Ian Sinclair

For other people named Ian Sinclair, seeIan Sinclair (disambiguation).

Ian McCahon SinclairAC(born 10 June 1929) is an Australian former politician who served as aMember of Parliamentfor 35 years, and was leader of theNational Partyfrom 1984 to 1989. He served as either a minister or opposition frontbencher for all but a few months from 1965 to 1989, and laterSpeaker of the House of Representativesfrom March to August 1998.

The Right Honourable Ian Sinclair AC
Sinclair in 1970
Speaker of the House of Representatives
In office 4 March 1998 – 31 August 1998
Preceded by	Bob Halverson
Succeeded by	Neil Andrew
Leader of the National Party
In office 17 January 1984 – 9 May 1989
Deputy	Ralph Hunt Bruce Lloyd
Preceded by	Doug Anthony
Succeeded by	Charles Blunt
Deputy Leader of the National Party
In office 2 February 1971 – 17 January 1984
Leader	Doug Anthony
Preceded by	Doug Anthony
Succeeded by	Ralph Hunt
Parliamentary Offices Father of the House In office 20 February 1990 – 31 August 1998 Preceded by Tom Uren Succeeded by Philip Ruddock Leader of the House In office 19 August 1980 – 7 May 1982 Leader Malcolm Fraser Preceded by Ian Viner Succeeded by Sir James Killen In office 22 December 1975 – 27 September 1979 Leader Malcolm Fraser Preceded by Fred Daly Succeeded by Ian Viner Manager of Opposition Business In office 16 March 1983 – 28 April 1987 Leader Malcolm Fraser Andrew Peacock John Howard Preceded by Lionel Bowen Succeeded by John Spender In office 14 June 1974 – 11 November 1975 Leader Billy Snedden Malcolm Fraser Preceded by unknown Succeeded by Gordon Scholes
Cabinet Posts Minister for Defence In office 7 May 1982 – 11 March 1983 Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser Preceded by Jim Killen Succeeded by Gordon Scholes Minister for Communications In office 3 November 1980 – 7 May 1982 Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser Preceded by Tony Staley Succeeded by Neil Brown Minister for Special Trade Representations In office 19 August 1980 – 3 November 1980 Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser Preceded by Douglas Scott Succeeded by office abolished Minister for Primary Industry In office 11 November 1975 – 27 September 1979 Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser Preceded by Rex Patterson Succeeded by Peter Nixon In office 5 February 1971 – 5 December 1972 Prime Minister John Gorton William McMahon Preceded by Doug Anthony Succeeded by Lance Barnard Minister for Shipping and Transport In office 28 February 1968 – 5 February 1971 Prime Minister John Gorton Preceded by Gordon Freeth Succeeded by Peter Nixon Minister for Social Services In office 22 February 1965 – 28 February 1968 Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies Harold Holt John McEwen John Gorton Preceded by Reginald Swartz Succeeded by Bill Wentworth
Member of theAustralian ParliamentforNew England
In office 30 November 1963 – 31 August 1998
Preceded by	David Drummond
Succeeded by	Stuart St. Clair
Member of the Legislative Council of New South Wales
In office 23 April 1961 – 24 October 1963
Succeeded by	Alexander Alam
Personal details
Born	Ian McCahon Sinclair (1929-06-10)10 June 1929 Sydney,New South Wales,Australia
Political party	National
Spouses	Margaret Tarrant ​ ​ (m.1956; died 1967)​ Rosemary Fenton ​ (m.1970)​
Relations	Peter King(son-in-law)
Children	4
Occupation	Grazier

Sinclair was born inSydneyand studied law at theUniversity of Sydney.He later bought a farming property nearTamworth.Sinclair was elected to parliament in 1963, and added to the ministry in 1965 as part of theMenzies Government.Over the following six years, he held various portfolios underHarold Holt,John McEwen,John GortonandWilliam McMahon.Sinclair was elected deputy leader of his party in 1971. He was a senior member of theFraser government,spending periods asMinister for Primary Industry(1975–1979),Minister for Communications(1980–1982), andMinister for Defence(1982–1983). In 1984, Sinclair replaced Anthony as leader of the Nationals. He led the party to two federal elections, in 1984 and 1987, but was replaced byCharles Bluntin 1989. Sinclair wasfather of the parliamentfrom 1990 until his retirement at the 1998 election. He spent his final six months in parliament as Speaker of the House of Representatives, following the sudden resignation ofBob Halverson;he is the only member of his party to have held the position. He also served as co-chair of the1998 constitutional convention,alongsideBarry Jones.

Along withPeter Nixon,Sinclair is the only other surviving Country/Nationals MP elected in the 1960s,and he is the last surviving minister who served in theMenzies Governmentand theFirst Holt Ministry.He is entitled to theRight Honourableprefix as one of the few surviving Australian members of thePrivy Council of the United Kingdom.

Early life

Sinclair was born inSydneyon 10 June 1929. He was the son of Gertrude Hazel (née Smith) and George McCahon Sinclair.His father was a chartered accountant who also served as deputy mayor ofKu-ring-gai Council,chairman ofKnox Grammar School,and an elder of thePresbyterian Church.

Sinclair attended Knox Grammar before going on to theUniversity of Sydney,where he graduatedBachelor of Artsin 1949 andBachelor of Lawsin 1952. He served in theNo. 22 Squadron RAAFfrom 1950 to 1952, as part of theCitizen Air Force.Sinclair served his articles of clerkship with Norton Smith & Co., but did not pursue a legal career. He instead took up a grazing property nearBendemeerand set up the Sinclair Pastoral Company, of which he became managing director. He was a director of the Farmers and Graziers' Co-operative Limited from 1962 to 1965.

Sinclair married Margaret Anne Tarrant in 1956, with whom he had one son and two daughters. She died of brain cancer in December 1967.He remarried on 14 February 1970 toRosemary Fenton,who had beenMiss Australiain 1960; they had one son together.His daughter Fiona married Liberal politicianPeter King.

Political career

A member of theCountry Party,Sinclair was appointed to theNew South Wales Legislative Councilin 1961. He resigned in order to seek election to theHouse of Representativesat the1963 federal election,retaining theDivision of New Englandfor the Country Party after the retirement ofDavid Drummond.

Government minister

Sinclair (left) withJohn GortonandDoug Anthonyin 1971.

In 1965, Sinclair was appointedMinister for Social Servicesin theMenzies Government,replacingHugh Roberton.He stood for the deputy leadership of the Country Party after the1966 federal election,but was defeated byDoug Anthony.In 1968, he becameMinister for Shipping and Transportin theGorton government.When Country Party leaderJohn McEwenretired in February 1971, Anthony was elected as his replacement and Sinclair defeatedPeter Nixonfor the deputy leadership.He was appointedMinister for Primary Industry.A month later,William McMahonreplacedJohn Gortonas Liberal leader and prime minister. McMahon wanted Sinclair to becomeMinister for Foreign Affairs,but for various reasons had to keep him in the primary industry portfolio and appointLes Buryas foreign minister instead.Sinclair did later serve as acting foreign minister in Bury's absence.

In 1973, Sinclair was one of the six Country MPs to vote in favour of John Gorton's motion calling for the decriminalisation of homosexuality.After spending the three years of theWhitlamLaborgovernment in opposition, he again became Minister for Primary Industry in 1975, in theFraser government.In 1977, Sinclair was appointed to thePrivy Council of the United Kingdom.

Finnane Report and aftermath

Sinclair addressing an audience inDarwin, Northern Territory,in 1970

In 1978, New South Wales Attorney-GeneralFrank Walkerappointed Michael Finnane to inquire into the financial dealings of Sinclair's father George, who had died in January 1976. The Finnane Report, which wastabledin the Parliament of New South Wales on 27 September 1979, alleged that Ian Sinclair had improperly loaned himself money from companies he controlled, attempted to conceal the loans, and forged his father's signature on company returns.As a result, Sinclair resigned from the ministry.His supporters criticised the report on several grounds, including that the inquiry was conducted in secret, that its release prejudiced Sinclair's right to a fair trial, and that it was politically biased as both Walker and Finnane were members of the ALP.

In April 1980, Sinclair was charged with nine counts of fraud, relating toforging,uttering,and making false statements on company returns.He was found not guilty on all charges on 15 August 1980, following a 23-day trial in theDistrict Court of New South Wales.

Sinclair returned to the ministry in August 1980 as Minister for Special Trade Representations. After the1980 electionhe was madeMinister for Communications.He was finally madeMinister for Defencein May 1982, holding the position until the government's defeat at the1983 election.

Party leader

Doug Anthony announced his resignation as NCP leader in December 1983. Sinclair was elected as his replacement on 17 January 1984, defeatingStephen Lusherby an unspecified margin.In an interview withAustralian Playboyin July 1984, Sinclair acknowledged a previous extramarital relationship with socialite Glen-Marie North. Copies of the interview were distributed in his electorate during the1984 electioncampaign. In the lead-up to the election, Sinclair controversially attributed the spread ofHIV/AIDSin Australia to the Labor Party's recognition of de facto relationships and normalisation of homosexuality.After the deaths of three babies from HIV-contaminated blood transfusions, he stated that "if it wasn't for the promotion of homosexuality as a norm by Labor, I am quite confident that the very tragic and sad passing on of the AIDS disease [...] to those three poor babies would not have occurred.

In 1985, Sinclair came into conflict with theNational Farmers' Federationover his claims that the organisation did not have the support of farmers.He also came into conflict with the Liberal Party on a number of occasions. He publicly rejected calls for aLiberal–National party merger,citing the incompatibility of the National Party's conservatism and the "small-l liberal" wing of the Liberal Party.In March 1986, he accused Liberals of undermining the leadership ofJohn Howardand thereby harming the Coalition's chances of victory.He denounced former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser's support of sanctions againstapartheidSouth Africa, accusing him of "prejudice against Southern Africa and the whites there". Sinclair proclaimed a "deep abhorrence" of apartheid, but believed the sanctions were too "heavy-handed". He supported the re-admission of South Africa to the United Nations, the lifting of thesporting boycott,the re-establishment of an Australian trade commission, and direct flights between Australia and South Africa.

In addition to his leadership of the National Party, Sinclair continued to be the opposition spokesman on defence. In August 1986, he suggested the formation of a Pacifictrade blocat a meeting of theInternational Democrat Unionin Sydney. The proposal, also supported by shadow foreign ministerAndrew Peacock,was designed to "minimise the harmful policies of major protectionist trading nations" like the U.S. and theEuropean Communities.Later in the year, Sinclair questioned the value ofANZUS,stating that Australia should reconsider its commitments to New Zealand as it had become too isolationist. He also believed Australia should adopt a more assertive role than provided for in theDibb Report.He opposed trade sanctions on Fiji following the1987 coups d'étatand was accused by foreign ministerBill Haydenof sympathising with the perpetrators.

In the lead-up to the1987 election,Sinclair dealt with the "Joh for Canberra"campaign, an ambitious bid by Queensland premier and state National leaderJoh Bjelke-Petersento enter federal politics and become prime minister. The campaign "derailed any semblance of non-Labor unity from the beginning of 1987", and resulting in the Coalition splitting. After the election, the Queensland branch continued its efforts to oust Sinclair from the leadership.

In the late 1980s, Sinclair was drawn into the debate over the levels of Asian immigration to Australia, favouring a reduction in the number of Asians allowed into the country.In August 1988, he said:

"What we are saying is that if there is any risk of an undue build-up of Asians as against others in the community, then you need to control it... I certainly believe, that at the moment we need... to reduce the number of Asians... We don't want the divisions of South Africa, we don't want the divisions of London. We really don't want the colour divisions of the United States."

A few days later he "toned down his statements" at the request of Howard and denied that he had specifically targeted Asians.The following month, following pressure from Howard, he sacked National Senate leaderJohn Stonefrom the shadow ministry for making similar comments, "with regret".This was seen by many in his party as a capitulation to the Liberals.

In May 1989, there were simultaneous leadership challenges in both Coalition parties, with Peacock displacing Howard as Liberal leader andCharles Bluntreplacing Sinclair. The immediate trigger for Sinclair's defeat was dissatisfaction with his conditional support for the Hawke government's deregulation of the wheat industry. However, there was also a sense that it was time for a generational change in the party leadership.When Blunt lost his seat at the1990 election,Sinclair made an attempt to regain the NPA leadership, but was defeated byTim Fischer,and retired to the back bench. He was thus the first NPA leader since the formation of the Coalition to have never served asDeputy Prime Minister of Australia.

Post-leadership and Speakership

Sinclair underwent a doubleheart bypasssurgery in September 1991.In March 1993, aged 63, ten days after the Coalition lost the1993 federal election,Sinclair unsuccessfully challengedTim Fischerfor the party leadership.

By 1993, Sinclair was theFather of the House,the only sitting MP to have served with Robert Menzies, and "the last of theRight Honourables"(MPs with membership in the Privy Council). He was seen as a candidate for the speakership if the Coalition won the1993 election,however this did not eventuate. In June 1997 Howard appointed Sinclair as co-chairman of theConstitutional Convention,alongsideBarry Jones,which debated the possibility of Australia becoming a republic; the Convention reported in February 1998. Aged nearly 70, Sinclair announced his intention to retire from Parliament at thenext federal election.When SpeakerBob Halversonsuddenly resigned in March, Sinclair was elected to replace him. He served as speaker for the last six months of his term, during which he usually wore anacademic-style gown.

On his first day in office, he faced a motion of dissent from Labor opposition frontbencherSimon Creanwhen he ruled Labor MPJanice Crosio's question out of order; the dissent motion was not carried and Sinclair's ruling upheld.On 2 April, henamedCrean apparently for shaking his head, although Sinclair maintained it was due to "disorderly conduct".Martin Fergusonremarked "You are a disgrace!" and was subsequently named for refusing to withdraw an "objectionable remark when directed to do so by the Chair".As of 2024, he is the only member of his party to have served as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

As a result of his election as Speaker, Sinclair wanted to remain in Parliament, in order to stay on as Speaker if the Howard government were to be re-elected. Sinclair, however, had announced his retirement before Halverson's resignation as Speaker, andStuart St. Clairhad already been preselected as his replacement in New England. Ultimately, Sinclair was unable to reverse his retirement, and St. Clair refused to stand aside for him. St. Clair ultimately succeeded Sinclair at the 1998 election.At the time of his retirement, he was the last parliamentary survivor of the Menzies,HoltandGortongovernments.

After politics

In January 2001, Sinclair was appointed a Companion of theOrder of Australia(AC).As of 2009, Sinclair was the President ofAUSTCARE,an international, non-profit, independent aid organisation.On 1 March 2000, Sinclair became the inaugural chairman of the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR), a non-profit organisation which issues grants to regional communities. He retired on 30 June 2019 and was succeeded byTim Fairfax.Sinclair also served for several years as the Honorary President of the Scout Association of Australia, New South Wales Branch, retiring in 2019. He received Scouts' National Presidents Award on World Scout Day 2020.