Ian Sinclair
Encyclopedia
Ian McCahon Sinclair AC (born 10 June 1929), is an Australian politician and former leader of the National Party of Australia
.
Sinclair was born in Sydney, the son of a suburban accountant. He was educated at Knox Grammar School
and at the University of Sydney
, where he graduated in arts and law. Later, he practised law in Sydney, but soon developed an interest in farming, and acquired a property near Tamworth
, in the New England
region of northern New South Wales. In 1956, he married Margaret Tarrant, with whom he had three children. After the early death of his wife, in 1970, he married again, to former Miss Australia
1961, Rosemary Fenton, with whom he has one son. His eldest daughter, Fiona, is married to the former Australian politician Peter King
.
member of the New South Wales Legislative Council
, and at the 1963 election, he was elected to the House of Representatives
for the Division of New England
.
Two years afterwards, Sinclair was promoted to the ministry, becoming Minister for Social Services
in the Liberal
-Country Party coalition
government of Robert Menzies
. In 1968, he became Minister for Shipping and Transport
. He and Doug Anthony
were seen as the most likely successors to the veteran Country Party leader John McEwen
, but when McEwen retired in 1971, it was Anthony who was elected party Leader, while Sinclair was elected Deputy Leader, becoming at the same time Minister for Primary Industry
.
After spending the three years of the Whitlam
Labor
government in opposition, Sinclair again became Minister for Primary Industry in 1975, in the Fraser
government. He held this position until 1979, when he was forced to resign from the ministry after being charged with forgery. The charges arose from a dispute over his father's will, on which he was accused of having forged his father's signature. He was acquitted of these charges in August 1980, and then returned to the ministry as Minister for Special Trade Representations
. After the 1980 elections he became Minister for Communications
. In May 1982, he became Minister for Defence, a post he held until the defeat of the Fraser government at the 1983 election
.
(NPA), reflecting the need to broaden the party's base beyond its declining rural constituency. The party aggressively challenged the Liberals in urban seats, but had little success except sometimes in Queensland
.
Sinclair also tried to position the NPA as the party of social conservatism. During the 1984 election he created a controversy by blaming the appearance of AIDS on what he claimed was the Hawke
Labor government's policy of "condoning" homosexuality. Sinclair had a poor relationship with Liberal leader Andrew Peacock
, and supported his more conservative rival, John Howard
. When Howard became Liberal leader in 1985, the two formed a close partnership.
This alliance was disrupted by the determination of the extremely conservative Queensland
branch of the NPA and its leader, Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen
, to seize the national political agenda. The Queensland NPA forced the federal party to break off the coalition with the Liberals, and launched a "Joh for Canberra
" campaign with the aim of making the 76-year-old Bjelke-Petersen Prime Minister at the 1987 election. This campaign was a complete failure: the Hawke government was re-elected in July 1987, the NPA lost seats, particularly in Queensland, and Sinclair and Howard both found their leaderships under pressure.
Sinclair wanted to reduce the number of Asian people immigrating to Australia.
In August 1988, he said:
In May 1989, there were simultaneous, co-ordinated leadership coups in both parties, with Peacock displacing Howard as Liberal leader and Charles Blunt
replacing Sinclair. When Blunt lost his seat at the 1990 election, Sinclair made a determined attempt to regain the NPA leadership, but was defeated by Tim Fischer
, and retired to the back-bench. By this time he was the Father of the House of Representatives. He was also the last serving Australian politician to be a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, entitling him to the prefix "The Right Honourable
".
Aged nearly 70 and having had heart problems for some time, Sinclair announced his intention to retire from parliament at the 1998 election. In February 1998 Howard appointed Sinclair as Chairman of the Constitutional Convention
which debated the possibility of Australia becoming a republic, a role in which he won praise from all sides. When the Speaker of the House
, Bob Halverson
, suddenly resigned in March, Sinclair was elected to replace him.
Sinclair tried to persuade the NPA to allow him to stand again in New England, but they had already chosen another candidate and Sinclair had no choice but to retire, which he did at the October 1998 election.
In January 2001, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia
(AC).
Sinclair is now the President of AUSTCARE, an international, non-profit, independent aid organisation.
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...
.
Sinclair was born in Sydney, the son of a suburban accountant. He was educated at Knox Grammar School
Knox Grammar School
Knox Grammar School is an independent, Uniting Church, day and boarding school for boys, located in Wahroonga, an upper North Shore suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
and at the University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
, where he graduated in arts and law. Later, he practised law in Sydney, but soon developed an interest in farming, and acquired a property near Tamworth
Tamworth, New South Wales
Tamworth is a city in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Peel River, Tamworth, which contains an estimated population of 47,595 people, is the major regional centre for southern New England and in the local government area of Tamworth Regional Council. The city...
, in the New England
New England (Australia)
New England or New England North West is the name given to a generally undefined region about 60 kilometres inland, that includes the Northern Tablelands and the North West Slopes regions in the north of the state of New South Wales, Australia.-History:The region has been occupied by Indigenous...
region of northern New South Wales. In 1956, he married Margaret Tarrant, with whom he had three children. After the early death of his wife, in 1970, he married again, to former Miss Australia
Miss Australia
Miss Australia is the title for the winner of the Miss Australia Quest/Awards, which ran from 1954 until 2000, when the last Miss Australia was named....
1961, Rosemary Fenton, with whom he has one son. His eldest daughter, Fiona, is married to the former Australian politician Peter King
Peter King (Australian politician)
Peter Edward King , Australian politician, was a Liberal Party of Australia member of the Australian House of Representatives from November 2001 to October 2004, representing the seat of Wentworth, New South Wales. He was born in Bingara, New South Wales, and was educated at the Shore School,...
.
Political career
In 1961 Sinclair became a Country PartyNational 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...
member of the New South Wales Legislative Council
New South Wales Legislative Council
The New South Wales Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of New South Wales in Australia. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney. The Assembly is referred to as the lower house and the Council as...
, and at the 1963 election, he was elected to the House of Representatives
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....
for the Division of New England
Division of New England
The Division of New England is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of New South Wales. It is located in the north-east of the state, adjoining the border with Queensland. It includes such towns as Armidale, Ashford, Barraba, Bingara, Bundarra, Glen Innes, Gunnedah, Guyra, Inverell,...
.
Two years afterwards, Sinclair was promoted to the ministry, becoming Minister for Social Services
Minister for Human Services (Australia)
The position of Minister for Human Services within Australian politics is currently held by the Hon. Tanya Plibersek MP. The Minister is responsible for a number of welfare agencies and administers her portfolio through the Department of Human Services and its component bodies:* Child Support...
in the 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...
-Country Party coalition
Coalition (Australia)
The Coalition in Australian politics refers to a group of centre-right parties that has existed in the form of a coalition agreement since 1922...
government of Robert Menzies
Robert Menzies
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....
. In 1968, he became Minister for Shipping and Transport
Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government (Australia)
The Australian Minister for Infrastructure and Transport is the Hon Anthony Albanese. On 3 December 2007 he replaced the Minister for Transport and Regional Services, the Hon Mark Vaile, who held office since August 2006, and the Minister for Local Government, Territories and Roads, the Hon Jim...
. He and Doug Anthony
Doug Anthony
John Douglas Anthony, AC, CH , is a former Australian politician. He was leader of the National Party from 1971 to 1984, and Deputy Prime Minister from 1971 to 1972 and again from 1975 to 1983.-Early life:...
were seen as the most likely successors to the veteran Country Party leader John McEwen
John McEwen
Sir John "Black Jack" McEwen, GCMG, CH , was an Australian politician and the 18th Prime Minister of Australia...
, but when McEwen retired in 1971, it was Anthony who was elected party Leader, while Sinclair was elected Deputy Leader, becoming at the same time Minister for Primary Industry
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Australia)
The current Australian Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is Senator the Hon Joe Ludwig.-Portfolio responsibilities:The minister administers his portfolio through the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and its component bodies:...
.
After spending the three years of the Whitlam
Gough Whitlam
Edward Gough Whitlam, AC, QC , known as Gough Whitlam , served as the 21st Prime Minister of Australia. Whitlam led the Australian Labor Party to power at the 1972 election and retained government at the 1974 election, before being dismissed by Governor-General Sir John Kerr at the climax of the...
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...
government in opposition, Sinclair again became Minister for Primary Industry in 1975, in the Fraser
Malcolm Fraser
John Malcolm Fraser AC, CH, GCL, PC is a former Australian Liberal Party politician who was the 22nd Prime Minister of Australia. He came to power in the 1975 election following the dismissal of the Whitlam Labor government, in which he played a key role...
government. He held this position until 1979, when he was forced to resign from the ministry after being charged with forgery. The charges arose from a dispute over his father's will, on which he was accused of having forged his father's signature. He was acquitted of these charges in August 1980, and then returned to the ministry as Minister for Special Trade Representations
Minister for Trade (Australia)
The Australian Minister for Trade has been Dr. Craig Emerson since 14 September 2010.-Portfolio:Currently the Minister for Trade administers the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade jointly with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, although prior to 1987 there was a separate Department of Trade...
. After the 1980 elections he became Minister for Communications
Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (Australia)
The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy is currently Senator the Hon Stephen Conroy. He replaced Senator the Hon Helen Coonan on 3 December 2007.-Portfolio:...
. In May 1982, he became Minister for Defence, a post he held until the defeat of the Fraser government at the 1983 election
Australian federal election, 1983
Federal elections were held in Australia on 5 March 1983. All 125 seats in the House of Representatives, and all 64 seats in the Senate, were up for election, following a double dissolution...
.
Party leader
In January 1984 Anthony resigned the leadership of the National Country Party (as the Country Party had been renamed in 1975), and Sinclair succeeded him. Under his leadership the party was renamed the National Party of AustraliaNational 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...
(NPA), reflecting the need to broaden the party's base beyond its declining rural constituency. The party aggressively challenged the Liberals in urban seats, but had little success except sometimes in 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...
.
Sinclair also tried to position the NPA as the party of social conservatism. During the 1984 election he created a controversy by blaming the appearance of AIDS on what he claimed was the Hawke
Bob Hawke
Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....
Labor government's policy of "condoning" homosexuality. Sinclair had a poor relationship with Liberal leader Andrew Peacock
Andrew Peacock
Andrew Sharp Peacock AC, GCL , is a former Australian Liberal politician. He was a minister in the Gorton, McMahon and Fraser governments, and was federal leader of the Liberal Party of Australia 1983–1985 and 1989–1990...
, and supported his more conservative rival, John Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
. When Howard became Liberal leader in 1985, the two formed a close partnership.
This alliance was disrupted by the determination of the extremely conservative 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...
branch of the NPA and its leader, Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen
Joh Bjelke-Petersen
Sir Johannes "Joh" Bjelke-Petersen, KCMG , was an Australian politician. He was the longest-serving and longest-lived Premier of Queensland, holding office from 1968 to 1987, a period that saw considerable economic development in the state...
, to seize the national political agenda. The Queensland NPA forced the federal party to break off the coalition with the Liberals, and launched a "Joh for Canberra
Joh for Canberra
The Joh for Canberra or Joh for PM campaign was an attempt by the Queensland branch of the National Party of Australia to install Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen as Prime Minister of Australia....
" campaign with the aim of making the 76-year-old Bjelke-Petersen Prime Minister at the 1987 election. This campaign was a complete failure: the Hawke government was re-elected in July 1987, the NPA lost seats, particularly in Queensland, and Sinclair and Howard both found their leaderships under pressure.
Sinclair wanted to reduce the number of Asian people immigrating to Australia.
In August 1988, he said:
"What we are saying is that if there is any risk of an undue build-up of Asians as against others in the community, then you need to control it ... I certainly believe, that at the moment we need ... to reduce the number of Asians ... We don't want the divisions of South Africa, we don't want the divisions of London. We really don't want the colour divisions of the United States."
In May 1989, there were simultaneous, co-ordinated leadership coups in both parties, with Peacock displacing Howard as Liberal leader and Charles Blunt
Charles Blunt
Charles William Blunt Australian politician and businessman, was leader of the National Party of Australia from 1989 to 1990....
replacing Sinclair. When Blunt lost his seat at the 1990 election, Sinclair made a determined attempt to regain the NPA leadership, but was defeated by Tim Fischer
Tim Fischer
Timothy Andrew Fischer, AC , is a former Australian politician. He served as Deputy Prime Minister in the Howard Government from 1996 before retiring from Cabinet in 1999...
, and retired to the back-bench. By this time he was the Father of the House of Representatives. He was also the last serving Australian politician to be a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, entitling him to the prefix "The Right Honourable
The Right Honourable
The Right Honourable is an honorific prefix that is traditionally applied to certain people in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Anglophone Caribbean and other Commonwealth Realms, and occasionally elsewhere...
".
Aged nearly 70 and having had heart problems for some time, Sinclair announced his intention to retire from parliament at the 1998 election. In February 1998 Howard appointed Sinclair as Chairman of the Constitutional Convention
Constitutional Convention (Australia)
In Australian history, the term Constitutional Convention refers to four distinct gatherings.-1891 convention:The 1891 Constitutional Convention was held in Sydney in March 1891 to consider a draft Constitution for the proposed federation of the British colonies in Australia and New Zealand. There...
which debated the possibility of Australia becoming a republic, a role in which he won praise from all sides. When the Speaker of the House
Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives
The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Parliament of Australia. The presiding officer in the upper house is the President of the Senate....
, Bob Halverson
Bob Halverson
Robert George "Bob" Halverson, OBE is a former Australian politician, air force officer and diplomat. Born in Melbourne, he served in the Royal Australian Air Force and Royal Air Force from 1956 to 1981 holding the rank of Group Captain and was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in...
, suddenly resigned in March, Sinclair was elected to replace him.
Sinclair tried to persuade the NPA to allow him to stand again in New England, but they had already chosen another candidate and Sinclair had no choice but to retire, which he did at the October 1998 election.
In January 2001, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
(AC).
Sinclair is now the President of AUSTCARE, an international, non-profit, independent aid organisation.