Michael Ahern (Australian politician)
Encyclopedia
Michael John Ahern AO
(born 2 June 1942) is a former Queensland
National Party
politician who was Premier of Queensland from December 1987 to September 1989. After a long career in the government of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen
, Ahern became his successor amidst the controversy caused by the Fitzgerald Inquiry
into official corruption. Ahern's consensus style and political moderation contrasted strongly with Bjelke-Petersen's leadership, but he could not escape the division and strife caused by his predecessor's downfall.
and was campaign manager for Premier Sir Frank Nicklin
. From 1964 to 1967 Jack Ahern was President of the Country Party. Michael Ahern was born in Maleny, Queensland
and was educated at Downlands College
, Toowoomba
. He then studied Agricultural science
at the University of Queensland
, afterwards became active in the Young Country Party. He was state president of the Young Country Party in 1967 and national president in 1968, as well as junior vice-president of the Country Party. He took Nicklin as his political mentor, and when Nicklin retired in 1966, Ahern nominated to succeed him in his Landsborough electorate. He was elected into the Queensland Legislative Assembly
in 1968, being the youngest member of the Country Party in Parliament by nearly twenty years.
, Nicklin's successor, died, Ahern's prospects suffered a setback when the wily conservative Joh Bjelke-Petersen
was elected as the Country Party's new leader. Bjelke-Petersen viewed Ahern with unconcealed mistrust. This was founded partly on Ahern's closeness to Nicklin, whom Bjelke-Petersen had resented; partly on Ahern's youth and intellect; and partly on Ahern's Roman Catholicism, unpalatable to Bjelke-Petersen as the son of a Lutheran preacher. Bjelke-Petersen was determined to stymie Ahern's ambitions to be in Cabinet
. Ahern was passed over for promotion twice during the 1970s.
Ahern was chosen as National Party whip
in 1972. He lobbied for Queensland to establish a system of parliamentary committee
s on the model of the Canadian parliament. Facing Bjelke-Petersen's opposition to such a system, he was successful in seeing established a Subordinate Legislation Committee and a Privileges Committee, the latter of which he became chair.
Ahern once again found himself at odds with Bjelke-Petersen in his role as chair of the Select Committee on Education. The Queensland Department of Education proposed two new additions to the social science curriculum, resisted by fundamentalist lobbyists as promoting secular humanism
. Bjelke-Petersen immediately banned the two courses but faced a backlash from the Queensland Teachers Union
and State School organisations. The government appointed the Parliamentary Select Committee with Ahern as chair to investigate. Ahern supported the recommendation that sex education
be incorporated into the curriculum but was predictably vetoed by Bjelke-Petersen. Nevertheless, the Committee's final report was eventually endorsed by the National Party and became policy.
In 1980, Ahern nominated for the vacancy in the Deputy Leadership of the National Party as a way of securing his entry into Cabinet. Fearful of having Ahern as his deputy and rival, Bjelke-Petersen decided to placate him by offering the portfolio of Minister for Mines while successfully running his own preferred candidate, Vic Sullivan, for Deputy Leader. Other portfolios held by Ahern over the course of his ministerial career were Minister for Primary Industries, Minister for Industry, Small Business and Technology, and Minister for Health and Environment. Ahern and was significantly younger than most of his Cabinet colleagues, and was the only member of cabinet with tertiary
qualifications.
By the late 1980s Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen's (knighted in 1984) standing as Premier had begun to be compromised by the failure of the disastrous "Joh for Canberra
" campaign in 1987 and the establishment, against Bjelke-Petersen's will in 1987, of the Inquiry into Police Corruption and Other Matters led by Tony Fitzgerald
QC
. Facing internal pressure to resign, in October 1987 Sir Joh announced he would step down in 1988 after hosting Expo '88
.
Shortly afterwards, Sir Joh threw his support behind a proposal to have the world's tallest building built near Brisbane Central Station
, objected to by the Brisbane City Council and many sectors of the public. Facing objections also voiced within his own partyroom, Sir Joh met Sir Walter Campbell the Governor of Queensland in November, with a request to allow him to purge dissenters from his Cabinet. Eventually Campbell agreed on 24 November to allow him to sack Ahern and two other ministers.
Sir Joh refused to call a party meeting to allow his opponents to request a leadership spill, so the Management Committee of the National Party called one for 26 November. Sir Joh boycotted this meeting, which elected Ahern as leader of the National Party, and refused to resign as Premier for a week, before finally stepping down on 1 December.
Ahern tried to change the image of what had been one of the most unshakably conservative state governments in Australia. He announced plans to reform the public service and the parliament but resisted calls to abolish the "Bjelkemander
," the rural overweighting that favoured the National Party. Ahern also brought in legislation relating to domestic violence
and established the Southbank Corporation to redevelop the site of Expo '88
(now South Bank Parklands
). Ahern oversaw the parliamentary dismissal of a Supreme Court of Queensland
judge, Angelo Vasta, who had been adversely implicated in some findings of the Fitzgerald Inquiry.
The publication of the results of the Fitzgerald Inquiry in 1989 were seriously damaging to the Nationals. The damage was magnified by the fact that the Nationals faced a statutory general election that year, and polls showed Labor having its best chance in years of winning government. Although Ahern was not implicated in any form of corruption, hardline Bjelke-Petersen supporters blamed him for his alleged weakness and vacillation in allowing the crisis to engulf the National Party. On 25 September 1989 Russell Cooper
, a National Party traditionalist, successfully challenged Ahern for the leadership. Ahern resigned from Parliament and proceeded to a successful business career. The Nationals lost the election just two months later, ending 32 years of continuous National Party government.
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
(born 2 June 1942) is a former Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
National Party
National Party of Australia
The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...
politician who was Premier of Queensland from December 1987 to September 1989. After a long career in the government of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen
Joh Bjelke-Petersen
Sir Johannes "Joh" Bjelke-Petersen, KCMG , was an Australian politician. He was the longest-serving and longest-lived Premier of Queensland, holding office from 1968 to 1987, a period that saw considerable economic development in the state...
, Ahern became his successor amidst the controversy caused by the Fitzgerald Inquiry
Fitzgerald Inquiry
The Fitzgerald Inquiry into Queensland Police corruption was a judicial inquiry presided over by Tony Fitzgerald QC. The inquiry resulted in the deposition of a premier, two by-elections, the jailing of three former ministers and a police commissioner who was jailed and lost his...
into official corruption. Ahern's consensus style and political moderation contrasted strongly with Bjelke-Petersen's leadership, but he could not escape the division and strife caused by his predecessor's downfall.
Early life
In common with most National Party politicians, Ahern had a rural background. His father Jack Ahern was active in the Country Party (the former name for the National Party), in LandsboroughLandsborough, Queensland
Landsborough is a small town on the Sunshine Coast hinterland of Queensland, Australia. It is situated north of the Glasshouse Mountains just off Steve Irwin Way, 82 km north of Brisbane...
and was campaign manager for Premier Sir Frank Nicklin
Frank Nicklin
Sir George Francis Reuben Nicklin, KCMG, MM was Premier of the Australian state of Queensland from 1957 to 1968, and the first Country Party Premier since 1932.-Early life and career:...
. From 1964 to 1967 Jack Ahern was President of the Country Party. Michael Ahern was born in Maleny, Queensland
Maleny, Queensland
Maleny is a small, scenic town north of Brisbane on the Blackall Range overlooking the Sunshine Coast hinterland in Queensland, Australia. Nearby towns include Landsborough, Montville and Peachester...
and was educated at Downlands College
Downlands College
Downlands College, officially Downlands Sacred Heart College, is a private, secondary, coeducational, day and boarding school in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. Founded by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in 1931, the College began as a boarding school for boys with a total enrolment of...
, Toowoomba
Toowoomba, Queensland
Toowoomba is a city in Southern Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital city, Brisbane. With an estimated district population of 128,600, Toowoomba is Australia's second largest inland city and its largest non-capital inland city...
. He then studied Agricultural science
Agricultural science
Agricultural science is a broad multidisciplinary field that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. -Agriculture and agricultural science:The two terms are often confused...
at the University of Queensland
University of Queensland
The University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...
, afterwards became active in the Young Country Party. He was state president of the Young Country Party in 1967 and national president in 1968, as well as junior vice-president of the Country Party. He took Nicklin as his political mentor, and when Nicklin retired in 1966, Ahern nominated to succeed him in his Landsborough electorate. He was elected into the Queensland Legislative Assembly
Queensland Legislative Assembly
The Queensland Legislative Assembly is the unicameral chamber of the Parliament of Queensland. Elections are held approximately once every three years. Voting is by the Optional Preferential Voting form of the Alternative Vote system...
in 1968, being the youngest member of the Country Party in Parliament by nearly twenty years.
Parliamentary career
When Jack PizzeyJack Pizzey
Jack Charles Allan Pizzey was a Queensland Country Party politician. He was Premier of Queensland, in a coalition with the Liberal Party, from 17 January 1968 until his death on 31 July that year....
, Nicklin's successor, died, Ahern's prospects suffered a setback when the wily conservative Joh Bjelke-Petersen
Joh Bjelke-Petersen
Sir Johannes "Joh" Bjelke-Petersen, KCMG , was an Australian politician. He was the longest-serving and longest-lived Premier of Queensland, holding office from 1968 to 1987, a period that saw considerable economic development in the state...
was elected as the Country Party's new leader. Bjelke-Petersen viewed Ahern with unconcealed mistrust. This was founded partly on Ahern's closeness to Nicklin, whom Bjelke-Petersen had resented; partly on Ahern's youth and intellect; and partly on Ahern's Roman Catholicism, unpalatable to Bjelke-Petersen as the son of a Lutheran preacher. Bjelke-Petersen was determined to stymie Ahern's ambitions to be in Cabinet
Cabinet (government)
A Cabinet is a body of high ranking government officials, typically representing the executive branch. It can also sometimes be referred to as the Council of Ministers, an Executive Council, or an Executive Committee.- Overview :...
. Ahern was passed over for promotion twice during the 1970s.
Ahern was chosen as National Party whip
Whip (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...
in 1972. He lobbied for Queensland to establish a system of parliamentary committee
Committee
A committee is a type of small deliberative assembly that is usually intended to remain subordinate to another, larger deliberative assembly—which when organized so that action on committee requires a vote by all its entitled members, is called the "Committee of the Whole"...
s on the model of the Canadian parliament. Facing Bjelke-Petersen's opposition to such a system, he was successful in seeing established a Subordinate Legislation Committee and a Privileges Committee, the latter of which he became chair.
Ahern once again found himself at odds with Bjelke-Petersen in his role as chair of the Select Committee on Education. The Queensland Department of Education proposed two new additions to the social science curriculum, resisted by fundamentalist lobbyists as promoting secular humanism
Secular humanism
Secular Humanism, alternatively known as Humanism , is a secular philosophy that embraces human reason, ethics, justice, and the search for human fulfillment...
. Bjelke-Petersen immediately banned the two courses but faced a backlash from the Queensland Teachers Union
Queensland Teachers Union
The Queensland Teachers' Union is an Australian trade union with a membership of more than 44,000 teachers and principals in the Queensland Government's primary schools, secondary schools, special schools, senior colleges, TAFE colleges and other educational facilities. More than 96 per cent of...
and State School organisations. The government appointed the Parliamentary Select Committee with Ahern as chair to investigate. Ahern supported the recommendation that sex education
Sex education
Sex education refers to formal programs of instruction on a wide range of issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexual intercourse, reproductive health, emotional relations, reproductive rights and responsibilities, abstinence, contraception, and...
be incorporated into the curriculum but was predictably vetoed by Bjelke-Petersen. Nevertheless, the Committee's final report was eventually endorsed by the National Party and became policy.
In 1980, Ahern nominated for the vacancy in the Deputy Leadership of the National Party as a way of securing his entry into Cabinet. Fearful of having Ahern as his deputy and rival, Bjelke-Petersen decided to placate him by offering the portfolio of Minister for Mines while successfully running his own preferred candidate, Vic Sullivan, for Deputy Leader. Other portfolios held by Ahern over the course of his ministerial career were Minister for Primary Industries, Minister for Industry, Small Business and Technology, and Minister for Health and Environment. Ahern and was significantly younger than most of his Cabinet colleagues, and was the only member of cabinet with tertiary
Tertiary education
Tertiary education, also referred to as third stage, third level, and post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of a school providing a secondary education, such as a high school, secondary school, university-preparatory school...
qualifications.
By the late 1980s Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen's (knighted in 1984) standing as Premier had begun to be compromised by the failure of the disastrous "Joh for Canberra
Joh for Canberra
The Joh for Canberra or Joh for PM campaign was an attempt by the Queensland branch of the National Party of Australia to install Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen as Prime Minister of Australia....
" campaign in 1987 and the establishment, against Bjelke-Petersen's will in 1987, of the Inquiry into Police Corruption and Other Matters led by Tony Fitzgerald
Tony Fitzgerald
Gerald Edward Fitzgerald, AC, QC is a former Australian judge, who presided over the Fitzgerald Inquiry.-Life and career:...
QC
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
. Facing internal pressure to resign, in October 1987 Sir Joh announced he would step down in 1988 after hosting Expo '88
Expo '88
World Expo 88, also known as Expo '88, was a World's Fair held in Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia, during a six-month period between Saturday, 30 April 1988 and Sunday, 30 October 1988...
.
Shortly afterwards, Sir Joh threw his support behind a proposal to have the world's tallest building built near Brisbane Central Station
Central railway station, Brisbane
Central railway station is, as the name suggests, the central railway station for the Queensland Rail City network in the Brisbane central business district, the state capital of Queensland, Australia...
, objected to by the Brisbane City Council and many sectors of the public. Facing objections also voiced within his own partyroom, Sir Joh met Sir Walter Campbell the Governor of Queensland in November, with a request to allow him to purge dissenters from his Cabinet. Eventually Campbell agreed on 24 November to allow him to sack Ahern and two other ministers.
Sir Joh refused to call a party meeting to allow his opponents to request a leadership spill, so the Management Committee of the National Party called one for 26 November. Sir Joh boycotted this meeting, which elected Ahern as leader of the National Party, and refused to resign as Premier for a week, before finally stepping down on 1 December.
Premier
As Premier, Ahern faced a National Party that was increasingly riven between Bjelke-Petersen supporters and opponents, and a Fitzgerald Inquiry that was steadily provoking new revelations of official corruption at the very highest level during Bjelke-Petersen's tenure. Police commissioner Terry Lewis and several former cabinet Ministers were forced from their posts and convicted of criminal charges. Ahern, in a signature phrase, promised to implement the Inquiry's recommendations "lock, stock and barrel". Bjelke-Petersen worked actively to destabilise the government from outside of Parliament.Ahern tried to change the image of what had been one of the most unshakably conservative state governments in Australia. He announced plans to reform the public service and the parliament but resisted calls to abolish the "Bjelkemander
Bjelkemander
The Bjelkemander was the term given to a system of malapportionment in the Australian State of Queensland in the 1970s and 1980s. Under the system, electorates were allocated to zones such as rural or metropolitan and electoral boundaries drawn so that rural electorates had about half as many...
," the rural overweighting that favoured the National Party. Ahern also brought in legislation relating to domestic violence
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
and established the Southbank Corporation to redevelop the site of Expo '88
Expo '88
World Expo 88, also known as Expo '88, was a World's Fair held in Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia, during a six-month period between Saturday, 30 April 1988 and Sunday, 30 October 1988...
(now South Bank Parklands
South Bank Parklands, Brisbane
The South Bank Parklands are located at South Bank in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The parkland, on the transformed site of Brisbane's World Expo 88, was officially opened to the public on 20 June 1992.-Overview:...
). Ahern oversaw the parliamentary dismissal of a Supreme Court of Queensland
Supreme Court of Queensland
The Supreme Court of Queensland, which is based at the Law Courts Complex, is the superior court for the Australian State of Queensland and sits around the middle of the Australian court hierarchy...
judge, Angelo Vasta, who had been adversely implicated in some findings of the Fitzgerald Inquiry.
The publication of the results of the Fitzgerald Inquiry in 1989 were seriously damaging to the Nationals. The damage was magnified by the fact that the Nationals faced a statutory general election that year, and polls showed Labor having its best chance in years of winning government. Although Ahern was not implicated in any form of corruption, hardline Bjelke-Petersen supporters blamed him for his alleged weakness and vacillation in allowing the crisis to engulf the National Party. On 25 September 1989 Russell Cooper
Russell Cooper
Theo Russell Cooper is a former Australian National Party politician.He was Premier of Queensland for a period of 73 days, from 25 September 1989 to 7 December 1989...
, a National Party traditionalist, successfully challenged Ahern for the leadership. Ahern resigned from Parliament and proceeded to a successful business career. The Nationals lost the election just two months later, ending 32 years of continuous National Party government.