#ausvotes

Peter Slipper began his career in legal practice, and from 1984 to 1987, he represented the electorate of Fisher for the Nationals in the House of Representatives. Failing to be re-elected in 1987 he had a 6 year respite until 1993 when he remerged representing Fisher for the Queensland Liberal Party, which later merged with The Nationals in 2008. Since then, Slipper has been a member of the Liberal National Party of Queensland.

His experience and tenure has allowed Slipper to hold a number of senior positions of responsibility, including Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance, Government Whip, and Parliamentary Secretary to ex Prime Minister John Howard. He was Chair of the House’s Standing Committee on Family & Community Affairs, and of the Standing Committee for Legal & Constitutional Affairs, and a member on the Standing Committee for Public Works.

Within the machinations of a minority government, in November 2011, Prime Minister Gillard replaced her own Speaker Harry Jenkins, the Member for Scullin, with Peter Slipper who was the Deputy Speaker at the time. In accepting the nomination, Slipper effectively allowed the Labor government an additional vote with which to control the Lower House. The Coalition saw this as recalcitrant behavior, and before he could be expelled, Slipper handed in his resignation and sat in the Speaker’s Chair as an Independent.

While a long suffering conservative, present circumstances may dictate a shift in Peter Slipper’s vote. Clearly, he has the experience to make an independent and informed decision, but of late he has trodden the precarious path of pleasing two masters – the Prime Minister and his own party. For all intents and purposes, Peter Slipper appears to have denounced his party’s agenda and if any, seems to hold loyalty toward the present government. This stands to reason, as it was the government that gave him the opportunity to ascend to the highest position in Parliament, and also allowed him to affect a measure of Parliamentary Reform.

Recently, Slipper has resigned as Speaker and sits as an Independent on the cross bench.