Hendy Cowan
Encyclopedia
Hendy John Cowan is a former Australian politician who served in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly
as the Member for Merredin-Yilgarn from 30 March 1974 and the Member for Merredin
from 19 February 1977. He represented his electorate for a total of 27 years, including 23 years as leader of the National Party
in Western Australia between 1979 and 2001.
Cowan retired from the parliament on 16 October 2001, having been the Western Australian assembly's Father of the House
since 14 December 1996.
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.
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. He was awarded a life membership of the club.
's James McMillan Brown in the March 1974 election
for the seat of Merredin-Yilgarn.
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. 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, Matt Stephens
and Ray McPharlin
with Fletcher as president. The name was initially disallowed after objections from the National Party in Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania but later formalised as the National Party of Australia (WA). The two rural parties worked independently of one another whilst quietly (and occasionally, publicly) feuding including an impasse when NCP members refused to associate with NPA members in 1985. The situation was finally resolved in late 1985 under Cowan's leadership and the reunited party progressed to form alliances with the Liberal Party
.
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. 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.
The conservative parties were in opposition through most of the 1980s with Labor
yet to suffer from major fallout from the WA Inc
fiasco and the 1987 stock market crash. In 1989 Liberal opposition leader Barry MacKinnon was pushing for the Nationals to help block supply
in the Upper House to topple the Dowding government
. Cowan refused to cooperate knowing that a small swing to the Liberals in the coming election
could see them (the Liberals) gain as many as nine seats and an absolute majority in the Assembly
, thus weakening the Nationals' position. In February the following year, Cowan and the Nationals had reversed their stance and decided to block supply in a bid to present themselves as a decisive and consistent conservative force.
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 Liberals 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 and Cowan was 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 Senate election for the Nationals. Cowan managed 2.3% of the primary vote, an increase from the previous federal election but unsatisfactory given Cowan's profile and the party's belief that he was the best hope since its last representative, Sir Tom Drake-Brockman, retired from politics in 1978. The Senate seat was also contested by sitting Liberal
Senator Ross Lightfoot
and One Nation's Graeme Campbell. Lightfoot retained the seat.
as well as taking appointments on a number of boards including:
In 2003 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Science
from Murdoch University
. 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 West Coast Eagles Football Club, with Steve Scudamore from KPMG
.
Western Australian Legislative Assembly
The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Perth....
as the Member for Merredin-Yilgarn from 30 March 1974 and the Member for Merredin
Electoral district of Merredin
Merredin was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia from 1950 to 2008.Originally known as Merredin-Yilgarn, the name was shortened in 1977...
from 19 February 1977. He represented his electorate for a total of 27 years, including 23 years as leader of the National Party
National Party of Western Australia
The National Party of Western Australia is a political party in Western Australia. It is affiliated with the National Party of Australia but maintains a separate structure and identity....
in Western Australia between 1979 and 2001.
Cowan retired from the parliament on 16 October 2001, having been the Western Australian assembly's Father of the House
Father of the House
Father of the House is a term that has by tradition been unofficially bestowed on certain members of some national legislatures, most notably the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. In some legislatures the term refers to the oldest member, but in others it refers the longest-serving member.The...
since 14 December 1996.
Biography
Cowan was born in MerredinMerredin, Western Australia
-Economy:The agricultural land around Merredin produces 40% of Western Australia’s wheat quota. As a focal point for the region, Merredin’s local bulk handling co-operative receives and processes in excess of a million tonnes of grain every year...
on 25 April 1943, the son of James Cowan, a farmer from Narembeen
Narembeen, Western Australia
Narembeen is a town in the Western Australia wheatbelt. It is 286 km, almost due east, from Perth, the capital of WA. It is the major settlement in the Shire of Narembeen, in which the major industries are growing cereal crops and raising cattle and sheep....
and Ruth Anderson. He is a grandnephew of Edith Cowan
Edith Cowan
Edith Dircksey Cowan , MBE was an Australian politician, social campaigner and the first woman elected to an Australian parliament....
, the first woman elected as a representative in an Australian parliament.
He was educated at Mount Walker Primary school and later at Hale School
Hale School
Hale School is a selective, independent, Anglican day and boarding school for boys, located in Wembley Downs, a coastal suburb of Perth, Western Australia....
. 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
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
, 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. He was awarded a life membership of the club.
Parliamentary career
Representing the National Country Party (NCP), he defeated LaborAustralian 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...
's James McMillan Brown in the March 1974 election
Western Australian state election, 1974
Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 30 March 1974 to elect all 51 members to the Legislative Assembly and 15 members to the 30-seat Legislative Council...
for the seat of Merredin-Yilgarn.
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
Lang Hancock
Langley Frederick George "Lang" Hancock was an Australian iron ore magnate from Western Australia who maintained a high profile in the competing spheres of business and politics...
through the party president from which offers of campaign assistance were made to parliamentary officeholders to vote to oust Dick Old, the parliamentary leader. 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
Charles Court
Sir Charles Walter Michael Court, was a Western Australian politician, 21st Premier of Western Australia and member for the seat of Nedlands for the Liberal Party for nearly 30 years.-Early life:...
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, Matt Stephens
Matt Stephens (politician)
Matthew Ernest "Matt" Stephens is a former Western Australian politician. He represented Stirling in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for the Country Party from 1971 to 1989. He was Minister for Conservation and Environment and Minister for Fisheries and Forestries from 1974 to...
and Ray McPharlin
Ray McPharlin
Walter Raymond "Ray" McPharlin was the Country Party member for Mount Marshall in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1967 to 1983....
with Fletcher as president. The name was initially disallowed after objections from the National Party in Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania but later formalised as the National Party of Australia (WA). The two rural parties worked independently of one another whilst quietly (and occasionally, publicly) feuding including an impasse when NCP members refused to associate with NPA members in 1985. The situation was finally resolved in late 1985 under Cowan's leadership and the reunited party progressed to form alliances with the 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...
.
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
Conscience vote
A conscience vote or free vote is a type of vote in a legislative body where legislators are allowed to vote according to their own personal conscience rather than according to an official line set down by their political party....
on the bill. 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.
The conservative parties were in opposition through most of the 1980s with Labor
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...
yet to suffer from major fallout from the WA Inc
WA Inc
WA Inc was a political scandal in Western Australia. In the 1980s, the state government, which was led for much of the period by premier Brian Burke, engaged in business dealings with several prominent businessmen, including Alan Bond, Laurie Connell and Warren Anderson...
fiasco and the 1987 stock market crash. In 1989 Liberal opposition leader Barry MacKinnon was pushing for the Nationals to help block supply
Government budget
A government budget is a legal document that is often passed by the legislature, and approved by the chief executive-or president. For example, only certain types of revenue may be imposed and collected...
in the Upper House to topple the Dowding government
Peter Dowding
Peter McCallum Dowding SC was the 24th Premier of Western Australia, serving from 25 February 1988 until his resignation on 12 February 1990 after an internal party dispute....
. Cowan refused to cooperate knowing that a small swing to the Liberals in the coming election
Western Australian state election, 1989
Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 4 February 1989 to elect all 57 members to the Legislative Assembly and all 34 members to the Legislative Council...
could see them (the Liberals) gain as many as nine seats and an absolute majority in the Assembly
Western Australian Legislative Assembly
The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Perth....
, thus weakening the Nationals' position. In February the following year, Cowan and the Nationals had reversed their stance and decided to block supply in a bid to present themselves as a decisive and consistent conservative force.
In the 1993 state election
Western Australian state election, 1993
Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 6 February 1993 to elect all 57 members to the Legislative Assembly and all 34 members to the Legislative Council...
, 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
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
which had been handed down the year before. The Liberals 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 and Cowan was Deputy Premier
Premier of Western Australia
The Premier of Western Australia is the head of the executive government in the Australian State of Western Australia. The Premier has similar functions in Western Australia to those performed by the Prime Minister of Australia at the national level, subject to the different Constitutions...
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
Richard Court
Richard Fairfax Court AC , was a Western Australian politician, representing the seat of Nedlands in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for the Liberal Party of Australia from 1982 to 2001. He served as Premier of Western Australia from 1993 to 2001.Court was born into an old political...
was Premier during the period.
In October 2001 he resigned from the Western Australian Parliament to contest the Senate election for the Nationals. Cowan managed 2.3% of the primary vote, an increase from the previous federal election but unsatisfactory given Cowan's profile and the party's belief that he was the best hope since its last representative, Sir Tom Drake-Brockman, retired from politics in 1978. The Senate seat was also contested by sitting Liberal
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...
Senator Ross Lightfoot
Ross Lightfoot
Philip Ross Lightfoot is a former Australian politician. He was a Liberal member of the Australian Senate from 1997 to 2008, representing the state of Western Australia....
and One Nation's Graeme Campbell. Lightfoot retained the seat.
Post-parliament
After his retirement, Cowan re-established himself at his farm in NarembeenNarembeen, Western Australia
Narembeen is a town in the Western Australia wheatbelt. It is 286 km, almost due east, from Perth, the capital of WA. It is the major settlement in the Shire of Narembeen, in which the major industries are growing cereal crops and raising cattle and sheep....
as well as taking appointments on a number of boards including:
- Chancellor of Edith Cowan UniversityEdith Cowan UniversityEdith Cowan University is located in Perth, Western Australia. It was named after the first woman to be elected to an Australian Parliament, Edith Cowan, and is the only Australian university named after a woman....
- Chairman of Wescorp QA
- Chairman of the State Agriculture Biotechnology Centre at Murdoch UniversityMurdoch UniversityMurdoch University is a public university based in Perth, Australia. It began operations as the state's second university in 1973, and accepted its first students in 1975...
- Chairman of the Advisory Group of UWAUniversity of Western AustraliaThe University of Western Australia was established by an Act of the Western Australian Parliament in February 1911, and began teaching students for the first time in 1913. It is the oldest university in the state of Western Australia and the only university in the state to be a member of the...
's Centre for Enterprise Management and Innovation - Chair of the Institute of Natural Resources Management at Notre Dame UniversityUniversity of Notre Dame AustraliaThe University of Notre Dame Australia is a private Roman Catholic university established in 1989 in the Western Australian port city of Fremantle, . While the University of Notre Dame Australia has "strong collegial links" with the American University of Notre Dame located in Notre Dame, Indiana,...
- 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
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
from Murdoch University
Murdoch University
Murdoch University is a public university based in Perth, Australia. It began operations as the state's second university in 1973, and accepted its first students in 1975...
. 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 West Coast Eagles Football Club, with Steve Scudamore from KPMG
KPMG
KPMG is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the Big Four auditors, along with Deloitte, Ernst & Young and PwC. Its global headquarters is located in Amstelveen, Netherlands....
.