The Retiring Member for Page

The ABC's Election Analyst Antony Green has provided a potted summary of the retiring Member for Page, Ian Causley (see below).

Interestingly, Green fails to mention the "all-round, A-1 contribution" Causley made to the Coalition's cause in NSW with his decision to resign from the NSW State parliament and move to the big end of politics in Canberra.

Causley resigned his position as the State Member for Clarence, stood for and was elected as the Federal Member for Page. It was a top decision and a great result for Ian personally, but his action allowed Labor's Harry Woods to be elected and fill the vacant spot he created in the NSW parliament.

So what? The election of Woods provided the Carr government with just the buffer it needed to ensure it was safely out of harm's reach from a Coalition opposition that could have been within a whisker, perhaps even a death bed's breath, of securing the reigns of government in NSW.

Causley has maintained his criticism of fellow Coalitionists for not providing him with a Federal ministerial position which he claims he was promised when he stood for and was elected to Federal parliament.

Perhaps, unlike Causley, others in the Coalition were perceptive enough to recognise the damage Causley's decision to move from State to Federal politics did to the Coalition's prospects at the state level and decided to reward him accordingly with a back bench spot.

However, like his fellow Nationals mates who have kowtowed to the Liberals, Causley was eventually provided with a reward for services rendered and given a job-for-the-boys position that provided him with a lot more pocket money than a poorly paid backbencher. Yes, that's right - - - - he was elevated to the position of Deputy Speaker - - - - a position that would keep him quiet and, hopefully, stop him running off and forming a small ginger group.

Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for the retiring Member for Page.



http://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2007/guide/departingmps.htm

Ian Causley (NAT)
Page (NSW)
67 year-old Causley was a cane grower and company director before being elected to the NSW Parliament in 1984. A Minister in both the Greiner and Fahey governments, he served as Minister for Natural Resources 1988-90, Water Resources 1990-91, Natural Resources again 1991-93, before moving to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Mines portfolio. He fought the 1991 NSW election with a brain tumour, being forced to take time off afterwards to recover from an operation. Transferring to Federal politics after the defeat of the Fahey government in 1995, he won Page back for the Nationals after two terms in Labor hands. In his eleven years in Federal Parliament, he has been one of the National Party's back-bench critics of various 'economic rationalist' reforms.