Rob Borbidge

Robert Edward Borbidge, (born August 12, 1954), Australian politician, was the 35th Premier of Queensland, and leader of the Queensland branch of the National Party. His term as Premier was contemporaneous with the One Nation Party of Pauline Hanson, which would see him lose office within two years.

Early life

Borbidge was born in the town of Ararat in Victoria in 1954. After becoming involved in the affairs of the Country Party at a young age, he unsuccessfully stood for election for the Victorian state seat of Rippon. His parents owned a sheep property and were attracted to Queensland by Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen's abolition of death duties, moving to the Gold Coast. He worked in his family motel business. At this time, the Gold Coast was the home of the property development that the Bjelke-Petersen government actively fostered in close co-operation with developers, supported by a group of developers known as the "white-shoe brigade".

Parliamentary and Ministerial career

In an attempt to broaden its electoral base and reduce the influence of its coaltion partner, the Liberal Party, the Country Party renamed itself as the National Party and contested seats in urbanised areas such as the Gold Coast outside of its rural heartland. As a sign of this, in 1980 Borbidge contested and won the seat of Surfers Paradise from the sitting Liberal member, who had alleged corrupt dealings in property development by the Bjelke-Petersen government.

By the late 1980's allegations of official corruption arising out of the Fitzgerald Inquiry had engufled Bjelke-Petersen, who was replaced as Premier and National Party leader in 1987 by Mike Ahern. Borbidge, as a member of the new generation of Nationals untouched by political scandal, was promoted by Ahern to Cabinet as Minister for Small Business, Communications and Technology. He received the important portfolio of Tourism in 1989 and was briefly made Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Tourism by Ahern's successor Russell Cooper before he lost office at the hands of the Labor Party's Wayne Goss in the elections of 1989.

National Party Leadership

In the post-election partyroom ballot, Borbidge was elected Deputy Leader of the party. The shell-shocked Nationals worked at rebuilding the fragile coalition with the Liberals and adjusting to opposition after 32 years in office. In December 1991 an inquiry by the Criminal Justice Commission was announced to investigate irregularities in the travel allowances of members of Parliament. Cooper announced that he was one of the individuals under investigation and resigned as National Party leader in favour of Borbidge.

In the lead-up to the 1992 elections Borbidge attempted to make overtures to the Liberals about reforming the coalition, but was rebuffed by the Liberals, who were aiming to finally achieve long-awaited senior coalition party status in Queensland. This did not eventuate, Goss remained in office, and the chastened parties discussed merging before agreeing to sign a new coalition agreement.

Borbidge and Liberal leader Joan Sheldon failed initially to make much headway against the Goss government, with some disgruntled Nationals comparing Borbidge unfavourably to Bjelke-Petersen. In response to speculation about the leadership, Borbidge resigned as leader in June 1994 before being re-elected unopposed.

The Goss government's fortunes suffered a sharp reversal when it announced plans to construct a bypass through areas of bushland that comprised significant reserves of koala habitats. Borbidge skillfully harnessed the groundswell of opposition arising from this and other controversial decisions to encourage a large protest vote. Combined with the cynical mood engendered by the wildly unpopular Keating Labor federal government, this protest vote destroyed the Goss government's majority in the elections of July 1995. Goss relied on a majority of one vote in the Legislative Assembly. When the Court of Disputed returns ordered a reballot after alleged irregularities in the narrowly Labor held electorate of Mundingburra which the Liberal candidate, Frank Tanti, won, the numbers in 89-seat Legislative Assembly were equal, with 44 Coalition seats versus 44 Labor seats and one Independent. The independent member for Gladstone, Liz Cunningham, announced that she would support the coalition and Borbidge became Premier.

Premiership

The Borbidge government was almost immediately beset by scandal when it was revealed that during the Mundingburra by-election campaign, Borbidge and Cooper (now Minister for Police) had signed a secret Memorandum of Understanding with the Quensland Police Union guaranteeing the QPU the repeal of unpopular Goss government measures, the power of veto over senior police appointments, and increased funding in return for a donation of $ 20,000 to the by-election campaign. This close relationship evoked many memories of the Bjelke-Petersen era, where relations between the executive and the police service were (sometimes improperly) close.

The matter was referred to the Criminal Justice Commission (CJC), a body that had been established on the recommendation of the Fitzgerald Inquiry and that was regarded poorly both by the National Party and the Queensland Police. Senior barrister Kenneth Carruthers QC was appointed to lead the inquiry, which also investigated an allegedly improper agreement between the Labor Party and the Sporting Shooter's Association.

The government became embroiled in a war of words with the CJC, and Sheldon's first budget as Treasurer reduced funding for the body. In October 1996 the government announced an inquiry into the CJC itself. This had a dramatic sequel when after the new inquiry, led by Peter Connolly QC and Kevin Ryan QC requested that Carruthers hand over all records from his inquiry, he resigned without completing his inquiry, alleging interference. The Carruthers Inquiry was completed by Bob Gotterson QC and Brendan Butler SC, who ultimately exonerated all the participants from facing potential criminal charges.

When the National Party lost power to a minority government led by Labor leader Peter Beattie, Borbidge returned to the position of Opposition Leader. After Beattie's government secured a landslide re-election victory at the 2001 state election, Borbidge vacated the National Party leadership and created controversy when he immediately resigned from parliament, forcing a by-election in his seat. Voter backlash at having to return to the polls so quickly resulted in the election of an independent member in the traditionally safe National seat.