Patrick Secker was first elected as the Liberal member for Barker at the 1998 federal election.
He was re-elected in 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2010. In March 2012, he lost preselection to Mount Gambier lawyer Tony Pasin. In a preselection ballot, Secker polled 78 votes to Pasin’s 164, with a third candidate securing 40 votes.
Secker was Opposition Whip before leaving the Parliament. He never served as a minister. [Read more…]
After a 27-year parliamentary career, Kim Beazley delivered his valedictory speech to the House of Representatives on September 20, 2007.
Beazley’s political career began in 1980, when he was elected as the member for Swan, in Western Australia. He was appointed Minister for Aviation in Bob Hawke’s first government in 1983. In 1984, he became Minister for Defence. He served in a variety of portfolios throughout the entire duration of the Hawke and Keating governments, including Transport, Employment, and Finance. He was Deputy Prime Minister in the final years of the Keating government.
In 1996, Beazley became ALP leader and Leader of the Opposition. Despite securing a 4.61% swing and 50.98% of the two-party-preferred vote at the 1998 federal election, and winning 18 seats from the Howard government, Beazley failed to win office. He also lost the 2001 election and relinquished the leadership to Simon Crean. [Read more…]