Peter Lewis (politician)

The Honourable Peter Lewis JP, AFAIM, MAIAST, RDA (Hort)
Speaker of the South Australian House of Assembly
In office 5 March 2002 – 4 April 2005
Member of the South Australian Parliament for Hammond
In office 11 October 1997 – 17 March 2006
Preceded by	New creation
Succeeded by	Adrian Pederick
Member of the South Australian Parliament for Ridley
In office 11 December 1993 – 10 October 1997
Member of the South Australian Parliament for Murray-Mallee
In office 7 December 1985 – 10 December 1993
Member of the South Australian Parliament for Mallee
In office 15 September 1979 – 6 December 1985
Personal details
Born	1 January 1942 (1942-01-01)
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Liberal (1979-2000) Independent (2000-2006)
Spouse(s)	Kerry Lewis
Alma mater	University of Adelaide
Occupation	Management Consultant

Ivan Peter Lewis (born 1 January 1942) is an Australian politician. Lewis was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly between 1979 and 2006 in the electorates of Hammond, Ridley, Murray-Mallee and Mallee. Between 1979 and 2000 he was in the House as a Liberal member. From 2000 until 2006 he served as an Independent. His decision to become speaker in a Labor Party government resulted in Mike Rann becoming Premier from the 2002 election.

Party affiliation

Lewis was first elected in 1979, as a Liberal candidate. He quickly gained a reputation as a maverick, defying the party authorities on many an occasion. In July 2000, he was expelled from the Liberal Party.

At the 2002 election, Lewis contested his seat under the banner of CLIC, the Community Leadership Independence Coalition (three other candidates also ran for seats in the South Australian House of Assembly but failed), and was re-elected. During the campaign, he denied a claim by the Liberal candidate that a vote for him was in effect a vote for Labor.

Support for Labor

After the 2002 election he negotiated with both parties, eventually agreeing to become speaker in a Rann Labor government. In return, Labor agreed to implement some local concerns of Lewis and hold a Constitutional Convention. His support of Labor angered many conservatives, however, a conservative independent and a Nationals SA member, Rory McEwen and Karlene Maywald, who criticised his decision, later agreed to support the Rann government in return for cabinet positions.

Speaker

As speaker, he earned widespread attention for his colourful style of regulating parliamentary debate. His desire to reform parliament led him to insist on the Rann government holding a Constitutional Convention held in 2003, and as an outcome organised eventually failed attempts at bills for optional preferential voting, citizen-initiated referendums and four-year Upper House terms.

Lewis in 2002 faced media scrutiny over his links to businessman Terry Stephens. Lewis was exonerated of any wrongdoing despite submitting himself to extensive police investigations. Stephens was later convicted of lying to smear Lewis.

In 2005 Lewis faced a potential no-confidence motion after he and two staffers alleged a sitting MP was a pedophile, on the basis of a questionable identification from a convicted pedophile. Before a vote could be taken he resigned on 4 April 2005. In 2008 the two staffers, Barry Standfield and Wendy Utting, were found not guilty of defamation over the claims.

2006 election

For the 2006 election, Lewis did not stand for his seat of Hammond, but instead stood as an independent for election to the Legislative Council. However he was not elected, receiving 0.6 percent of the statewide vote.

2009 mining interests

Lewis owns eight mining leases, as well as interests in Goldus Operations and Mintech Resources. It has been reported that Lewis had sold his iron ore project at Razorback Ridge, 80 km east of Yunta, to Western Australia's Royal Resources for $30 million.