Ed Casey

Edmund Denis (Ed) Casey (2 January 1933 – 1 May 2006) was best known as a former leader of the Australian Labor Party in Queensland between 1978 and 1982. He also served as Primary Industries Minister in the government of Wayne Goss between 1989 and 1995. Casey was the member for Mackay in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland between 1969 and 1995.^[1]

Early life and career

Of Irish Catholic background, Casey started his working life as a bank clerk before entering his family's construction business. . He was active in local government, becoming deputy mayor of the City of Mackay. Shortly before the 1969 election, he won Labor Party preselection for the seat of Mackay in the state parliament. He lost preselection for the Labor Party in the mid-1970s but was re-elected twice as an independent.

Leader of the ALP

Casey was readmitted to the Labor caucus in 1978. In November 1978 he became Labor leader, replacing Tom Burns who had resigned unexpectedly. (Encyclopedia of Australian Events 1978, The Macquarie Library Pty Ltd accessed 2 May 2006). He contested the 1980 election as leader of the Queensland ALP but failed to make an impression on the Coalition Government led by Joh Bjelke-Petersen. He was narrowly re-elected as the Leader of the Queensland ALP after the 1980 election.

Casey made an offer to the Queensland Liberal Party after the 1980 election to join with the ALP to force a redistribution with one-vote-one-value. Relations between the Liberals and National Party in the Coalition were poor, with the Liberal Party disadvantaged by the electoral system in place. He renewed his offer in 1982 when relations within the Coalition were poor, but it was again rebuffed despite a Liberal Convention in June voting against the current electoral system. Casey lost the leadership of the ALP to Keith Wright in October 1982. (Encyclopedia of Australian Events, "1982" The Macquarie Library Pty Ltd, accessed 2 May 2006)

Minister

Casey was re-elected comfortably in the 1983 and 1986 election. By this stage, the popularity of the National Party Government had declined and the Coalition with the Liberals had ended. Wayne Goss was elected as the new Premier in late 1989 after the Fitzgerald Inquiry had uncovered serious problems with corruption in the Queensland police force.

Goss appointed Casey as his Primary Industries Minister. He reformed the sugar industry, established agricultural academies and set up a drought relief task force. He resigned from the Ministry and from Parliament in 1995 due to health problems from diabetes. He died of a stroke on 1 May 2006.

While Casey was an ALP leader who did not become Premier, he was however a very popular member of his seat of Mackay and at his last election in 1992 he won every booth in the electorate.

References

• Courier Mail "Ed Casey dies" 2 May 2006
• AAP News on Yahoo "Former Qld ALP boss Casey a visionary" 2 May 2006
• 2004 Queensland Elections Mackay on ABC Online