Peter Lewis (politician)

Ivan Peter Lewis (born 1 January 1942) is an Australian politician. Lewis was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly between 1979 and 2006 in the electorates of Hammond, Ridley, Murray-Mallee and Mallee.^[1] Between 1979 and 2000 he was in the House as a Liberal member. From 2000 until 2006 he served as an Independent.^[2] His decision to become speaker in a Labor Party government resulted in Mike Rann becoming Premier from the 2002 election.^[3] He was the 2004 awardee of the World Peace Prize.^[4]

Party affiliation

Lewis was first elected in 1979, as a Liberal candidate. He quickly gained a reputation as a maverick, defying the party authorities on many an occasion. In July 2000, he was expelled from the Liberal Party.^[5]

At the 2002 election, Lewis contested his seat under the banner of the Community Leadership Independence Coalition (CLIC) and was re-elected. (Three other CLIC candidates contested seats in the South Australian House of Assembly but failed.)^[6] During the campaign, Lewis denied a claim by his Liberal opponent that a vote for him was in effect a vote for Labor.

Support for Labor

After the 2002 election he negotiated with both parties, eventually agreeing to become speaker in a Labor government. In return, Labor agreed to implement some local concerns of Lewis and hold a Constitutional Convention. Kerin announced that since the Liberals had won a bare majority of the two-party vote, he would stay in office until Labor demonstrated it had support on the floor of the legislature. As a result, on Lewis' first day as speaker, he presided over the vote that saw Kerin defeated in the legislature and confirmed Rann as premier. The Liberals hinted at challenging the result in Lewis' seat, but this did not eventuate.^[7]

However, a conservative independent, Rory McEwen, and a Nationals SA member, Karlene Maywald, both of whom had criticised Lewis's decision, later also agreed to support the Rann government in return for cabinet positions.^[3][8]

Speaker

As speaker, he earned widespread attention for his colourful style of regulating parliamentary debate. His desire to reform parliament led him to insist on the Rann government holding a Constitutional Convention held in 2003, and as an outcome organised eventually failed attempts at bills for optional preferential voting, citizen-initiated referendums and four-year Upper House terms.^[9]

Terry Stephens

Lewis in 2002 faced media scrutiny over his links to businessman Terry Stephens after claims were made in parliament, just prior to Lewis becoming speaker, by Liberal MP Patrick Secker.^[10][11][12] Lewis was exonerated of any wrongdoing despite submitting himself to extensive police investigations.^[13] Stephens was later convicted of lying to smear Lewis.^[14]

Standfield, Utting and Ratcliff

In 2004 Lewis and some of his staffers, including two child abuse activists and volunteer staffers named Malcolm Barry Standfield and Wendy Utting, were speaking to 8 informants about alleged pedophiles. One of the most vocal informants was named Craig Ratcliff and whilst he was providing plausible information that he had been a victim himself, he had also been found guilty as a perpetrator and is recorded as a convicted pedophile.^[15] Ratcliff was one of the informants who accused the MP during a television interview in August 2004. Ratcliff later recanted his claims, saying he realised the politician was not the man known as "Terry" who frequented gay beats in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was subsequently convicted to a suspended prison sentence in 2008.

Another of those informants named Robert Woodland was found bashed to death on 8 December 2004 in the South Parklands.^[16] Then on 25 February 2005 another of the informants named Shaine Moore was found dead in suspicious circumstances.^[17][18]

In early March 2005 the media and the Labor Government narrowed down the allegations of a pedophile politician to a male Labor Politician.^[19] On 1 April 2005 Standfield and Utting faxed a press release, giving names of the alleged sitting MP and 2 policemen.

A police investigation of Standfield, Utting and Ratcliff started and all 3 were charged with criminal defamation.^[20][21][22] In 2008 the two volunteer staffers working in Lewis' Office, Standfield and Utting, were found not guilty of defamation over the claims.^[14][23][24] In December 2008 Ratcliff was sentenced for criminal defamation for the allegations.^[25][26][27]

Resignation

On 4 April 2005 Lewis faced a potential no-confidence motion, but before a vote could be taken he gave a speech in parliament claiming how he had been publicly insulted and defamed by the Premier and Deputy Premier through the efforts of their spin doctors and media minders and an article written in The Advertiser by Nigel Hunt, and then resigned as speaker.^[28][29][30]

2006 election

For the 2006 election, Lewis did not stand for his seat of Hammond, but instead stood as an independent for election to the Legislative Council. However he was not elected, receiving 0.6 percent of the statewide vote.^[31]

2009 mining interests

Lewis owns eight mining leases, as well as interests in Goldus Operations and Mintech Resources. It has been reported that Lewis had sold his iron ore project at Razorback Ridge, 80 km east of Yunta, to Western Australia's Royal Resources for $30 million.^[32]

References