Peter Abetz

The Reverend Peter Abetz
Member of the Western Australian Parliament for Southern River
In office 6 September 2008 – 11 March 2017
Preceded by	Paul Andrews
Succeeded by	Terry Healy
Personal details
Born	(1952-12-17) 17 December 1952 Stuttgart, Germany
Political party	Liberal Party of Australia
Relations	Eric Abetz Otto Abetz
Occupation	Minister of religion
Website	http://www.peterabetz.com

Peter Abetz (born 17 December 1952) was an Australian politician who was a Liberal member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 2008 to 2017, representing Southern River.

Biography

Abetz is one of six children. His parents migrated to Tasmania from Germany in 1961. His father, a radio technician, decided to emigrate after reading in a newspaper that a trade mission led by the minister responsible for the Tasmanian Hydro-Electric Commission was visiting Stuttgart in search of skilled workers for employment in "The Hydro's" power projects, on which his father subsequently worked. Abetz's younger brother, Eric Abetz has represented the state of Tasmania in the Australian Senate since 1994, serving as a minister in the Howard and Abbott governments. Abetz is the great-nephew of convicted Nazi war criminal, SS-Brigadeführer Otto Abetz, Nazi German ambassador to Vichy France from 1940 to 1944. He is also related on his mother's side to German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.

Abetz attended Moonah and Blackmans Bay State Schools, completed his high schooling at Taroona High School and matriculated in one year at Hobart Matriculation College in 1969. He holds a Bachelor of Divinity from the Reformed Theological College in Geelong. He is married to Jenny (née Hoogenhout) and has five adult children.

In 1974, Peter Abetz worked as a farm advisory officer in the Tasmanian Department of Agriculture based in Huonville, before running a small statewide rural supplies business. After completing a Bachelor of Divinity, he was ordained as a pastor in the Christian Reformed Churches of Australia and served in that capacity for 25 years before entering Parliament. He served congregations in Dandenong, Victoria, Willetton, Western Australia and North Beach, Western Australia. On being elected to parliament he took up residence in the electorate of Southern River.

Political career

Abetz ran as a candidate for the Labor-held Legislative Assembly seat of Southern River in the 2008 Western Australian state election. He defeated the sitting member, Paul Andrews.

Abetz served as a member of the Education & Health Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly in his first term. Since 2013, he has been serving as the Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Delegation Legislation.

In 2010 he introduced a private member's bill for the purpose of providing additional protection to franchisees. The Bill proceeded to the second reading stage, but was defeated in November 2011 on the casting vote of the Speaker. As a Christian, Abetz has been called one of "God's squad" in the WA Parliament for his eagerness to mention his faith in his public life.

At the 2013 state election Abetz achieved a 15% swing and during the peak of his term in office, Abetz held his seat with 67% of the two-party-preferred vote. Nonetheless, in the 2017 general election he suffered a swing of 20.8%, the largest against any sitting member.

Public Interest & Opinion

Abetz has a strong interest in his faith of Christianity. As a former pastor, he has referred to the safe schools campaign as a "militant gay lesbian lobby" and is highly concerned for Australian children due to Islamist and immigrant children attending mainstream public schools in the Western Australian electorate of Southern River. He played on the delicate emotions of parents, guardians, and carers of children by spreading misleading and fear-inducing information in opposition to the Safe Schools Program. Abetz has attempted to use his position of power to condemn and further marginalise people belonging to the LGBTQI community. In particular interest to the public was the speech directed at well respected Australian Aboriginal elder, Patrick Dobson. The speech addressed Australian Aboriginal culture and was defined by many politicians as "poor-taste". This was evident with a mass walk out during his speech in parliament. Abetz is not educated, nor trained in Australian Aboriginal culture and has a following of predominately middle class, Christian, Caucasian, far right wing voters and supporters that claim he is a hard working and nice man; yet cannot identify items he has implemented to improve the community for everyone.

Abetz had a very keen interest in small business issues, such as tax benefits for owners and religious institutions. He has sympathy and great interest for his great uncle and convicted Nazi war criminal, Otto Abetz.

During his term in office, Abetz was synonymous with "new roads". The current works located at Nicholson and Bannister roads in Canning Vale display the lack of professionalism and planning; with many commuters left with stand still traffic without any traffic controllers or similar methods of traffic management. In addition to this, reducing speed limits had been another one of his biggest interests when he was the MP for Southern River.

Abetz claimed to have an interest in education, in spite of over-crowded primary schools (such as Bletchley Park Primary) and no new schools built for the six years prior to conceding defeat of the seat of Southern River. Abetz never attended, nor graduated from university himself. He also claimed to be an enthusiastic member of the Volkswagen Car Club of Western Australia and was incredibly grateful for the tax payer funded oppurtunity during his term in office. The Volkswagen combi van was symbolic in his unsuccessful 2017 election campaign.

Many residents of the electorate of Southern River celebrated the end of his narcisstic and divisive campaign with social media posts sharing the elation and the triumph of real universal love for all of humanity.