 10 September 2008.
- ^ Narelle Miragliotta and Campbell Sharman, originally published in John Warhurst and Marian Simms (eds), 2001: The Centenary Election, St Lucia, UQP (2002). "Western Australia". The Australian Public Intellectual Network. Retrieved 10 September 2008.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "West Coast launches inquiry". West Coast Eagles. 9 November 2007. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 9 September 2008.