Andrew Peacock

The Hon Andrew Peacock AC, GCL
Leaders of the Opposition 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
Personal details
Born	13 February 1939 (1939-02-13) Melbourne, Victoria
Political party	Liberal Party
Alma mater	University of Melbourne

Andrew Sharp Peacock AC, GCL (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 1983–1985 and 1989–1990. He was Chairman of Octaviar Ltd, a Financial Services and Property Group based on the Gold Coast, Queensland during its collapse.

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 (b. 1940), the daughter of Victorian Liberal MLA Sir John Rossiter and Joan Stewart. They had three daughters, one of them being the horse trainer Jane Chapple-Hyam. By 1965 he was President of the Victorian Liberal Party.

Early political career

In April 1966, former Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies retired, triggering a by-election in Kooyong, the eastern Melbourne electorate that Menzies had held for 32 years. Peacock gained Liberal preselection and was elected with a reduced majority. He easily retained his seat in the general election held seven months later. 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.

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 Peacock became Minister for Foreign Affairs, aged 36.

He 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, at which Peacock tried to depose him as party leader and Prime Minister. Fraser managed to fend off this challenge.

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.

Leader of the Liberal Party

Fraser's government was defeated in the March 1983 election by the Labor Party under Bob Hawke. Fraser immediately retired from politics, and Peacock contested the party leadership, defeating 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, keeping leadership speculation alive. 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, in September 1985 Peacock sought to replace him with John Moore as Deputy Leader. The party room re-elected Howard as Deputy, contrary to Peacock's wishes. Despite possessing greater support in the parliamentary party than Howard, Peacock unexpectedly resigned and Howard was comfortably elected Opposition Leader on 5 September. 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. Peacock attacked the MFP concept, saying it would become an Asian "enclave". 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. The following day, The Australian newspaper ran a headline titled Peacock a 'danger in the Lodge'.'

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

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

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. Since the end of this appointment in 1999, Peacock has largely lived in the US.^{[citation needed]}

In 2002 he married Penne Percy Korth, a Washington, D.C. society figure and former United States Ambassador to Mauritius. Midway through 2002 Peacock joined Boeing Australia Holdings as President of Boeing Australia.^{[citation needed]}

On 20 December 2006, Peacock announced his retirement from Boeing Australia Holdings, effective at the end of February 2007.^{[citation needed]}

Honours

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.

External links

Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Robert Menzies	Member for Kooyong 1966 – 1994	Succeeded by Petro Georgiou
Political offices
Preceded by Phillip Lynch	Minister for the Army 1969 –1972	Succeeded by Bob Katter
Preceded by Charles Barnes	Minister for External Territories 1972	Succeeded by Gough Whitlam
Preceded by Joe Berinson	Minister for Environment 1975	Succeeded by Ivor Greenwood
Preceded by Don Willesee	Minister for Foreign Affairs 1975 – 1980	Succeeded by Tony Street
Preceded by Tony Street	Minister for Industrial Relations 1980 –1981	Succeeded by Ian Viner
Preceded by Phillip Lynch	Minister for Industry and Commerce 1982 –1983	Succeeded by John Button
Party political offices
Preceded by Malcolm Fraser	Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia 1983 – 1985	Succeeded by John Howard
Preceded by John Howard	Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia 1989 – 1990	Succeeded by John Hewson
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by John McCarthy	Australian Ambassador to the United States 1996 –1999	Succeeded by Michael Thawley