Peter Coleman

This article is about the Australian politician. For English bishop of Crediton, see Peter Coleman (bishop). For the governor of American Samoa, see Peter Tali Coleman.

Peter Coleman
30th Leader of the Opposition of New South Wales Elections: 1978
In office 16 December 1977 – 7 October 1978
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Deputy	John Mason
Preceded by	Sir Eric Willis
Succeeded by	John Mason
Assistant Treasurer Minister for Revenue
In office 10 October 1975 – 23 January 1976
Premier	Tom Lewis
Preceded by	Max Ruddock
Succeeded by	Max Ruddock
Member of the New South Wales Parliament for Fuller
In office 24 February 1968 – 12 September 1978
Preceded by	New district
Succeeded by	Rodney Cavalier
Member of the Australian Parliament for Wentworth
In office 11 April 1981 – 5 June 1987
Preceded by	Robert Ellicott
Succeeded by	John Hewson
Personal details
Born	15 December 1928 (1928-12-15) Caulfield, Victoria, Australia
Political party	Liberal Party of Australia
Spouse(s)	Verna Coleman (née Scott)
Children	Tanya Costello Ursula Dubosarsky William Coleman
Alma mater	University of Sydney London School of Economics
Occupation	Writer, journalist

William Peter (Peter) Coleman (born 15 December 1928) is an Australian writer/journalist, former politician and Minister of the Crown in the cabinets of Tom Lewis and Sir Eric Willis. Following Willis' resignation as leader he was made Leader of the New South Wales Opposition. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for 10 years from 24 February 1968 until he lost his seat and his position as leader at the 1978 election and then for 6 years in the Australian House of Representatives for Wentworth for the Liberal Party of Australia.

Early life

Coleman was born in the Melbourne suburb of Caulfield, the son of Stanley Charles Coleman, an advertising agent, and Norma Victoria Tiernan. Moving to Sydney, New South Wales, Coleman was educated at the selective North Sydney Boys High School. He graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in 1950 and then travelled to the United Kingdom to study at the London School of Economics, from which he graduated with an Master of Science degree specialising in Economics in 1952. On 5 April 1952 he married the writer, Verna Scott. Together they had two daughters, Tanya, who became a lawyer and later wife of Deputy Liberal Leader Peter Costello, Ursula, who became a children's book author, and a son, William, who is an economist.

Teaching for a year in the Sudan, Coleman returned to Australia with his family to undertake a career as a journalist. Coleman became associate editor of The Observer between 1958 and 1960, a fortnightly magazine founded in 1958, which was absorbed by The Bulletin in 1961. He consequently became the Editor of The Bulletin between 1964 and 1967 and later as editor of Quadrant magazine for twenty years between 1967 and 1990.

Public life

Coleman joined the Liberal Party and was elected as the Liberal member for Fuller, a marginal seat taking in North Ryde, Gladesville and Hunter's Hill, in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly at the February 1968 election, defeating the Labor Member of the abolished seat of Ryde, Frank Downing, after preferences on 52%. Originally serving on the backbench, Coleman gained experience through his appointment as a member of the Australian Council for the Arts from 1968 to 1973, a councillor of the National Institute of Dramatic Art from 1970 to 1985, and as Chairman of the Interim Council of the National Film and Television School from 1971 to 1973. In 1974, Coleman became the Chairman of the Select Committee into Appointment of Judges to the High Court, which examined different judicial appointment methods for the state prior to the 1977 Federal Referendum. Coleman was then further promoted in June 1975 as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier, Tom Lewis, in which capacity he served only five months until his promotion to Cabinet.

He was made a Minister of the Crown in October 1975 as the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Revenue. When Lewis was deposed by several parliamentary backbenchers and the Minister for Education, Sir Eric Willis, became Premier, Coleman was appointed to the revived office of Chief Secretary from January 1976. He served in Cabinet until the defeat of the Willis government in the May 1976 election, at which he retained his seat on a slightly increased margin of 52%. In opposition under Eric Willis, Coleman served as the Shadow Minister for Justice and Services.

Leadership and post-politics

On 15 December 1977 four party MPs declared that they would oppose Willis in a leadership ballot the next day. On 16 December 1977, Willis resigned and Coleman was elected as the leader by the party. The instability that led to his election would also mark his term as leader and Coleman struggled to be noticed by the electorate. Considered by many as 'aloof' and having a 'wooden' persona, Coleman's unsteady position was confirmed by April 1978 ALP marginal seat polling, which revealed a 30% satisfaction rating in his leadership, compared to Premier Neville Wran's 80%, while only 15% believed he would make a good Premier. This was further strengthened when at the July by-election held in the seat of Earlwood, vacated by Premier Willis, a swing of 7% delivered the seat to the ALP.

Taking advatage of this good result, Wran called an early election for October 1978. At the 1978 election, Coleman and the Coalition campaigned on a platform based around the 'spectre' of "Whitlamism" and attempted to undermine the strong central leadership of Wran: "Labor has failed. It's a one man band! Less talk. More action. Vote Liberal". This failed to resonate with voters, and the election, which was later termed the "Wranslide", saw a massive defeat for the Opposition Coalition. Labor won 58% of the primary vote and 69 of 99 seats in the lower house. Many traditional Liberal seats such as Manly and Wakehurst were lost and Coleman himself lost his seat of Fuller with only 41% against Hunter's Hill Municipal Council Alderman, Rodney Cavalier, a result that had been anticipated by many.

In September 1979, Coleman was appointed as Administrator of Norfolk Island. Following the resignation of Robert Ellicott, he gained Liberal Party pre-selection for the federal seat of Wentworth and was elected in a by-election in April 1981. He retired from parliament before the 1987 election and resumed his literary career.

In 2008, Coleman assisted his son-in-law, Peter Costello, in writing and editing his account of his career: "The Costello Memoirs". He currently is a regular contributor to the Australian section of The Spectator with a weekly article entitled 'Australian Notes' since 2009 and also contributes to The Australian and ABC News.

Publications

• Coleman, Peter (1974). Obscenity, blasphemy, sedition: censorship in Australia. Brisbane: Jacaranda Press. 211 pages. ISBN 1875989722. 
• Coleman, Peter; Les Tanner (1978). Cartoons of Australian history. West Melbourne: Thomas Nelson. ISBN 0170052753. 
• Coleman, Peter (1980). The heart of James McAuley: life and work of the Australian poet. Sydney: Wildcat Press. 132 pages. ISBN 0 908463 05 7. 
• Coleman, Peter (1984). Memoirs of a slow learner. Pymble: Angus and Robertson. 166 pages. ISBN 0207182485. 
• Coleman, Peter (1989). The Liberal Conspiracy. The Congress for Cultural Freedom and the Struggle for the Mind of Postwar Europe. New York: The Free Press (Macmillan). 333 pages. ISBN 0029064813. 
• Coleman, Peter; Peter Costello (2008). The Costello Memoirs. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. 400 pages. ISBN 0522855822. 

References

Parliament of New South Wales
New district	Member for Fuller 1968 – 1978	Succeeded by Rodney Cavalier
Political offices
Preceded by Max Ruddock	Assistant Treasurer of New South Wales 1975 – 1976	Succeeded by Max Ruddock
	Minister for Revenue 1975 – 1976
Vacant Title last held by Ian Griffith	Chief Secretary of New South Wales 1976	Vacant Title next held by Garry West
Preceded by Sir Eric Willis	Leader of the Opposition of New South Wales 1977 – 1978	Succeeded by John Mason
Party political offices
Preceded by Sir Eric Willis	Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party 1977 – 1978	Succeeded by John Mason
Government offices
Preceded by Desmond Vincent O'Leary	Administrator of Norfolk Island 1979 – 1981	Succeeded by Ian Hutchinson
Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Robert Ellicott	Member for Wentworth 1981 – 1987	Succeeded by John Hewson