Ross Lightfoot
Encyclopedia
Philip Ross Lightfoot is a former Australian politician. He was a Liberal
member of the Australian Senate
from 1997 to 2008, representing the state of Western Australia
.
Lightfoot was born in Port Lincoln, South Australia
and was educated at first the Adelaide
, and then Kalgoorlie School of Mines. In the 1950s, he spent time as a weekend soldier, as a result of national service
. Lightfoot joined the Liberal Party of Australia
soon afterwards. He worked as a mounted policeman between 1959 and 1962. In 1972, Lightfoot became a pastoralist and grazier, a line of employment he subsequently occupied for twenty years.
His political career began in 1986, when Lightfoot won the seat of Murchison-Eyre
in Western Australia's Legislative Assembly
. It was here that he first caused controversy, when he wrote to United States
Secretary of State George Shultz, urging the US Government to dump subsidised wheat in Australia's international wheat markets in Russia and China. He later retracted the statement.
He retired from the Legislative Assembly in 1989, but made a comeback in 1993, representing the North Metropolitan Region in the Legislative Council
. In 1994, he caused some controversy when he publicly defended the Australian League of Rights
, a group that had previously been strongly condemned by the 1991 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's National Inquiry into Racist Violence in Australia. He was also criticised by Jewish groups for having signed a petition organised by controversial American politician Lyndon LaRouche
. While in state parliament, he also advocated for the secession of Western Australia from the rest of the country.
In 1997, Western Australian Senator John Panizza
died, and Lightfoot, having been selected to fill the vacancy, moved to federal politics. He soon became a controversial figure within the party, having to be rebuked by Prime Minister
John Howard
for telling the Senate that Aborigines in their native state were the lowest colour on the civilisation spectrum.
He was also one of a small group of Liberal MPs willing to make a preference deal with controversial MP Pauline Hanson
and her One Nation party. However, this was to assist him in gaining re-election in 2001. His comments have led to numerous moves to oust him from membership of his own party, but he has hung on, as he has been seen to represent a movement of rural conservatives in Western Australia.
Lightfoot has been an active campaigner for the rights of white Zimbabwe
an farmers displaced by the regime of Robert Mugabe
. In 2002, he made the suggestion that some could be given residency in Australia, but denied that this should apply to black farm workers as well. This was due to Robert Mugabe's "Africa for Africans" policies and not allowing for the travelling rights of many oppressed peoples at that time.
In 2003, Lightfoot was involved in an altercation on the floor of the Senate during a visit by United States
President George W. Bush
. Australian Greens
Senators Bob Brown
and Kerry Nettle
were attempting to hand Bush a letter from the wife of Mamdouh Habib
, an Australian citizen who at the time was being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
, following his apprehension by United States forces in either (this is disputed) Afghanistan
or Pakistan
. Lightfoot physically blocked the path of the Senators, elbowing Brown and reportedly telling Nettle to "Fuck off and die".
On 17 March 2005, News Limited
newspapers reported that Lightfoot, while on a parliamentary tour to Iraq
, smuggled USD$20,000 into the country on behalf of Woodside Petroleum
as a donation for the Kurdish government, having been issued with a pistol
for personal security. The newspapers published photographs of Lightfoot appearing with Kurdish militants wielding an AK-47
. Lightfoot strenuously denied the allegations and threatened legal action against the newspapers carrying the story. Lightfoot denied handling the money personally, and claiming that he merely witnessed the money changing hands. After speaking to John Howard, Lightfoot issued a statement in which he claimed that he felt "uncomfortable" having the gun with him and did not carry it personally. The newspapers in turn refused to retract the reports and accused Lightfoot of contradicting himself.
Who's Who in Australia reports him as being a Life Fellow of the International Biographical Association, a Vanity press
award that can be purchased for £795.
In April 2007, facing near-certain defeat in a preselection challenge by Liberal Party vice-president Mathias Cormann
, he announced that he would retire at the end of his term in the Senate. Cormann was subsequently preselected to replace Lightfoot, but then selected unanimously by the WA Liberal Party State Council to replace Ian Campbell
in the Senate, after Campbell announced his surprise resignation in May 2007. Michaelia Cash
instead became Lightfoot's preselected replacement. Lightfoot retired from politics in 2008.
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 Senate
Australian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...
from 1997 to 2008, representing the state of Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
.
Lightfoot was born in Port Lincoln, 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...
and was educated at first the 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 then Kalgoorlie School of Mines. In the 1950s, he spent time as a weekend soldier, as a result of national service
National service
National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...
. Lightfoot joined 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...
soon afterwards. He worked as a mounted policeman between 1959 and 1962. In 1972, Lightfoot became a pastoralist and grazier, a line of employment he subsequently occupied for twenty years.
His political career began in 1986, when Lightfoot won the seat of Murchison-Eyre
Electoral district of Murchison-Eyre
Murchison-Eyre was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia from 1890 to 1989 and again from 2005 to 2008....
in Western Australia's Legislative Assembly
Western Australian Legislative Assembly
The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Perth....
. It was here that he first caused controversy, when he wrote to United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Secretary of State George Shultz, urging the US Government to dump subsidised wheat in Australia's international wheat markets in Russia and China. He later retracted the statement.
He retired from the Legislative Assembly in 1989, but made a comeback in 1993, representing the North Metropolitan Region in the Legislative Council
Western Australian Legislative Council
The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the Legislative Assembly. It sits in Parliament House in the state...
. In 1994, he caused some controversy when he publicly defended the Australian League of Rights
Australian League of Rights
The Australian League of Rights is a long-lived far right and anti-semitic political organisation in Australia founded by Eric Butler with its basis in the economic theory of Social Credit expounded by C. H. Douglas. It describes itself as upholding the virtues of freedom...
, a group that had previously been strongly condemned by the 1991 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's National Inquiry into Racist Violence in Australia. He was also criticised by Jewish groups for having signed a petition organised by controversial American politician Lyndon LaRouche
Lyndon LaRouche
Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche, Jr. is an American political activist and founder of a network of political committees, parties, and publications known collectively as the LaRouche movement...
. While in state parliament, he also advocated for the secession of Western Australia from the rest of the country.
In 1997, Western Australian Senator John Panizza
John Panizza
John Horace Panizza was an Australian politician. Born at Southern Cross, Western Australia, he was a farmer and property developer, and served on Yilgarn Shire Council. In 1987, he was elected to the Australian Senate as a Liberal Senator for Western Australia...
died, and Lightfoot, having been selected to fill the vacancy, moved to federal politics. He soon became a controversial figure within the party, having to be rebuked by Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
John Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
for telling the Senate that Aborigines in their native state were the lowest colour on the civilisation spectrum.
He was also one of a small group of Liberal MPs willing to make a preference deal with controversial MP Pauline Hanson
Pauline Hanson
Pauline Lee Hanson is an Australian politician and former leader of Pauline Hanson's One Nation, a political party with a populist and anti-multiculturalism platform...
and her One Nation party. However, this was to assist him in gaining re-election in 2001. His comments have led to numerous moves to oust him from membership of his own party, but he has hung on, as he has been seen to represent a movement of rural conservatives in Western Australia.
Lightfoot has been an active campaigner for the rights of white Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
an farmers displaced by the regime of Robert Mugabe
Robert Mugabe
Robert Gabriel Mugabe is the President of Zimbabwe. As one of the leaders of the liberation movement against white-minority rule, he was elected into power in 1980...
. In 2002, he made the suggestion that some could be given residency in Australia, but denied that this should apply to black farm workers as well. This was due to Robert Mugabe's "Africa for Africans" policies and not allowing for the travelling rights of many oppressed peoples at that time.
In 2003, Lightfoot was involved in an altercation on the floor of the Senate during a visit by United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
. Australian Greens
Australian Greens
The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which...
Senators Bob Brown
Bob Brown
Robert James Brown is an Australian senator, the inaugural Parliamentary Leader of the Australian Greens and was the first openly gay member of the Parliament of Australia...
and Kerry Nettle
Kerry Nettle
Kerry Michelle Nettle is a former Australian Senator and member of the Australian Greens in New South Wales. Elected at the 2001 federal election on a primary vote of 4.36 percent with One Nation and micro-party preferences, she failed to gain re-election at the 2007 federal election, despite an...
were attempting to hand Bush a letter from the wife of Mamdouh Habib
Mamdouh Habib
Mamdouh Habib is an Egyptian born Australian Muslim best known for his extrajudicial detention in the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba, on suspicion of involvement in terrorism....
, an Australian citizen who at the time was being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, following his apprehension by United States forces in either (this is disputed) Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
or Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. Lightfoot physically blocked the path of the Senators, elbowing Brown and reportedly telling Nettle to "Fuck off and die".
On 17 March 2005, News Limited
News Limited
News Limited is one of Australia's largest diversified media companies. The publicly listed company's interests span newspaper and magazine publishing, Internet, Pay TV, National Rugby League, market research, DVD and film distribution, and film and television production trading assets.News Limited...
newspapers reported that Lightfoot, while on a parliamentary tour to Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, smuggled USD$20,000 into the country on behalf of Woodside Petroleum
Woodside Petroleum
Woodside Petroleum Limited is an Australian petroleum exploration and production company. It is a public company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and has its headquarters in Perth, Western Australia.-History:...
as a donation for the Kurdish government, having been issued with a pistol
Pistol
When distinguished as a subset of handguns, a pistol is a handgun with a chamber that is integral with the barrel, as opposed to a revolver, wherein the chamber is separate from the barrel as a revolving cylinder. Typically, pistols have an effective range of about 100 feet.-History:The pistol...
for personal security. The newspapers published photographs of Lightfoot appearing with Kurdish militants wielding an AK-47
AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
. Lightfoot strenuously denied the allegations and threatened legal action against the newspapers carrying the story. Lightfoot denied handling the money personally, and claiming that he merely witnessed the money changing hands. After speaking to John Howard, Lightfoot issued a statement in which he claimed that he felt "uncomfortable" having the gun with him and did not carry it personally. The newspapers in turn refused to retract the reports and accused Lightfoot of contradicting himself.
Who's Who in Australia reports him as being a Life Fellow of the International Biographical Association, a Vanity press
Vanity press
A vanity press or vanity publisher is a term describing a publishing house that publishes books at the author's expense. Publisher Johnathon Clifford claims to have coined the term in 1959. However, the term appears in mainstream U.S...
award that can be purchased for £795.
In April 2007, facing near-certain defeat in a preselection challenge by Liberal Party vice-president Mathias Cormann
Mathias Cormann
Mathias Hubert Paul Cormann is an Australian politician. He is a Liberal Party of Australia Senator for Western Australia, having been chosen by the Parliament of Western Australia on 19 June 2007 to fill the casual vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator Ian Campbell...
, he announced that he would retire at the end of his term in the Senate. Cormann was subsequently preselected to replace Lightfoot, but then selected unanimously by the WA Liberal Party State Council to replace Ian Campbell
Ian Campbell
Ian or Iain Campbell may refer to:*Iain Campbell, Scottish footballer*Iain Campbell Smith, Australian diplomat, singer/songwriter and comedian*Ian Campbell, 12th Duke of Argyll , Scottish Peer and Chief of Clan Campbell...
in the Senate, after Campbell announced his surprise resignation in May 2007. Michaelia Cash
Michaelia Cash
Michaelia Clare Cash is an Australian politician. She has been a Liberal Party member of the Australian Senate since July 2008, representing the state of Western Australia.Cash was first elected to parliament at the 2007 federal election...
instead became Lightfoot's preselected replacement. Lightfoot retired from politics in 2008.