Senator Ron Boswell has given his valedictory speech, bringing to an end a 31-year political career for the Father of the Senate.
Boswell was first elected to the Senate as a Nationals member from Queensland at the federal election of March 5, 1983, the election that brought the Hawke government to power. He was re-elected in 1987, 1990, 1996, 2001 and 2007. [Read more…]
Peter Garrett delivered his valedictory speech to the House of Representatives on the final day of the 43rd Parliament.
First elected as the Labor member for Kingsford Smith in 2004, Abbott was a Cabinet minister in the Rudd and Gillard governments between 2007 and 2013. He was Environment minister in the first Rudd government and School Education minister in the Gillard government. [Read more…]
The Minister for Defence, Stephen Smith, has become the latest minister to announce his retirement.
Smith made his announcement at the end of Question Time today. He will continue as Foreign Minister until the election but will not contest his Western Australian electorate of Perth.
He has been the member for Perth since 1993 and has served in seven parliaments. [Read more…]
Rob Oakeshott was the independent member for Lyne for five years from 2008 until 2013.
Oakeshott was previously a Nationals and an independent member of the NSW Legislative Assembly. He won Lyne at a by-election in September 2008, following the retirement of the former Nationals leader, Mark Vaile. [Read more…]