Steven Pringle
Encyclopedia
Steven Bruce Scott Pringle (born 19 August 1958) is a former Australia
n politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
from 2003 to 2007, representing the electorate of Hawkesbury
.
A former mayor of Hornsby Shire
, Pringle was elected as the Liberal Party of Australia
candidate at the 2003 election
, having defeated veteran sitting MP Kevin Rozzoli
in a Liberal Party preselection
contest. He represented the party until October 2006, when he resigned to sit as an independent, after himself losing Liberal preselection to recontest his seat in controversial circumstances. He was defeated at the 2007 State election by Liberal candidate Ray Williams
.
, attaining a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in economics and history, and a Master of Arts, majoring in politics. It was at university where he first became involved in politics, joining the university Liberal
Club and serving in positions on the University Council, Union Board and Student Council. After graduating from university, Pringle joined the Royal Australian Navy
, ultimately attaining the rank of Lieutenant Commander.
Alongside his military career, Pringle became involved in local politics. In the late 1980s, he stood for election to the Hornsby Shire Council
in northern Sydney
, and was elected as a councillor in 1987, a position he held until 2003. He first attempted to enter state politics in 1990, contesting preselection for a by-election
in the safe Liberal seat of The Hills
, but came a close second to car dealer Tony Packard
.
for the 1995 state election
, losing to Barry O'Farrell
. He served two more terms as shire president in the late 1990s and early 2000s, before making another bid to enter state parliament in 2002.
Pringle initially contested preselection for a 2002 by-election in the seat of Hornsby
, but lost to Judy Hopwood
. He instead launched a challenge against Kevin Rozzoli
, a former Speaker and incumbent of nearly 30 years, in the seat of Hawkesbury
for the 2003 state election
. On this fourth attempt to gain preselection he was successful, although the vote in which he defeated Rozzoli was marred by allegations of branch stacking
. The result was somewhat controversial, and caused two local mayors to stand for election against him as independents, but Pringle nevertheless retained the seat for the Liberal Party and was elected to parliament.
for his first two years in parliament, focusing mainly on local issues, especially in the areas of planning and the environment. Though he held strongly Christian conservative beliefs, opposing abortion
and gay rights and attending the same parliamentary prayer group as hard-right factional power-broker David Clarke
, he was always aligned with the party's moderate faction. This allegiance began threatening his career as early as 2005, only two years into his term, when reports emerged that the hard-right was engaging in branch stacking
in Hawkesbury as a prelude to a possible preselection challenge. Several months later, in the wake of the resignation of moderate leader John Brogden, Pringle was one of a number of MPs who reportedly had their preselection threatened if they did not vote for the hard-right's preferred candidate, Peter Debnam
, as Brogden's replacement, a campaign which ultimately sparked the withdrawal of Debnam's only opponent from the race.
The tensions from the previous year were confirmed when, on 2 September 2006, Ray Williams
, a Baulkham Hills Shire
councillor backed by the hard-right faction, challenged Pringle for his endorsement to recontest his seat. This came in the wake of reports that numbers in one branch in Pringle's electorate had swelled from 17 to 500 due to an influx of Lebanese
members, and public allegations by Howard Crawford, party president for the nearby electorate of Londonderry
, that a campaign of "branch-stacking, malpractice and political promises" was being used to undermine Pringle. Reports also emerged during the campaign that Williams had claimed that he could secure a $100,000 donation to the party from a property development company if he were elected, which later sparked controversy and an enforced veto of the move from now-party leader Debnam. Nevertheless Pringle was endorsed by Debnam, who had adopted a policy of supporting all sitting members. Although Debnam's intervention had saved numerous sitting members over the previous year, it was not enough to save Pringle, who was defeated by Williams on 15 October. It was subsequently reported that Pringle had obtained approximately 50% of the local branch vote in spite of the alleged branch stacking
, but had been soundly defeated by the votes of the hard right-dominated state council and state executive.
Pringle responded to news of his preselection defeat by declaring "betrayal and disgust" at what had occurred, labelling Debnam either "lying or impotent" for not being able to save his career. He resigned from the Liberal Party during Question Time in parliament on 17 October, announcing his intention to serve out his term as an independent, and recontest his seat as an independent at the 2007 election. The government used its numbers to suspend standing orders so Pringle could speak at a time of maximum coverage, and in an explosive attack under parliamentary privilege
, Pringle criticised Clarke, Debnam and the Liberal Party, claiming that the party was being controlled by "an exclusive sect" – referring to Clarke's membership of Opus Dei
– labelling Clarke "the Godfather", and calling the preselection "an absolute rort
". He further accused the party of being preoccupied with issues such as homosexuality and drug injecting rooms, and claimed that it "does not deserve to govern".
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. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
New South Wales Legislative Assembly
The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...
from 2003 to 2007, representing the electorate of Hawkesbury
Electoral district of Hawkesbury
Hawkesbury is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It was represented by Steven Pringle, formerly of the Liberal Party of Australia, who contested the 2007 election as an independent but was defeated by Ray Williams of the Liberal Party of...
.
A former mayor of Hornsby Shire
Hornsby Shire
Hornsby Shire is a Local Government Area in the Northern region of Sydney, Australia. The Shire stretches from the suburb of Eastwood in the south to the Hawkesbury River town of Wisemans Ferry, some to the north...
, Pringle was elected as the Liberal Party of Australia
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...
candidate at the 2003 election
New South Wales state election, 2003
Elections to the 53rd Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday 22 March 2003. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election...
, having defeated veteran sitting MP Kevin Rozzoli
Kevin Rozzoli
Kevin Richard Rozzoli is an Australian politician. He was a Liberal Party of Australia member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1973 until 2003, representing the electorate of Hawkesbury. He also served as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly from 1988 to 1995, during the Greiner and...
in a Liberal Party preselection
Preselection
Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties...
contest. He represented the party until October 2006, when he resigned to sit as an independent, after himself losing Liberal preselection to recontest his seat in controversial circumstances. He was defeated at the 2007 State election by Liberal candidate Ray Williams
Ray Williams (Australian politician)
Ray Williams, MP, an Australian politician, is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Hawkesbury for the Liberal Party of Australia since 2007.-Early life and background:...
.
Background
Pringle studied at Macquarie UniversityMacquarie University
Macquarie University is an Australian public teaching and research university located in Sydney, with its main campus situated in Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of Sydney...
, attaining a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in economics and history, and a Master of Arts, majoring in politics. It was at university where he first became involved in politics, joining the university 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...
Club and serving in positions on the University Council, Union Board and Student Council. After graduating from university, Pringle joined the Royal Australian Navy
Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...
, ultimately attaining the rank of Lieutenant Commander.
Alongside his military career, Pringle became involved in local politics. In the late 1980s, he stood for election to the Hornsby Shire Council
Hornsby Shire
Hornsby Shire is a Local Government Area in the Northern region of Sydney, Australia. The Shire stretches from the suburb of Eastwood in the south to the Hawkesbury River town of Wisemans Ferry, some to the north...
in northern Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, and was elected as a councillor in 1987, a position he held until 2003. He first attempted to enter state politics in 1990, contesting preselection for a by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
in the safe Liberal seat of The Hills
Electoral district of The Hills
The Hills was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales from 1962 to 2007. It was a 51.08 km² urban electorate in Sydney's north-west, taking in the suburbs of Carlingford, Castle Hill, Cherrybrook, Glenhaven, Kellyville, Pennant Hills and West...
, but came a close second to car dealer Tony Packard
Tony Packard
Anthony Charles "Tony" Packard is a former Australian politician. He was the Liberal member for The Hills in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1990 to 1993....
.
Hornsby Shire
Pringle was elected president of Hornsby Shire in 1992, becoming its youngest president thus far at the age of 34. He did not stand for re-election to the position in 1993, and instead contested preselection for the safe Liberal seat of NorthcottElectoral district of Northcott
Northcott was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales between 1968 and 1999.It was named after Sir John Northcott who served as Governor of New South Wales from 1 August 1946 to 1 August 1957...
for the 1995 state election
New South Wales state election, 1995
Elections to the 51st Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday 25 March 1995. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election. The minority Liberal Party of Australia-led Coalition government of Premier John Fahey was defeated by...
, losing to Barry O'Farrell
Barry O'Farrell
Barry Robert O'Farrell MP, is an Australian politician and is the 43rd Premier of New South Wales, Minister for Western Sydney, Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party and a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Ku-ring-gai for the Liberal Party since 1999.Born in...
. He served two more terms as shire president in the late 1990s and early 2000s, before making another bid to enter state parliament in 2002.
Pringle initially contested preselection for a 2002 by-election in the seat of Hornsby
Electoral district of Hornsby
Hornsby is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. Hornsby is one of two post-1927 electorates to have never been held by the Labor party and always by the Liberals, a predecessor party to the Liberals, or an independent, the other such district...
, but lost to Judy Hopwood
Judy Hopwood
Judith "Judy" Hopwood , a former Australian politician, was a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Hornsby for Liberal Party of Australia between 2002 and 2011....
. He instead launched a challenge against Kevin Rozzoli
Kevin Rozzoli
Kevin Richard Rozzoli is an Australian politician. He was a Liberal Party of Australia member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1973 until 2003, representing the electorate of Hawkesbury. He also served as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly from 1988 to 1995, during the Greiner and...
, a former Speaker and incumbent of nearly 30 years, in the seat of Hawkesbury
Electoral district of Hawkesbury
Hawkesbury is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It was represented by Steven Pringle, formerly of the Liberal Party of Australia, who contested the 2007 election as an independent but was defeated by Ray Williams of the Liberal Party of...
for the 2003 state election
New South Wales state election, 2003
Elections to the 53rd Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday 22 March 2003. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election...
. On this fourth attempt to gain preselection he was successful, although the vote in which he defeated Rozzoli was marred by allegations of branch stacking
Branch stacking
Branch stacking is the act of recruiting members for a branch of a political party for the principal purpose of influencing the outcome of internal preselections of candidates for public office...
. The result was somewhat controversial, and caused two local mayors to stand for election against him as independents, but Pringle nevertheless retained the seat for the Liberal Party and was elected to parliament.
Parliament
Pringle was elected Member for Hawkesbury at the general election held on 22 March 2003 and held the seat until the next general election held on 2 March 2007. Pringle remained a relatively low-profile backbencherBackbencher
In Westminster parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a Member of Parliament or a legislator who does not hold governmental office and is not a Front Bench spokesperson in the Opposition...
for his first two years in parliament, focusing mainly on local issues, especially in the areas of planning and the environment. Though he held strongly Christian conservative beliefs, opposing abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
and gay rights and attending the same parliamentary prayer group as hard-right factional power-broker David Clarke
David Clarke (Australian politician)
David John Clarke, an Australian politician, is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council representing the Liberal Party of Australia since 2003. and is considered to have conservative Christian views.-Personal life:...
, he was always aligned with the party's moderate faction. This allegiance began threatening his career as early as 2005, only two years into his term, when reports emerged that the hard-right was engaging in branch stacking
Branch stacking
Branch stacking is the act of recruiting members for a branch of a political party for the principal purpose of influencing the outcome of internal preselections of candidates for public office...
in Hawkesbury as a prelude to a possible preselection challenge. Several months later, in the wake of the resignation of moderate leader John Brogden, Pringle was one of a number of MPs who reportedly had their preselection threatened if they did not vote for the hard-right's preferred candidate, Peter Debnam
Peter Debnam
Peter John Debnam , is a former Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Vaucluse between 1994 and 2011. Debnam is a former Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Western Sydney,...
, as Brogden's replacement, a campaign which ultimately sparked the withdrawal of Debnam's only opponent from the race.
The tensions from the previous year were confirmed when, on 2 September 2006, Ray Williams
Ray Williams (Australian politician)
Ray Williams, MP, an Australian politician, is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Hawkesbury for the Liberal Party of Australia since 2007.-Early life and background:...
, a Baulkham Hills Shire
Baulkham Hills Shire
The Hills Shire is a local government area of in the north western region of Sydney, Australia. The area encompasses 380 square kilometres stretching from North Parramatta in the south to Wiseman's Ferry on the Hawkesbury River in the north.-Incomes:According to the Australian Bureau of...
councillor backed by the hard-right faction, challenged Pringle for his endorsement to recontest his seat. This came in the wake of reports that numbers in one branch in Pringle's electorate had swelled from 17 to 500 due to an influx of Lebanese
Lebanese Australian
A Lebanese Australian is an Australian citizen or permanent resident of Lebanese descent. The community is multi-religious, and includes a Christian, mostly Maronite Catholic, majority, as well as a large Muslim minority of both the Shia and Sunni branches of Islam, and various other Christian and...
members, and public allegations by Howard Crawford, party president for the nearby electorate of Londonderry
Electoral district of Londonderry
Londonderry is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by Bart Bassett of the Liberal Party of Australia.-Members for Londonderry:-Election results:...
, that a campaign of "branch-stacking, malpractice and political promises" was being used to undermine Pringle. Reports also emerged during the campaign that Williams had claimed that he could secure a $100,000 donation to the party from a property development company if he were elected, which later sparked controversy and an enforced veto of the move from now-party leader Debnam. Nevertheless Pringle was endorsed by Debnam, who had adopted a policy of supporting all sitting members. Although Debnam's intervention had saved numerous sitting members over the previous year, it was not enough to save Pringle, who was defeated by Williams on 15 October. It was subsequently reported that Pringle had obtained approximately 50% of the local branch vote in spite of the alleged branch stacking
Branch stacking
Branch stacking is the act of recruiting members for a branch of a political party for the principal purpose of influencing the outcome of internal preselections of candidates for public office...
, but had been soundly defeated by the votes of the hard right-dominated state council and state executive.
Pringle responded to news of his preselection defeat by declaring "betrayal and disgust" at what had occurred, labelling Debnam either "lying or impotent" for not being able to save his career. He resigned from the Liberal Party during Question Time in parliament on 17 October, announcing his intention to serve out his term as an independent, and recontest his seat as an independent at the 2007 election. The government used its numbers to suspend standing orders so Pringle could speak at a time of maximum coverage, and in an explosive attack under parliamentary privilege
Parliamentary privilege
Parliamentary privilege is a legal immunity enjoyed by members of certain legislatures, in which legislators are granted protection against civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made related to one's duties as a legislator. It is common in countries whose constitutions are...
, Pringle criticised Clarke, Debnam and the Liberal Party, claiming that the party was being controlled by "an exclusive sect" – referring to Clarke's membership of Opus Dei
Opus Dei
Opus Dei, formally known as The Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei , is an organization of the Catholic Church that teaches that everyone is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to sanctity. The majority of its membership are lay people, with secular priests under the...
– labelling Clarke "the Godfather", and calling the preselection "an absolute rort
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
". He further accused the party of being preoccupied with issues such as homosexuality and drug injecting rooms, and claimed that it "does not deserve to govern".