Wilson Tuckey
Encyclopedia
Charles Wilson Tuckey a former Australian federal politician, was a Member of the Australian House of Representatives
representing the seat of O'Connor
in Western Australia for the Liberal Party
from 1980 until 2010.
, Western Australia, and was a businessman and hotelier before entering politics.
Tuckey was a Town Councillor in Carnarvon
1964–65 and a member of Carnarvon Shire Council
1969–70, 1971–73 and 1977–79. He was Shire President 1965–69.
In the federal Parliament he was a member of the Opposition Shadow Ministry 1984–89 and 1993–96 and Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House 1988–89 and 1993–94. He served as Minister for Forestry and Conservation and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister 1998–2001 and Minister for Regional Services, Territories and Local Government
2002–2003.
in Carnarvon, he was convicted of assault after striking an Aboriginal man with a length of steel cable. It was alleged that the man was being pinned to the ground at the time. He has had the nickname "Ironbar" ever since.
In 1986 Tuckey taunted the then Labor Treasurer, Paul Keating
, in Parliament about a former girlfriend called "Christine," leading Keating to call him "a piece of criminal garbage." In one notorious exchange, Tuckey told Keating: "You are an idiot, you are a hopeless nong", to which Keating replied: "Shut up! Sit down and shut up, you pig... Why do you not shut up, you clown?... This man has a criminal intellect... this clown continues to interject in perpetuity." A furious Keating demanded that newly installed Liberal Party leader John Howard
discipline Tuckey, but he refused. Keating then promised to make Howard "wear his leadership like a crown of thorns
", and the relationship between Keating and Howard, previously a civil one, deteriorated to the point where the two men refused to speak to one another.
. After the success of the plot, Tuckey boasted about it on television, privately infuriating Howard.
Tuckey addressed an AIDS
conference and opened by saying "you don't catch AIDS, you let somebody give it to you".
Tuckey's demise as a minister came in August 2003 when it was revealed that he had written to Patrick Conlon
, who was Police Minister in South Australia
, on ministerial letterhead, asking Conlon to "review" his son's conviction on a traffic charge. Prime Minister Howard said that Tuckey's actions were foolish but refused to dismiss him. Tuckey resigned as a minister shortly afterwards to return to the backbench.
not be executed for drug smuggling, Tuckey was the only member of parliament not to support it.
Tuckey was often quoted in the media as supporting free markets and less government intervention in the economy. He is also well known for criticising the National Party
on a number of issues. He has been the most outspoken critic of AWB
in Federal Parliament and has led the push for it to be stripped of its export monopoly for wheat. Tuckey labelled National Party politicians who continue to support the single desk system as "drongos". He also labelled National Party senator Barnaby Joyce
a "lightweight" for arguing in favour of foreign ownership restrictions to be placed upon Medibank Private
after privatization.
In August 2006, Tuckey had a public argument with Labor leader Kim Beazley
over new immigration laws, ending with Tuckey calling Beazley a "fat so and so".
In August 2007, Tuckey sent a fax to John Howard
and several Liberal MPs suggesting the Prime Minister relinquish the leadership.
In January 2008, Queensland Aboriginal activist Sam Watson branded Tuckey an "extreme racist" after Tuckey criticised the decision to display traditional dancers from the Aboriginal tribe which historically resides near the Parliament House in the opening of Federal Parliament. Watson concluded, "Mr Tuckey and his extremist racist views really do belong to another generation."
On 13 February 2008, Tuckey walked out during the opening of the 42nd Australian Federal Parliament immediately after prayers, and pointedly before the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
made a motion of apology to the Stolen Generation
. He was one of five Coalition MPs not present in the chamber, thereby boycotting the motion. On the steps of parliament, Tuckey was sarcastic about what the apology would achieve for indigenous people:
In May 2008, Tuckey was expelled from the house for 24 hours after breaching standards. His remarks against the speaker arose during a heated question time in relation to the Rudd Government
's 'Fuel Watch Scheme'. On 24 September 2008, Tuckey was again expelled from the house, this time for one hour, for an outburst during House of Representatives Question Time.
In March 2010, Tuckey said that acknowledging traditional landowners at official events was a "farce" and that he had "never thanked anyone for the right to be on the soil that is Australian".
to the Nationals WA
candidate Tony Crook
. Results in O'Connor
from 1980 had Tuckey on a two-party preferred vote of 62 to 75 percent against Labor at each election. Tuckey won the seat at the 2007 federal election on a primary vote of 46 percent and a two-party margin of 67 percent against Labor. In 2010, Tuckey suffered a post-redistribution primary vote swing of 10 percent and a two-candidate swing of 20 percent, finishing on a primary vote of 38 percent and a two-candidate vote of 46 percent against Crook.
Tuckey broke his self-imposed silence after the election, verbally attacking Crook on a range of fronts. Tuckey described Crook as "a nobody who would be lucky to have his relatives turn up to hear his maiden speech in parliament".
Defeated at age 75, he was the then oldest member of the Australian Parliament.
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....
representing the seat of O'Connor
Division of O'Connor
The Division of O'Connor is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Western Australia. It is one of Western Australia's three rural seats....
in Western Australia for the Liberal Party
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...
from 1980 until 2010.
Biography
Wilson Tuckey was born in PerthPerth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, Western Australia, and was a businessman and hotelier before entering politics.
Tuckey was a Town Councillor in Carnarvon
Carnarvon, Western Australia
Carnarvon is a coastal town situated approximately 900 kilometres north of Perth, Western Australia. It lies at the mouth of the Gascoyne River on the Indian Ocean. The popular Shark Bay world heritage area lies to the south of the town and the Ningaloo Reef lies to the north...
1964–65 and a member of Carnarvon Shire Council
Shire of Carnarvon
The Shire of Carnarvon is a Local Government Area in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia, located about north of the state capital, Perth. The Shire covers an area of , and its seat of government is the town of Carnarvon...
1969–70, 1971–73 and 1977–79. He was Shire President 1965–69.
In the federal Parliament he was a member of the Opposition Shadow Ministry 1984–89 and 1993–96 and Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House 1988–89 and 1993–94. He served as Minister for Forestry and Conservation and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister 1998–2001 and Minister for Regional Services, Territories and Local Government
Minister for Local Government, Territories and Roads (Australia)
Minister for Local Government, Territories and Roads was a position within the Australian federal government from 7 October 2003 until 3 December 2007....
2002–2003.
"Ironbar" nickname
Tuckey was one of the most controversial figures in Australian federal politics. In 1967, while a publicanPublic house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
in Carnarvon, he was convicted of assault after striking an Aboriginal man with a length of steel cable. It was alleged that the man was being pinned to the ground at the time. He has had the nickname "Ironbar" ever since.
In 1986 Tuckey taunted the then Labor Treasurer, Paul Keating
Paul Keating
Paul John Keating was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1991 to 1996. Keating was elected as the federal Labor member for Blaxland in 1969 and came to prominence as the reformist treasurer of the Hawke Labor government, which came to power at the 1983 election...
, in Parliament about a former girlfriend called "Christine," leading Keating to call him "a piece of criminal garbage." In one notorious exchange, Tuckey told Keating: "You are an idiot, you are a hopeless nong", to which Keating replied: "Shut up! Sit down and shut up, you pig... Why do you not shut up, you clown?... This man has a criminal intellect... this clown continues to interject in perpetuity." A furious Keating demanded that newly installed Liberal Party leader 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....
discipline Tuckey, but he refused. Keating then promised to make Howard "wear his leadership like a crown of thorns
Crown of Thorns
In Christianity, the Crown of Thorns, one of the instruments of the Passion, was woven of thorn branches and placed on Jesus Christ before his crucifixion...
", and the relationship between Keating and Howard, previously a civil one, deteriorated to the point where the two men refused to speak to one another.
Political career
In 1989 Tuckey was one of the leaders of the plot to depose John Howard as Liberal Party leader and replace him with Andrew PeacockAndrew Peacock
Andrew Sharp Peacock AC, GCL , is a former Australian Liberal politician. He was a minister in the Gorton, McMahon and Fraser governments, and was federal leader of the Liberal Party of Australia 1983–1985 and 1989–1990...
. After the success of the plot, Tuckey boasted about it on television, privately infuriating Howard.
Tuckey addressed an AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
conference and opened by saying "you don't catch AIDS, you let somebody give it to you".
Frontbencher
As Minister for Forestry, Tuckey angered conservation groups through his support for the forestry industry. In 2002 he blamed the environmentalist movement for Australia's severe bushfire problem, saying that their opposition to controlled burning in national parks increased the risk of fires.Tuckey's demise as a minister came in August 2003 when it was revealed that he had written to Patrick Conlon
Patrick Conlon (politician)
Patrick Frederick "Pat" Conlon is a South Australian politician. Since 1997 he has represented the Electoral district of Elder in the South Australian House of Assembly as a member of the Australian Labor Party. He is Minister for Transport, Minister for Infrastructure, and Minister for Energy,...
, who was Police Minister in 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...
, on ministerial letterhead, asking Conlon to "review" his son's conviction on a traffic charge. Prime Minister Howard said that Tuckey's actions were foolish but refused to dismiss him. Tuckey resigned as a minister shortly afterwards to return to the backbench.
Backbencher
In 2005 when the Australian parliament voted to pass a motion asking Singaporean authorities that Van Tuong NguyenVan Tuong Nguyen
Van Tuong Nguyen baptised Caleb, was an Australian from Melbourne, Victoria convicted of drug trafficking in Singapore...
not be executed for drug smuggling, Tuckey was the only member of parliament not to support it.
Tuckey was often quoted in the media as supporting free markets and less government intervention in the economy. He is also well known for criticising the 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...
on a number of issues. He has been the most outspoken critic of AWB
AWB Limited
AWB Limited is a major grain marketing organisation based in Australia. It was a government body known as the Australian Wheat Board until 1 July 1999, when the AWB was transformed into a private company, owned by wheat growers...
in Federal Parliament and has led the push for it to be stripped of its export monopoly for wheat. Tuckey labelled National Party politicians who continue to support the single desk system as "drongos". He also labelled National Party senator Barnaby Joyce
Barnaby Joyce
Barnaby Thomas Gerald Joyce , Australian politician, has been a National Party member of the Australian Senate representing the state of Queensland since July 2005...
a "lightweight" for arguing in favour of foreign ownership restrictions to be placed upon Medibank Private
Medibank Private
Medibank is an Australian government-owned private health insurer, established under the Fraser government in 1976 through the Health Insurance Commission . It is Australia's largest health insurance provider with 3.6 million members under two brands, and the only health insurer present in every...
after privatization.
In August 2006, Tuckey had a public argument with Labor leader Kim Beazley
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....
over new immigration laws, ending with Tuckey calling Beazley a "fat so and so".
In August 2007, Tuckey sent a fax to 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....
and several Liberal MPs suggesting the Prime Minister relinquish the leadership.
In January 2008, Queensland Aboriginal activist Sam Watson branded Tuckey an "extreme racist" after Tuckey criticised the decision to display traditional dancers from the Aboriginal tribe which historically resides near the Parliament House in the opening of Federal Parliament. Watson concluded, "Mr Tuckey and his extremist racist views really do belong to another generation."
On 13 February 2008, Tuckey walked out during the opening of the 42nd Australian Federal Parliament immediately after prayers, and pointedly before the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
Kevin Rudd
Kevin Michael Rudd is an Australian politician who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010. He has been Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2010...
made a motion of apology to the Stolen Generation
Stolen Generation
The Stolen Generations were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian Federal and State government agencies and church missions, under acts of their respective parliaments...
. He was one of five Coalition MPs not present in the chamber, thereby boycotting the motion. On the steps of parliament, Tuckey was sarcastic about what the apology would achieve for indigenous people:
"I'm there to say hallelujah. Tomorrow there'll be no petrol sniffing, tomorrow little girls can sleep in their beds without any concern — it's all fixed. The Rudd spin will fix it all. I've read it, I'm convinced. I think it's wonderful."
In May 2008, Tuckey was expelled from the house for 24 hours after breaching standards. His remarks against the speaker arose during a heated question time in relation to the Rudd Government
Rudd Government
The Rudd Government refers to the federal Executive Government of Australia of the Australian Labor Party from 2007 to 2010, led by Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister. The Rudd Government commenced on 3 December 2007, when Rudd was sworn in along with his ministry...
's 'Fuel Watch Scheme'. On 24 September 2008, Tuckey was again expelled from the house, this time for one hour, for an outburst during House of Representatives Question Time.
In March 2010, Tuckey said that acknowledging traditional landowners at official events was a "farce" and that he had "never thanked anyone for the right to be on the soil that is Australian".
Defeat
At the 2010 federal election, Tuckey lost his seat of O'ConnorDivision of O'Connor
The Division of O'Connor is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Western Australia. It is one of Western Australia's three rural seats....
to the Nationals WA
National Party of Western Australia
The National Party of Western Australia is a political party in Western Australia. It is affiliated with the National Party of Australia but maintains a separate structure and identity....
candidate Tony Crook
Tony Crook (politician)
Anthony John "Tony" Crook is an Australian politician. He has been the member of the Australian House of Representatives seat of O'Connor for the National Party of Western Australia since the 2010 federal election...
. Results in O'Connor
Electoral results for the Division of O'Connor
This is a list of electoral results for the Division of O'Connor in Australian federal elections from the division's creation in 1980 until the present.-Members:-Elections in the 2010s:-Elections in the 2000s:...
from 1980 had Tuckey on a two-party preferred vote of 62 to 75 percent against Labor at each election. Tuckey won the seat at the 2007 federal election on a primary vote of 46 percent and a two-party margin of 67 percent against Labor. In 2010, Tuckey suffered a post-redistribution primary vote swing of 10 percent and a two-candidate swing of 20 percent, finishing on a primary vote of 38 percent and a two-candidate vote of 46 percent against Crook.
Tuckey broke his self-imposed silence after the election, verbally attacking Crook on a range of fronts. Tuckey described Crook as "a nobody who would be lucky to have his relatives turn up to hear his maiden speech in parliament".
Defeated at age 75, he was the then oldest member of the Australian Parliament.