Russell Cooper
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 National Party |
Occupation | Cattle breeder |
Theo Russell Cooper
Biography
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
Premiership
All three political parties in Queensland had changed their leaders by 1989 — in addition to the Nationals, the
Cooper waited as long as he could to call an election, finally doing so for 2 December. The Nationals campaigned on traditional focuses:
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.
Post-premiership
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
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
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]
Personal life
He has 4 children, 12 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.
References
- ^ a b c d "COOPER, Hon. Russell". Queensland Parliamentary Library. Queensland Parliamentary Service. Archived from the original on 10 June 2011. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
- ^ "GOVERNORS, PREMIERS, SPEAKERS and WOMEN" (PDF). Fact Sheet 11. Queensland Parliamentary Service. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 June 2011. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
- ^ "Analysis of Queensland election". ABC Regional Online. 8 February 2004. Archived from the original on 10 November 2012.
- ^ Cooper, Russell (3 March 2008). "Interview - Russell Cooper". Four Corners (Interview). Interviewed by Chris Masters. ABC Television. Archived from the original on 15 May 2010. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
- ^ Salusinszky, Imre (29 October 2010). "Kristina Keneally leading the most unpopular Labor government in history". News.com.au. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
- ^ Deller's Digital Transfers (29 November 2014), Nationals Campaign Queensland 1989, archived from the original on 17 April 2018, retrieved 16 April 2018