Andrew Peacock

The Honourable  Andrew Peacock  AC, GCL
Opposition Leader of Australia
In office 9 May 1989 – 3 April 1990
Preceded by	John Howard
Succeeded by	John Hewson
In office 11 March 1983 – 5 September 1985
Preceded by	Bob Hawke
Succeeded by	John Howard
Constituency	Kooyong
Born	13 February 1939 (1939-02-13) (age 70) Melbourne, Victoria
Political party	Liberal Party

Andrew Sharp Peacock AC (born 13 February 1939), 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 from 1983–1985 and 1989–1990. He is currently Chairman of MFS Limited, a Financial Services and Property Group based on the Gold Coast, Queensland.

Early life

Peacock was born in Melbourne, Victoria, the son of a wealthy company director. He was educated at Scotch College and at the University of Melbourne, where he graduated in law. He practised law in Melbourne while making a rapid advance in the Liberal Party. He was president of the Young Liberals in 1962, and in 1963 he married Susan Rossiter, the daughter of Victorian Liberal MLA Sir John Frederick Rossiter^[1] and Joan Stewart, who was born in 1940. They had three daughters, one of them being the horse trainer Jane Chapple-Hyam.^[2] By 1965 he was President of the Victorian Liberal Party.

Early political career

In 1966 Sir Robert Menzies retired and Peacock succeeded him as MP for Kooyong, in Melbourne's wealthy eastern suburbs. In 1969 he was appointed Minister for the Army, and in this role played a minor part in the drama which brought down Prime Minister John Gorton in 1971. In 1972 William McMahon made him Minister for Territories, in charge of Australia's colonial possession, Papua New Guinea, where he was responsible for bringing in self-government.^[3]

When the Liberals went into opposition in December 1972, Peacock became a senior member of the Liberal frontbench. As a party moderate, he was a supporter of the new leader, Billy Snedden. When Snedden lost the 1974 election, Peacock began to be seen as a leadership candidate, but it was Malcolm Fraser who took the initiative and deposed Snedden in 1975. Fraser made Peacock foreign affairs spokesperson, and when Fraser led the Liberals back to power in December 1975 he became Minister for Foreign Affairs, aged 36.

Peacock served as Foreign Minister until 1980, acquiring a reputation as an international playboy, particularly through his well-publicised relationship with Shirley MacLaine (his marriage had by this time ended in divorce). He had a number of acrimonious disputes with Fraser, particularly over the recognition of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. After the 1980 election he asked for a change of portfolio, and Fraser made him Minister for Industrial Relations. In April 1981 he suddenly resigned, accusing Fraser of constant interference in his portfolio. Fraser called a party meeting and defeated Peacock's challenge to his leadership.

In November 1982 when Phillip Lynch resigned from politics, John Howard succeeded him as Deputy Leader, and Peacock was brought back into cabinet as Minister for Industry and Commerce.

Liberal leadership

Fraser's government was defeated in the March 1983 election by the Labor Party under Bob Hawke, and Peacock contested the party leadership after Fraser's resignation. He defeated Howard, who remained as Deputy Leader.

As Opposition Leader, Peacock faced an uphill battle against the hugely popular Hawke. At the 1984 election he was given little chance of winning, but he performed better than expected by reducing Hawke's majority. In 1985, as Labor's position in opinion polls improved, Peacock's popularity sank, and Howard's profile rose, leadership speculation persisted. Peacock said he would no longer accept Howard as deputy unless he offered assurances that he would not challenge for the leadership. Following Howard's refusal to offer such an assurance, Peacock sought, in September 1985, to replace him with John Moore as Deputy Leader.^[4] The party room re-elected Howard as Deputy, contrary to Peacock's wishes. Despite possessing greater support in the parliamentary party than Howard^[5], Peacock unexpectedly resigned and Howard was comfortably elected Opposition Leader on 5 September.^[6] Howard appointed Peacock Shadow Foreign Minister.

Howard lost the 1987 election to Hawke, and Peacock was elected Deputy Leader in a show of party unity. But Peacock's supporters began to plot against Howard, and in May 1989 they mounted a party room coup which returned Peacock to the leadership. Peacock, now 50, cultivated a new mature image, enhanced by a second marriage to Margaret St George.

On 18 March 1990, Peacock was interviewed by Laurie Oakes on the television program Sunday, regarding his stance on the Multifunction Polis (MFP), a proposal to build a Japanese funded technology city in Australia.^[7] Peacock attacked the MFP concept, saying it would become an Asian "enclave". ^[8] According to Roy Morgan Research, Peacock's attack on the MFP did not help him politically, and the Labor Party used the issue to highlight division within the Liberal Party, as John Elliott and others supported the MFP.^[7] The following day, The Australian newspaper ran a headline titled Peacock a 'danger in the Lodge'.'^[7]

Although Hawke's government was in political trouble, with record high interest rates and a financial crisis in Victoria, Peacock failed to defeat Hawke at the 1990 election. Peacock resigned after the election. He became Shadow Attorney-General (1990-92) and Shadow Trade Minister (1992-93) under the new leader, Dr John Hewson. He returned to Foreign Affairs when Hewson lost the 1993 election to Keating. He retained Foreign Affairs when Hewson was displaced by Alexander Downer.

After politics

Peacock's third wife, Penne

Peacock resigned from Parliament in September 1994. When Howard became Prime Minister in 1996, he appointed Peacock as the Australian Ambassador to the United States.^[9] Since the end of this appointment in 1999, Peacock has largely lived in the US. In 2002 he married Penne Percy Korth, a Washington, D.C. society figure and former Ambassador to Mauritius. Midway through 2002 Peacock joined Boeing Australia Holdings as President of Boeing Australia.

On 20 December 2006, Peacock announced his retirement from Boeing Australia Holdings, effective at the end of February 2007.

Peacock has held Directorships at both ABC Learning (now insolvent) and MFS Limited (now Octaviar Limited), both Queensland based listed companies which went into receivership in 2008.

Honours

Peacock and Minister for Defence John Moore at the Pentagon in 1999

Peacock was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1997.

For his role in bringing in New Guinea independence, Peacock was appointed a Chief Grand Companion of the Order of Logohu in 2006.^[10]

References