Wayne Goss

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This article is about the former Premier of Queensland. For the makeup artist and YouTube personality, see Wayne Goss (make-up artist).

Queensland Legislative Assembly for Salisbury
In office
22 October 1983 – 1 November 1986
Preceded byRosemary Kyburz
Succeeded byLen Ardill
Personal details
Born
Wayne Keith Goss

(1951-02-26)26 February 1951
Labor
Spouse
Roisin Hirschfeld
​
(m. 1981)​
Children2
Parent(s)Allan James Goss
Norma Josephine Dalton Goss
EducationInala State High School
Alma materUniversity of Queensland (LLB,MBA)
Occupation
  • Lawyer
  • Politician

Wayne Keith Goss (26 February 1951 – 10 November 2014) was

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.

Early life

He was born at

the dismissal of Gough Whitlam in November 1975.[1]

Political career

Goss entered state politics as a

Labor Party MLA in 1983 for the electoral district of Salisbury and, from 1986 onwards, for Logan.[2]

Along with others, Goss was a key figure in the 1970s–1980s civil liberties fight against the Bjelke-Petersen Government, pursuing legal and political strategies against Bjelke-Petersen.[3] He was elected Leader of the Opposition in March 1988.[2]

Leader of the Labor Party

Goss led Labor into the

Queensland Nationals were still reeling from revelations of the rampant corruption of longtime premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen, and polls showed Labor had its best chance of winning power in years.[citation needed] Labor had been in opposition since 1957, and last made a serious bid for government in 1972. Cooper had toppled Bjelke-Petersen's immediate successor, Mike Ahern, in a September party-room coup, two months before the writ was dropped.[citation needed
]

Goss seized on National ads[4] that argued his plans to decriminalise homosexuality would result in gays flooding into Queensland. He replied with ads painting Cooper as a wild-eyed reactionary and a carbon copy of Bjelke-Petersen.[citation needed]

Premiership

Main article:
Goss Ministry

Goss and Labor won a strong majority government at the 1989 election, scoring a 24-seat swing, the worst defeat of a sitting government up until that time in Queensland. This was fuelled by a massive Labor wave that swept through Brisbane; Labor won all but five of the capital's 36 seats.

His election win, which ended 32 years of Coalition/National Party rule, was seen as "the end of the Bjelke-Petersen era" and the beginning of a new era,[5] with The Courier-Mail declaring "Goss the Boss".[6] Once installed in office, he presided over the implementation of many of the reforms of the landmark Fitzgerald Inquiry into police corruption.

The

Imperial honours,[6][7] and made provision "to buy thousands of extra university places and hire thousands of new teachers". Goss' Chief of Staff as Premier was former diplomat Kevin Rudd, later leader of the federal Labor Party and Prime Minister of Australia,[8] and Goss' 1989 campaign director was Wayne Swan, subsequently Deputy Prime Minister of Australia.[9] Glyn Davis also worked in senior roles during the Goss governments.[10]

Goss won a second term at the 1992 state election, maintaining the same 19-seat majority he won in 1989 over the National Party and the

Liberal Party
(the two non-Labor parties went out of coalition in 1983, but resumed the coalition after the 1992 election).

Before the

Goss Government announced a plan to clear sensitive bushland for an alternative to one of south-east Queensland's major roadways. This prompted the Greens Party to do something it had never done before: it recommended that its supporters not give their second preference, on voting ballots, to Labor. Partly as a result of this, as well as the increasing unpopularity of Goss's management style (widely thought to be authoritarian) and growing anger at the federal Labor government, Labor was severely punished at the polls. Notably, it lost several seats in Brisbane's Bayside area, known as 'the koala seats' because of the passion stirred up by a belief that the new road would destroy the habitat of koalas.[11] While Labor lost the popular vote to the Rob Borbidge
-led Coalition, Labor managed to win 31 out of 40 seats in Brisbane while most of the Coalition's majority was wasted on large majorities in National heartland. This seemingly allowed Labor to salvage a knife-edge majority of one seat.

After the 1995 election, Labor's majority hung on the Townsville seat of

Independent member, Liz Cunningham. Nine days after the by-election, Cunningham announced that she was going to support the Coalition on the floor of Parliament, leaving Goss with no alternative but to resign as Premier on 19 February 1996.[2]

Goss' defeat proved to be a harbinger of federal Labor's massive defeat in the federal election held a month later. Federal Labor suffered particularly heavy losses in Queensland at the subsequent federal election; it was cut down to only two seats there, its worst result in the state since being reduced to only one seat in 1975. Goss later said that Queensland voters had turned so violently on then-Prime Minister Paul Keating that they had been "sitting on their verandas with baseball bats" waiting for the writs to drop,[12] a phrase that has since entered the Australian political lexicon.[13][14][15]

Resignation of leadership

After resigning as Premier and Leader of the Labor Party on 19 February 1996,

Opposition under new Opposition Leader Peter Beattie and assumed something of an "elder statesman" role. He had begun the process of seeking preselection as the Labor candidate for the federal seat of Oxley in the 1998 election.[12][16] However, a diagnosis of a brain tumour (uneventfully, partially removed) forced him to scale back his activities. Despite support from both sides of Parliament—evidenced when the House gave him a standing ovation on his return from surgery[17]—Goss retired from politics at the 1998 Queensland state election.[2]

Post-political career

After his retirement from politics, Goss served in a variety of community and business roles. He was awarded an

QUT and Griffith University.[2]

Goss was Chairman of the

NRL rugby league team.[19]

Goss received a Centenary Medal in 2001.[20]

In business, Goss served as National Chairman of the Australian section of

Ingeus Limited, the company founded by Thérèse Rein, the wife of former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, his former chief-of-staff.[23] Further, Goss was Chairman of FreeTV Australia, the lobby group representing the free-to-air television companies in Australia, from 2008 until 2011.[24]

Goss was also an Ambassador of the

2010-11 Queensland floods.[26]

Family

He lived in

Rhodes Scholar in 1927) and her grandfather Eugen Hirschfeld (a member of the first University of Queensland Senate in 1910).[27] Wayne and Roisin Goss had two children, Ryan and Caitlin, both of whom attended the University of Queensland and were awarded Rhodes Scholarships to attend the University of Oxford in 2007 and 2009 respectively.[28][29]

Death, funeral and legacy

Goss battled a recurrent brain tumour for 17 years, undergoing four operations to manage it. He died aged 63 at his home in Brisbane on 10 November 2014, with his wife and children present.[30]

Condolence motions were moved in the

Queensland Parliament[31] and in the Parliament of Australia.[32]

In marking Goss' death, former Prime Minister

TJ Ryan in 1915";[34] former Premier Anna Bligh stated that "Wayne Goss was the father of modern Queensland".[35] The then Liberal National Premier Campbell Newman described Goss's "amazing contribution to Queensland".[35]

Instead of a state funeral,

Queensland Gallery of Modern Art.[37] Goss's wife Roisin shared recollections about his life as a private citizen and his favourite saying at family gatherings or just lounging outside on a sunny day: "This Is Good". Close friend and former State Attorney-General, the Hon. Matt Foley gave a detailed testimonial about Goss's friendship and their days in political office. Over a thousand mourners attended the service, some accommodated in overflow rooms with views to monitors and speakers.[38]

A central building at the Griffith University Logan City campus is named after Goss in recognition of his work as an “education visionary”. [39] The rainforest tree genus Gossia in the myrtle family is named after Wayne Goss in honour of his conservation work.[40]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Wayne Goss". Queensland Speaks. Archived from the original on 14 July 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Former Members". Parliament of Queensland. 2015. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Disruptive influences – Griffith Review". Griffith Review. Archived from the original on 22 October 2015. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  4. ^ Deller's Digital Transfers (29 November 2014), Nationals Campaign Queensland 1989, archived from the original on 17 April 2018, retrieved 16 April 2018
  5. ^ "Four Corners – 03/03/2008: Program Transcript". www.abc.net.au. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  6. ^ a b "20 Moments that Shaped Modern Queensland". Courier-Mail. Archived from the original on 24 October 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  7. ^ Hurst, Daniel (15 November 2011). "Labor spruiks achievements – all six of them". Brisbane Times. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  8. ^ "20 things you need to know about Kevin Rudd". The Age. 3 December 2006. Archived from the original on 26 August 2015. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  9. ^ Swan, Wayne (2015). "About Wayne". Wayne Swan MP. Archived from the original on 21 June 2015. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  10. ^ "Wayne Goss, a modernising leader who left Queensland a better place". 10 November 2014.
  11. ^ Moore, Tony (6 December 2013). "Koala habitat at risk from new highway". Brisbane Times. Archived from the original on 13 September 2015. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  12. ^ a b Green, Antony (2010). "2010 election preview: Queensland". ABC News. Archived from the original on 19 September 2010. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  13. ^ "Sounding a dud note – Opinion – theage.com.au". www.theage.com.au. 20 May 2007. Archived from the original on 17 April 2018. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  14. ISBN 9780522865141. Archived
    from the original on 8 May 2016. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  15. ^ "Senator Evans asked the opposition...: 8 Nov 2011: Senate debates (OpenAustralia.org)". www.openaustralia.org.au. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  16. ^ a b "Transcripts: Wayne Goss". Talking Heads with Peter Thompson. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 6 May 2005. Archived from the original on 19 July 2015. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  17. ^ "Hansard (29th November 1997)" (PDF). p. 4825 (Interruption). Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  18. ^ Welford, Rob (12 October 2007). "Gallery chairman to retire after third term". Media Statements. Queensland Government. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  19. ^ "Wayne Goss resigns" (PDF). Brisbane Broncos. 14 February 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  20. ^ "Centenary Medal". It's an Honour. 1 January 2001. Archived from the original on 25 July 2020.
  21. ^ Moore, Tony (10 November 2015). "Queensland arts growth proves Wayne Goss' international legacy". Brisbane Times. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  22. ^ "Ausenco chairman resigns". Mining Australia. 31 May 2013. Archived from the original on 25 August 2015. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  23. ^ Wilson, Peter (21 April 2011). "Therese Rein the $1.4bn queen of British welfare". The Australian. Archived from the original on 17 January 2015. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
  24. ^ "Free TV mourns Wayne Goss". 10 November 2014. Archived from the original on 17 April 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  25. abc.net.au. 23 August 2011. Archived from the original
    on 6 October 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
  26. ^ "Business taskforce to help flood recovery effort". 19 January 2011. Archived from the original on 17 April 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2018 – via www.abc.net.au.
  27. ^ "Way Goss farewelled". The Australian. Archived from the original on 17 April 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  28. ^ "2009 Rhodes Scholar maintains family winning streak". University of Queensland. 2009. Archived from the original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  29. ^ "UQ pays tribute to Wayne Goss". University of Queensland. 1 January 2015. Archived from the original on 15 June 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
  30. ^ "Former Queensland premier Wayne Goss dies". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 11 November 2014. Archived from the original on 8 July 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  31. ^ "Goss to be honoured in Qld parliament – Yahoo!7". Archived from the original on 5 January 2015. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
  32. ^ "Federal Politics Live: November 24, 2014". 24 November 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  33. ^ "Former Queensland premier Wayne Goss dead aged 63". The Courier-Mail. 10 November 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  34. ^ "Wayne Goss remembered: Colleagues and past foes pay tribute to former Queensland premier". The Courier-Mail. 10 November 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  35. ^ a b "Wayne Goss remembered as courageous Queensland reformer". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 10 November 2014. Archived from the original on 13 May 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  36. ^ "Goss family turns down state funeral, in keeping with former Queensland premier's wishes". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 12 November 2014. Archived from the original on 1 November 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  37. ^ Atfield, Cameron (21 November 2014). "Wayne Goss farewelled at GOMA". Brisbane Times. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  38. ^ "Flags at half mast as Wayne Goss farewelled at public memorial". The Australian. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  39. ^ "Centre named after education visionary, Wayne Goss". 10 December 2015.
  40. ISBN 978-0-9589436-7-3
    . page 243.

Further reading

External links
Parliament of Queensland
Preceded by Member for Salisbury
1983–1986 		Succeeded by
New district Member for Logan
1986–1998 		Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by Leader of the
Labor Party
in Queensland
1988–1996 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Leader of the Opposition in Queensland
1988–1989 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Premier of Queensland
1989–1996 		Succeeded by
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