Graeme Campbell (politician)

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Graeme Campbell
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Kalgoorlie
In office
18 October 1980 – 3 October 1998
Preceded by Mick Cotter
Succeeded by Barry Haase
Personal details
Born (1939-08-13) 13 August 1939
Oxfordshire, England
Nationality English Australian
Political party Labor (1980–95)
Independent (1995–96, 2004-present)
Australia First (1996–2001)
One Nation (2001-2004)
Occupation Various

Graeme Campbell (born 13 August 1939) is an Australian politician. He represented the vast seat of Kalgoorlie in the Australian House of Representatives from 1980 to 1998.[1]

He was born in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England,[1] came to Australia as a child and was educated at Urrbrae Agricultural High School in South Australia. He worked in a range of occupations before entering federal parliament in October 1980 as a Labor member.

Considered a maverick, he was an ardent supporter of the mining industry,[2] and crossed the floor on gold tax in 1988,[3] and was also a vocal critic of the Mabo decision[4] and sanctions on the apartheid regime in South Africa, and a proponent of uranium mining. In October 1993, and again in May 1995, he delivered a speech at the national seminar of the Australian League of Rights, a far-right group for which he was believed to hold sympathies,[5] and in by-elections in Mackellar and Warringah (safe Liberal seats on the Northern Beaches of Sydney) in 1994, he urged electors to vote for Australians Against Further Immigration (AAFI).[6]

After numerous run-ins with the Labor leadership and considerable media attention to his exploits, he was finally disendorsed and removed from the Party on 30 November 1995[7] after addressing an AAFI meeting where he criticised Labor's immigration policies. He continued to sit in parliament as an Independent, easily winning the 1996 election.[8]

In June 1996, Campbell founded the Australia First Party,[9] but was officially reckoned as an independent. He was defeated for reelection in 1998[8] after being eliminated on the seventh count.[10] Campbell blamed his loss on Australia First being eclipsed by One Nation. In 2009, he claimed that if not for the presence of a One Nation candidate, he'd have picked up an additional 8.5 percent of the vote, which would have been enough to keep him in the race.[11] He remained Australia First's leader until June 2001, when he left the party to stand (unsuccessfully) as a One Nation Senate candidate in Western Australia. In 2004, he attempted unsuccessfully to regain his old federal seat as an independent.[8] In 2007, he stood for the Senate in Western Australia in the federal election but only achieved 0.13% of the vote.[12]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Biography for Campbell, Graeme". Parliament of Australia. August 2008. Retrieved 2010-01-24. 
  2. ↑ Catherine Menagh (2 October 1986). "Dust Makes the Wealth of Kalgoorlie and its Golden Mile". The Age. 
  3. ↑ "House of Representatives Official Hansard". 9 December 1999. p. 37. Retrieved 2010-01-24. 
  4. ↑ Eric D. Butler (3 December 1993). "The Graeme Campbell Tragedy". On Target. Australian League of Rights. Retrieved 2010-01-24. 
  5. ↑ David Thompson (11 August 1995). "The Campbell Affair and the League of Rights". On Target. Australian League of Rights. Retrieved 2010-01-24. 
  6. ↑ James Jupp (2002). From white Australia to Woomera: the story of Australian immigration. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 136. ISBN 978-0-521-53140-5. 
  7. ↑ Scott Bennett (16 February 1999). "The Decline in Support for Australian Major Parties and the Prospect of Minority Government". Retrieved 2010-01-24. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Antony Green (21 December 2007). "Kalgoorlie". Australia Votes 2007. ABC News. Retrieved 2010-01-24. 
  9. ↑ "The Eight Core Policies of the Australia First Party". 2005. Retrieved 2010-01-24. 
  10. ↑ 1998 Western Australia election results
  11. ↑ Destiny Magazine, Issue #6
  12. ↑ ?Antony Green (2007). "Senate Results Western Australia". Federal Election 2007. ABC News. Retrieved 2010-01-24. 

Bibliography

  • Graeme Campbell and Mark Uhlmann. Australia Betrayed: How Australian democracy has been undermined and our naive trust betrayed, Foundation Press, Perth, 1995. ISBN 1-875778-02-0
Parliament of Australia
Preceded by
Mick Cotter		 Member for Kalgoorlie
1980–1998 		Succeeded by
Barry Haase
Authority control
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