Bob Quinn (Australian politician)
Encyclopedia
Robert Joseph Quinn (born 9 September 1947 in Murwillumbah
, NSW
) is an Australia
n Liberal Party
politician in the Queensland
parliament. He was leader of the Queensland Liberal Party from 2001 until being ousted on 7 August 2006 by Bruce Flegg
.
Quinn was a schoolteacher before entering politics. He was elected to Parliament
in 1989 after winning the seat of South Coast. The booming population of the Gold Coast
saw Quinn's electorate undergo several redistributions and name changes. He was the member for Merrimac
from 1992 to 2001 and the member for Robina
from 2001 onwards.
The Liberal Party victory in the Mundingburra
by-election in February 1996 brought about a hung parliament
in Queensland. Independent
Liz Cunningham
held the balance of power and chose to support the Borbidge
led National
-Liberal Coalition
in forming government. Quinn subsequently became Minister for Education.
The Australian Labor Party
, led by Peter Beattie
, won office in the June 1998 state election, which ended the Coalition agreement between the two parties. Dr David Watson
took over the Liberal Leadership from Joan Sheldon
and Quinn became Deputy Leader of the Party.
In the 2001 state election, Labor dealt a massive blow to the reformed Coalition, with the Liberal Party winning only three seats in the 89 member Parliament. Watson resigned as leader and with Sheldon being the only other Liberal MP, Quinn became the Liberal Leader by default. Again, the Coalition agreement was torn up after the defeat.
The Liberals negotiated a new Coalition agreement with the Nationals and their new leader, Lawrence Springborg
in April 2003. As leader of the junior party, Quinn became Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Treasurer. He forged a close working relationship with Springborg and made efforts to repair the damaged relationship between the two parties.
During the 2004 election campaign, Quinn worked closely with Springborg, but was criticised by some Liberals for being too subservient to the Nationals Leader. The Coalition again suffered a massive defeat at the hands of the ALP, with the Liberal Party gaining just two additional seats, lifting its representation to five. When the Coalition agreement automatically expired following the election loss, the two parties opted not to renew it. This decision meant that the Liberals lost their status as members of the Official Opposition (this place being taken by the National Party alone).
After the election, Quinn gained some prominence in the wake of the failures of the Government-owned electricity corporation Energex
in South East Queensland
. The scandal surrounding Dr Jayant Patel
also caused considerable damage to the Beattie Government in 2005. The Liberal Party won the two safe Labor seats of Chatsworth
and Redcliffe
in by-elections in August 2005, bringing the Liberal parliamentary representation to seven seats. However, former Brisbane City councillor Michael Caltabiano
, who was elected as the Member for Chatsworth, was touted in the media as a likely challenger to Quinn's leadership.
Quinn and his party dismissed suggestions from Lawrence Springborg that the two conservative parties merge as impractical, but the parties did announce the renewal of their Coalition agreement on 28 September 2005, but without Quinn becoming Deputy Leader of the Opposition.
In February 2005, together the convicted former Health Minister Gordon Nuttal and John-Paul Langbroek, Bob Quinn attacked Peter Beattie's belief that water fluoridation would cause collateral damages to the health population despite several evidences showed that Peter Beattie's concerns had a solid scientific and legal ground to oppose water fluoridation.
In November 2005, Independent Gympie
MP Elisa Roberts
accused Quinn of attempting to bribe her. Roberts alleged Quinn offered her $60,000 to join the Liberal Party before the next state election, due in February 2007. Three separate investigations conducted by the Queensland Electoral Commission, the Crime and Misconduct Commission
and the Queensland Police
all found insufficient evidence to prove the bribery allegations, thus clearing Quinn of any wrongdoing.
On 7 August 2006, Quinn was ousted by a vote in the Liberal Party party room, culminating with the unanimous election of Bruce Flegg
as his replacement. On 11 August 2006 he announced that he would not contest the next state election.
Quinn was also an unsuccessful candidate in 2007 for the Senate vacancy caused by the resignation of former deputy state leader and Quinn's former state parliamentary colleague Santo Santoro.
Quinn is a member of the Local Government Reform Commission.
Murwillumbah, New South Wales
Murwillumbah is a town of approximately 7,500 people in far north-eastern New South Wales, Australia in the Tweed Shire. It lies on the Tweed River, 848 km north-east of Sydney, 13 km south of the Queensland border and 132 km south of Brisbane. At the 2006 census, Murwillumbah had a...
, NSW
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
) is an Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
politician in the Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
parliament. He was leader of the Queensland Liberal Party from 2001 until being ousted on 7 August 2006 by Bruce Flegg
Bruce Flegg
Dr Bruce Flegg is the Queensland Shadow Ministerfor Education, Training and Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Partnerships and the Member for Moggill having been elected in 2004 and re-elected in 2006 and 2009....
.
Quinn was a schoolteacher before entering politics. He was elected to Parliament
Queensland Legislative Assembly
The Queensland Legislative Assembly is the unicameral chamber of the Parliament of Queensland. Elections are held approximately once every three years. Voting is by the Optional Preferential Voting form of the Alternative Vote system...
in 1989 after winning the seat of South Coast. The booming population of the Gold Coast
Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...
saw Quinn's electorate undergo several redistributions and name changes. He was the member for Merrimac
Electoral district of Merrimac
Merrimac was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland from 1992 to 2001.The district was based in the Gold Coast and named for the suburb of Merrimac-Members for Merrimac:...
from 1992 to 2001 and the member for Robina
Electoral district of Robina
Robina was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland from 2001 to 2009.The district was located in the southern part of the Gold Coast, and named for the suburb of Robina...
from 2001 onwards.
The Liberal Party victory in the Mundingburra
Electoral district of Mundingburra
The district of Mundingburra is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland.- Overview :The seat is one of four within the Townsville urban area in North Queensland. Significant utilities within the Mundingburra electorate are the Townsville Hospital,...
by-election in February 1996 brought about a hung parliament
Hung parliament
In a two-party parliamentary system of government, a hung parliament occurs when neither major political party has an absolute majority of seats in the parliament . It is also less commonly known as a balanced parliament or a legislature under no overall control...
in Queensland. Independent
Independent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
Liz Cunningham
Liz Cunningham
Elizabeth Anne "Liz" Cunningham is an Australian politician. She has been an independent member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly since 1995, representing the electorate of Gladstone...
held the balance of power and chose to support the Borbidge
Rob Borbidge
Robert Edward Borbidge AO , Australian politician, was the 35th Premier of Queensland, and leader of the Queensland branch of the National Party...
led National
National Party of Australia
The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...
-Liberal Coalition
Coalition
A coalition is a pact or treaty among individuals or groups, during which they cooperate in joint action, each in their own self-interest, joining forces together for a common cause. This alliance may be temporary or a matter of convenience. A coalition thus differs from a more formal covenant...
in forming government. Quinn subsequently became Minister for Education.
The Australian Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
, led by Peter Beattie
Peter Beattie
Peter Douglas Beattie , Australian politician, was the 36th Premier of the Australian state of Queensland for nine years and leader of the Australian Labor Party in that state for eleven and a half years...
, won office in the June 1998 state election, which ended the Coalition agreement between the two parties. Dr David Watson
David Watson (Australian politician)
David John Hopetoun Watson was an Australian politician. Born in Sydney, he was educated at the University of Queensland and the University of Ohio before becoming an accountant. He was Professor of Accounting and Dean of Commerce and Economics at the University of Queensland before entering...
took over the Liberal Leadership from Joan Sheldon
Joan Sheldon
Joan Mary Sheldon is an Australian politician. She was a Liberal Party of Australia member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1990 to 2004, representing the electorates of Landsborough and then Caloundra...
and Quinn became Deputy Leader of the Party.
In the 2001 state election, Labor dealt a massive blow to the reformed Coalition, with the Liberal Party winning only three seats in the 89 member Parliament. Watson resigned as leader and with Sheldon being the only other Liberal MP, Quinn became the Liberal Leader by default. Again, the Coalition agreement was torn up after the defeat.
The Liberals negotiated a new Coalition agreement with the Nationals and their new leader, Lawrence Springborg
Lawrence Springborg
Lawrence James Springborg is an Australian politician and became Deputy Leader of the Opposition in Queensland since 2 April 2009. He was deputy leader of the new Liberal National Party...
in April 2003. As leader of the junior party, Quinn became Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Treasurer. He forged a close working relationship with Springborg and made efforts to repair the damaged relationship between the two parties.
During the 2004 election campaign, Quinn worked closely with Springborg, but was criticised by some Liberals for being too subservient to the Nationals Leader. The Coalition again suffered a massive defeat at the hands of the ALP, with the Liberal Party gaining just two additional seats, lifting its representation to five. When the Coalition agreement automatically expired following the election loss, the two parties opted not to renew it. This decision meant that the Liberals lost their status as members of the Official Opposition (this place being taken by the National Party alone).
After the election, Quinn gained some prominence in the wake of the failures of the Government-owned electricity corporation Energex
Energex
Energex is an Australian energy company owned by the Queensland Government. It is based in Brisbane and was founded in 1922 as the City Electric Light Co....
in South East Queensland
South East Queensland
South East Queensland is a region of the state of Queensland in Australia, which contains approximately two-thirds of the state population...
. The scandal surrounding Dr Jayant Patel
Jayant Patel
Jayant Mukundray Patel , referred to as Doctor Death is a surgeon who is at the centre of a 2005 scandal in which he was accused of gross incompetence while working at Bundaberg Base Hospital in Queensland, Australia...
also caused considerable damage to the Beattie Government in 2005. The Liberal Party won the two safe Labor seats of Chatsworth
Electoral district of Chatsworth
The district of Chatsworth is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland. The electorate is centred on the south-eastern suburbs of Brisbane and stretches north to Tingalpa, west to Carina Heights, east to Tingalpa Creek and south to Bulimba...
and Redcliffe
Electoral district of Redcliffe
The district of Redcliffe is a Queensland Legislative Assembly electoral division in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.The division encompasses suburbs to the north and northeast of Brisbane, including Redcliffe, Woody Point, Scarborough, Clontarf and Margate, as well as parts of Kippa-Ring...
in by-elections in August 2005, bringing the Liberal parliamentary representation to seven seats. However, former Brisbane City councillor Michael Caltabiano
Michael Caltabiano
Michael Caltabiano is an Australian politician. He was a Liberal Party member of the Brisbane City Council from 1996 to 2005, and a Liberal member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 2005 to 2006....
, who was elected as the Member for Chatsworth, was touted in the media as a likely challenger to Quinn's leadership.
Quinn and his party dismissed suggestions from Lawrence Springborg that the two conservative parties merge as impractical, but the parties did announce the renewal of their Coalition agreement on 28 September 2005, but without Quinn becoming Deputy Leader of the Opposition.
In February 2005, together the convicted former Health Minister Gordon Nuttal and John-Paul Langbroek, Bob Quinn attacked Peter Beattie's belief that water fluoridation would cause collateral damages to the health population despite several evidences showed that Peter Beattie's concerns had a solid scientific and legal ground to oppose water fluoridation.
In November 2005, Independent Gympie
Electoral district of Gympie
The district of Gympie is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland The electorate is centred on the city of Gympie and stretches north to Rainbow Beach and as far south to Pomona....
MP Elisa Roberts
Elisa Roberts
Elisa Mary Roberts is a former Australian politician. Born in Sydney, she served with the Australian Defence Force at Victoria Barracks in Paddington from 1989 to 1993, and received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of New South Wales in 1996...
accused Quinn of attempting to bribe her. Roberts alleged Quinn offered her $60,000 to join the Liberal Party before the next state election, due in February 2007. Three separate investigations conducted by the Queensland Electoral Commission, the Crime and Misconduct Commission
Crime and Misconduct Commission
The Crime and Misconduct Commission is an independent Queensland Government entity created to combat and reduce the incidence of major crime and to continuously improve the integrity of, and to reduce the incidence of misconduct in, the Queensland public sector. The CMC also has a witness...
and the Queensland Police
Queensland Police
The Queensland Police Service is the law enforcement agency responsible for policing the Australian state of Queensland. In 1990, the Queensland Police Force was officially renamed the Queensland Police Service and the old motto of "Firmness with Courtesy" was changed to "With Honour We Serve"...
all found insufficient evidence to prove the bribery allegations, thus clearing Quinn of any wrongdoing.
On 7 August 2006, Quinn was ousted by a vote in the Liberal Party party room, culminating with the unanimous election of Bruce Flegg
Bruce Flegg
Dr Bruce Flegg is the Queensland Shadow Ministerfor Education, Training and Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Partnerships and the Member for Moggill having been elected in 2004 and re-elected in 2006 and 2009....
as his replacement. On 11 August 2006 he announced that he would not contest the next state election.
Quinn was also an unsuccessful candidate in 2007 for the Senate vacancy caused by the resignation of former deputy state leader and Quinn's former state parliamentary colleague Santo Santoro.
Quinn is a member of the Local Government Reform Commission.
See also
- Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 2004-2006Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 2004-2006This is a list of members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 2004 to 2006, as elected at the 2004 state election:*Beattie Ministry...
- Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 2001-2004Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 2001-2004This is a list of members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 2001 to 2004, as elected at the 2001 state election:*Beattie Ministry...
- Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1998-2001Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1998-2001This is a list of members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1998 to 2001:This is a list of members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1998 to 2001:This is a list of members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1998 to 2001:...
- Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1995-1998Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1995-1998This is a list of members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1995 to 1998, as elected at the 1995 state election:*Queensland state election, 1995*Goss Ministry *Borbidge Ministry...
- Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1992-1995Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1992-1995This is a list of members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1992 to 1995, as elected at the 1992 state election:-See also:*Queensland state election, 1992*Goss Ministry...
- Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1989-1992Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1989-1992This is a list of members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1989 to 1992, as elected at the 1989 state election:...