David Hawker
Encyclopedia
David Peter Maxwell Hawker (born 1 May 1949), Australia
n politician, was a Liberal
member of the Australian House of Representatives
from May 1983 to July 2010, representing the Division of Wannon
, Victoria
, previously represented by former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser
. He was born in Adelaide
, and was educated at Geelong Grammar School
and the University of Melbourne
. A qualified engineer, he was also a farmer and grazier before entering politics.
, who was a member of the House of Representatives from South Australia
from 1929 to 1938. His great-grandfather, George Charles Hawker
, was Speaker
of the South Australian House of Assembly
from 1860 to 1865.
1989-90 and 1994, and Chief Opposition Whip 1994-96.
On 15 November 2004 Hawker was chosen by the Parliamentary Liberal Party as its candidate for the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives
. He was formally elected to the position on 16 November without opposition. After the 2007 federal election, Labor member Harry Jenkins
succeeded Hawker as Speaker of the House, and took office on 12 February 2008.
Hawker announced in June 2009 that he would retire from parliament at the 2010 federal election.
Opposition, have been somewhat controversial early in his term, with one session of Question Time on 1 December 2004 resulting in twelve points of order, some continuously raised, to Brendan Nelson
's response to a question on school funding raised by Sophie Mirabella
, in that it was seen by the Opposition to anticipate debate. This session resulted in a dissent motion regarding the permission of ministers tabling documents at the end of answers, which was negatived. A further dissent motion was raised on 7 December 2004, regarding questions asked relating to public affairs but not directly regarding the subject's portfolio, specifically, the desire of the Opposition to question De-Anne Kelly
to her supposed approval of funding of a project not relating to her portfolio of Veterans' Affairs. This dissent motion was also voted down. Likewise, a motion of dissent on 28 November 2005 to a ruling that the Member for Perth
resume his seat, having twice ignored an instruction to desist in argument across the chamber, was voted down. (Immediately thereafter, the motion to place further motions on notice was passed without a vote, and the Speaker responded to the Leader of the Opposition
's subsequent Point of Order
by stating that the motion was a "request".)
After a motion regarding share trading was moved by Kelvin Thomson
, the Member for Wills
, on 25 May 2006, Leader of the House
Tony Abbott
referred to Thomson indirectly using unparliamentary language by moving the motion "that that snivelling grub be no longer heard". The Deputy Chair at the time, Peter Lindsay
, did not make comment against to the withdrawal Abbott made using the words "if I have offended grubs, I withdraw unconditionally". Later, the Speaker assumed the Chair, but it was only after the Opposition attempted to move a dissent motion that Abbott withdrew "unconditionally any imputation or offensive words against the member for Wills".
When Manager of Opposition Business Julia Gillard
however attempted to mimic exactly the exchange of 25 May by moving the motion "that that snivelling grub over there be not further heard" against Abbott on a health legislation amendment, and then stating that "If I have offended grubs, I withdraw unconditionally", the Speaker asked Gillard to withdraw "without reservation". Gillard responded that "in accordance with your ruling yesterday, I have withdrawn effectively", but the Speaker then said that "I have no option...but to name the member", and subsequently by motion from Abbott, Gillard was removed from the House for twenty-four hours.
The Opposition had earlier asked questions to the Speaker about the apparent impartiality of the latter ruling, but criticism of the decision reached the media, with the Speaker defending the decision made referring to Abbott's later unconditional withdrawal. Under standing order 94A, the Speaker can throw members out of the parliament without a verbal warning for one hour. This rule has frequently been used to expel disruptive opposition members from the parliament. During the Question Time debate over the government's controversial Industrial Relations reforms some eleven Labor members were thrown out in one day.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n politician, was a Liberal
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
member of the Australian House of Representatives
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....
from May 1983 to July 2010, representing the Division of Wannon
Division of Wannon
The Division of Wannon is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Victoria. It is located in the south-west of the state, and encompasses most of the Western Region of the state. It adjoins the South Australian border in the west, and the Bass Strait coast in the south. The Division...
, Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, previously represented by former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser
Malcolm Fraser
John Malcolm Fraser AC, CH, GCL, PC is a former Australian Liberal Party politician who was the 22nd Prime Minister of Australia. He came to power in the 1975 election following the dismissal of the Whitlam Labor government, in which he played a key role...
. He was born in Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, and was educated at Geelong Grammar School
Geelong Grammar School
Geelong Grammar School is an independent, Anglican, co-educational, boarding and day school. The school's main campus is located at Corio, on the northern outskirts of Geelong, Victoria, Australia, overlooking Corio Bay and Limeburners Bay....
and the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
. A qualified engineer, he was also a farmer and grazier before entering politics.
Background
Hawker comes from a family with a long history of political involvement. He is a cousin of Charles HawkerCharles Hawker
Charles Allan Seymour Hawker was an Australian politician.Hawker was born near Clare, South Australia and educated at Geelong Grammar School, Hawker and Trinity College, Cambridge, earning Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees in 1919 and 1922 respectively. While at Cambridge he enlisted in the...
, who was a member of the House of Representatives from South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
from 1929 to 1938. His great-grandfather, George Charles Hawker
George Charles Hawker
George Charles Hawker was an Australian settler and South Australian politician.-Early life:Hawker was born in London, the second son of Admiral Edward Hawker and his first wife Joanna Naomi, née Poore. He was educated partly on the continent, and entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1836 George...
, was Speaker
Speaker (politics)
The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the...
of the South Australian House of Assembly
South Australian House of Assembly
The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide.- Overview :...
from 1860 to 1865.
Career
Hawker was a member of the Opposition Shadow Ministry 1990-93, a Deputy Opposition WhipWhip (politics)
A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy...
1989-90 and 1994, and Chief Opposition Whip 1994-96.
On 15 November 2004 Hawker was chosen by the Parliamentary Liberal Party as its candidate for the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives
Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives
The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Parliament of Australia. The presiding officer in the upper house is the President of the Senate....
. He was formally elected to the position on 16 November without opposition. After the 2007 federal election, Labor member Harry Jenkins
Harry Jenkins
Henry Alfred "Harry" Jenkins , an Australian politician, is a member of the House of Representatives, representing the Division of Scullin, Victoria, since the 1986 by-election for the Australian Labor Party...
succeeded Hawker as Speaker of the House, and took office on 12 February 2008.
Hawker announced in June 2009 that he would retire from parliament at the 2010 federal election.
Early dissent
Some of Hawker's rulings, from motions put by the Australian Labor PartyAustralian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
Opposition, have been somewhat controversial early in his term, with one session of Question Time on 1 December 2004 resulting in twelve points of order, some continuously raised, to Brendan Nelson
Brendan Nelson
Dr Brendan John Nelson is a former Australian politician and former federal Opposition leader. He served as a member of the Australian House of Representatives from the 1996 federal election until 19 October 2009 as the Liberal member for Bradfield, a northern Sydney seat...
's response to a question on school funding raised by Sophie Mirabella
Sophie Mirabella
Sophie Mirabella is an Australian federal politician. She has been a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives since 2001, representing the Division of Indi, Victoria...
, in that it was seen by the Opposition to anticipate debate. This session resulted in a dissent motion regarding the permission of ministers tabling documents at the end of answers, which was negatived. A further dissent motion was raised on 7 December 2004, regarding questions asked relating to public affairs but not directly regarding the subject's portfolio, specifically, the desire of the Opposition to question De-Anne Kelly
De-Anne Kelly
De-Anne Margaret Kelly , was an Australian politician. She was a National Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from March 1996 until November 2007, representing the Division of Dawson, Queensland. She was also the first female member of the National Party to win a seat in the...
to her supposed approval of funding of a project not relating to her portfolio of Veterans' Affairs. This dissent motion was also voted down. Likewise, a motion of dissent on 28 November 2005 to a ruling that the Member for Perth
Stephen Smith (Australian politician)
Stephen Francis Smith , is the Australian Minister for Defence. He has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives since March 1993, representing the Division of Perth, Western Australia....
resume his seat, having twice ignored an instruction to desist in argument across the chamber, was voted down. (Immediately thereafter, the motion to place further motions on notice was passed without a vote, and the Speaker responded to the Leader of the Opposition
Kim Beazley
In the October 1998 election, Labor polled a majority of the two-party vote and received the largest swing to a first-term opposition since 1934. However, due to the uneven nature of the swing, Labor came up eight seats short of making Beazley Prime Minister....
's subsequent Point of Order
Point of order
A point of order is a matter raised during consideration of a motion concerning the rules of parliamentary procedure.-Explanation and uses:A point of order may be raised if the rules appear to have been broken. This may interrupt a speaker during debate, or anything else if the breach of the rules...
by stating that the motion was a "request".)
Questions over impartiality
A 2006 ruling made by Hawker after an incident during a heated exchange in the House brought further motions of dissent from the Opposition, and drew criticism of the Speaker's impartiality from the media.After a motion regarding share trading was moved by Kelvin Thomson
Kelvin Thomson
Kelvin John Thomson is an Australian politician. Since March 1996 Thomson has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives, representing the Division of Wills in Victoria.-Early life:...
, the Member for Wills
Division of Wills
The Division of Wills is an Australian electoral division of Victoria. It is currently held by the Australian Labor Party's Kelvin Thomson.The electorate encompasses many of the suburbs in the City of Moreland in Melbourne's north, including Brunswick, Coburg, Fawkner, Glenroy, and Essendon Airport...
, on 25 May 2006, Leader of the House
Leader of the House (Australia)
The office of Leader of the House in the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Australia exists in order for the management of government business, involving such matters as the following:* the order in which Government issues are to be dealt with...
Tony Abbott
Tony Abbott
Anthony John "Tony" Abbott is the Leader of the Opposition in the Australian House of Representatives and federal leader of the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott has represented the seat of Warringah since the 1994 by-election...
referred to Thomson indirectly using unparliamentary language by moving the motion "that that snivelling grub be no longer heard". The Deputy Chair at the time, Peter Lindsay
Peter Lindsay
Peter John Lindsay , Australian politician, was a Liberal Party of Australia member of the Australian House of Representatives from March 1996 to July 2010, representing the Division of Herbert, Queensland. In January 2007 he was appointed to the position of Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister...
, did not make comment against to the withdrawal Abbott made using the words "if I have offended grubs, I withdraw unconditionally". Later, the Speaker assumed the Chair, but it was only after the Opposition attempted to move a dissent motion that Abbott withdrew "unconditionally any imputation or offensive words against the member for Wills".
When Manager of Opposition Business Julia Gillard
Julia Gillard
Julia Eileen Gillard is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Australia, in office since June 2010.Gillard was born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales and migrated with her family to Adelaide, Australia in 1966, attending Mitcham Demonstration School and Unley High School. In 1982 Gillard moved...
however attempted to mimic exactly the exchange of 25 May by moving the motion "that that snivelling grub over there be not further heard" against Abbott on a health legislation amendment, and then stating that "If I have offended grubs, I withdraw unconditionally", the Speaker asked Gillard to withdraw "without reservation". Gillard responded that "in accordance with your ruling yesterday, I have withdrawn effectively", but the Speaker then said that "I have no option...but to name the member", and subsequently by motion from Abbott, Gillard was removed from the House for twenty-four hours.
The Opposition had earlier asked questions to the Speaker about the apparent impartiality of the latter ruling, but criticism of the decision reached the media, with the Speaker defending the decision made referring to Abbott's later unconditional withdrawal. Under standing order 94A, the Speaker can throw members out of the parliament without a verbal warning for one hour. This rule has frequently been used to expel disruptive opposition members from the parliament. During the Question Time debate over the government's controversial Industrial Relations reforms some eleven Labor members were thrown out in one day.