Robert Brokenshire

The Honourable Robert Brokenshire
Member of the South Australian Legislative Council
Incumbent
Assumed office 24 July 2008
Member of the South Australian Parliament for Mawson
In office 11 December 1993 – 18 March 2006
Preceded by	Susan Lenehan
Succeeded by	Leon Bignell
Personal details
Born	1957 (age 57–58)
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Liberal Party (1993–2006) Family First (2008-current)
Residence	Mount Compass, South Australia
Profession	Dairy farmer
Religion	Christian
Website	Official profile

Robert "Rob" Lawrence Brokenshire (born 1957) is a South Australian dairy farmer and member of the 48th, 49th, 50th, 51st, 52nd and current South Australian Parliament.^[1] Formerly a[real-estate broker, Brokenshire was a Liberal Party of Australia member of the South Australian House of Assembly between 1993 and 2006, representing the electorate of Mawson. On 24 July 2008 he replaced Andrew Evans as a Family First Party member in the South Australian Legislative Council. The Brokenshire family is of Cornish descent.^[2]

Legislative career

Liberal Party

Elected in 1993 to the seat of Mawson with the Dean Brown Liberal Party government, he was re-elected in 1997 and 2002.

Brokenshire was promoted to cabinet in 1998 under the John Olsen government. His roles included Minister for Police, Correctional Services & Emergency Services, Minister for Gambling, Minister for Volunteers, and in opposition, Shadow Minister for Health. Brokenshire served three terms with the Liberal Party.

After losing the seat to Labor at the 2006 election, he was not preselected for Mawson.

Family First Party

Brokenshire announced in October 2007 that he would contest the Australian House of Representatives seat of Kingston for the Family First Party at the 2007 federal election, but he only achieved a vote of 5.71 percent.^[3][4] On 18 March 2008 the Family First Party announced that they had chosen Brokenshire to replace the retiring Andrew Evans in the South Australian Legislative Council.^[5] Brokenshire was sworn in for his fourth term in Parliament on 24 July 2008.^[6][7]

In 2011, Brokenshire was described as the "de facto opposition leader",^[8] and a "terrier".^[9] A former cabinet member and minister of police, Brokenshire is admired as the grandfather of South Australian politics, and is sought after for his political analysis.^{[10][11][12][13][14][15]} Brokenshire is a serial user of Freedom of Information.^{[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]} Labor MP Jay Weatherill called Brokenshire's use of FOI "completely inappropriate" when he uncovered evidence of cheating at an Adelaide school.^[30] Brokenshire said the FOI showed that the NAPLAN testing put too much pressure on schools and teachers to perform, a point on which Weatherill was criticized by the South Australian Education Union on. In one instance, the State’s Chief Information Officer failed to disclose $5,500 in expenses, leading Brokenshire to lodge a complaint with the State's Ombudsman as breach of the FOI Act.^[31] Brokenshire was contrasted as being quoted in 19 stories,^[8] significantly more than key Liberal figures deputy leader Mitch Williams and Upper House leader David Ridgway.^[8] Brokenshire has been praised for attempting feats that neither the government nor opposition would "dare" ^[32] Brokenshire failed to rule out switching to a Lower House seat.^[8]

Brokenshire's appointments include to the Public Works Committee, Select Committee on the Emergency Services Levy, Families SA Committee, Aboriginal Lands Parliamentary Standing Committee, Budget and Finance Committee, Certain Matters Relating to Horse Racing in South Australia, and Natural Resources Committee. Brokenshire chaired the Taxi Industry in South Australia.^[33] In concurrence with the Greens, Brokenshire has opposed the abolition of the Legislative Council.^[34] Sharing the balance of power with the Australian Greens, Brokenshire supported green initiatives to force businesses to reduce water consumption^[35] (including being critical of the State Government’s failure to meet its voluntary targets^[36]), for the federal takeover of the management of the River Murray,^[37] for the diversion of the Wivenoe dam to the Murray-Darling basin,^[38] and for subsidies for solar panels and electric cars.^[39] Brokenshire and Dennis Hood reject such policies as metering and charging for the use of dams collecting rainwater.^[40] Brokenshire nevertheless remains a staunch conservative, turning down euthanasia legislation, saying it turns doctors "from life-savers into life-takers".^[41] A South Australian dairy farmer, Brokenshire is a fond advocate of funding rural entrepreneurship,^[42] rural health,^[43] and has suggested recommendations to compel bureaucracy to support community projects.^[44] Robert Brokenshire has also encouraged the Government to challenge the status quo, including looking at alternatives such as CSIRO’s invention to make stormwater drinkable, despite the political embarrassment this would cause due to the sunk cost in the desalination plant.^[45]

Brokenshire has further pursued his former interest in policing, working with civil rights lawyer George Mancini to increase police transparency to make secret Police Commissioner reports public,^[46] increased security guard drug testing,^[47] increasing police protection,^[48] increasing jail sentence for prison smugglers,^[49] increasing police presence,^[50] reduce vandalism,^[51] building a new police academy at Cheltenham,^[52] backing the police in schools program^[53] (qualifying that education was "paramount" to a person's future^[54]). Brokenshire has also suggested alternative policing strategies, such as a dedicated racing track course for public hoon use.^[55] He has criticized the Government's policy for crushing cars as a waste of technology, and suggested more focus on hoon driving licenses.^[56]

Since the 2010 election, Brokenshire's second term with Family First has been marked with participation in numerous select committees in Parliament.^[57] He has targeted poorly drafted legislation,^[58] and recommended limiting the terms of premiers to two parliaments only, mirroring the provision in the US constitution limiting presidents to two terms.^[8] Brokenshire has also championed grassroot causes, including housing for the homeless,^[59] using the Supreme Court to keep the Government accountable over hospital security,^[60] the consultation on the Seaford Heights development,^[61] and the Parks Community Center development,^[8][62] country hospitals and rights for grandparents. He has also kept the Government accountable over $55,000 a week for damage to government cars,^[63] reducing tax-payer-funded ministerial spin doctors,^[64] taxpayer-funded projects on schools.^[65] reducing the number of cabinet ministers from 15 to 12, which Monsignor David Cappo found would save $30 million.^[66] He has called for the proper separation of powers,^[8] and remains accountability watchdog on Government affairs.^[67] Developing on his election promise to increase funding in mental health, Brokenshire is landmark for original solutions, calling for an independent suicide prevention coordinator.^[68] Brokenshire convened the Food Security South Australia group, which comprises peak farming, horticultural and other primary production groups to interact with government and raise the importance of food security in the state.^[69] He has positioned himself as a pragmatist, including such policies as scrapping daylight savings, an established tradition, on the basis children are travelling to school in the dark, and are coming home during the hottest time of the day.^[70] Brokenshire has also pushed for legislation to allow force of early election by way of 150,000 petitions within a limited duration, in line with his reform to shift power from politicians to people,^[71] and to increase pressure on government on non-election periods, in a move backed by Isobel Redmond. His draft proposal of a Parliamentary Act to establish an Independent Commission against Corruption in 2009^[72] was also finally accepted by John Rau with a $4 million launch,^[73] to be named the Office of Public Integrity.

References

Related pages

• Members of the South Australian Legislative Council, 2010–2014

External links

• Parliamentary profile: SA Parliament website
• Robert Brokenshire on Twitter
• Robert Brokenshire on Facebook