Ted Chapman
William Edwin (Ted) Chapman (16 December 1934 – 25 July 2005) is a former Liberal member of the Parliament of South Australia and Minister.
Chapman represented the district of Alexandra in the South Australian House of Assembly between 1973 and 1992. He served as Minister for Agriculture when David Tonkin was Premier taking a lead in promoting Australian dry-land farming in the Middle East.
The following text is a quote from pollbludger.com:
- Alexandrina (today's Finniss) was long held by moderate factional stalwart Ted Chapman, recently deceased father of current leadership aspirant Vickie Chapman, who agreed to surrender it in 1992 to facilitate Dean Brown's return to parliament. Brown had been a leading figure among the moderates since entering parliament in 1973, and was at one stage a member of Steele Hall's Liberal Movement, a faction of which formed the nucleus of the Australian Democrats. In 1985 he lost his seat of Davenport to Stan Evans, a Liberal MP and factional enemy who stood as an independent after failing to win a preselection showdown that followed a tough redistribution. Brown's return in Alexandrina was part of a plan by moderates to install him in the leadership in the stead of John Olsen, who was then planning a negotiated takeover from Dale Baker (who had replaced Olsen as leader when he moved to the Senate after his second election defeat). Olsen also faced the hurdle of not being in state parliament, which he was negotiating through the voluntary retirement of Roger Goldsworthy in Kavel. Brown and Olsen both won by-elections held on 9 May 1992 and a leadership showdown followed immediately, at which Brown extracted revenge for his defeat in the previous bout after the Tonkin government's election defeat in 1982.
Since 2002, his daughter Vickie Chapman has also been a Liberal member of the South Australian parliament and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party.
Chapman died in hospital in July 2005 after incurring a brain hemorrhage two months earlier.
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