Robert Doyle

File:Robert doyle.jpg

Robert Doyle

Robert Doyle (born 20 May 1953) is an Australian politician. He was the Opposition Leader of Victoria from 2002 to 2006, representing the Liberal Party of Australia. On 4 May 2006 Doyle announced his resignation as Leader and from State Parliament.

Born in Melbourne, Doyle attended secondary school in Geelong. He graduated from Monash University in 1977, and the following year, began work as a teacher, at Geelong College, his alma mater. In 1982, he moved back to Melbourne, working as a departmental head at Lauriston Girls' School. After three years, he again changed schools, becoming a senior administrator and English teacher at Scotch College.

At the 1992 state election, Doyle succeeded in winning Liberal preselection for the "safe" electorate of Malvern by defeating Geoff Leigh. The Liberal Party, under Jeff Kennett, won government, defeating Joan Kirner. After the election, Doyle was immediately placed on the Crime Prevention Committee, and several other taskforces, particularly in the area of health. In April 1996, Doyle was promoted to the position of Parliamentary Secretary for Human Services.

The Kennett government suffered an unexpected defeat at the 1999 election, and Kennett himself resigned soon afterwards. Kennett's Health Minister, Denis Napthine, became leader, and Doyle took Napthine's place, becoming the opposition's health spokesman.

By 2002, the Liberal Party, which had been almost unbeatable under Kennett, was flagging in the polls, and was expected to lose the election due later that year. Doyle successfully challenged Napthine for the leadership of the state Liberal Party, claiming that the party was “facing political oblivion” if it stayed under Napthine’s leadership.

He lost the 2002 election by a large margin; the result was in fact the Liberal Party's worst-ever Victorian defeat. The party lost control of the Legislative Council for only the second time in Victorian parliamentary history, and retained only 17 of the 88 lower house seats. Also, the campaign suffered a large blow when the party's Treasurer, Robert Dean, was deemed ineligible to stand because he was not on the electoral roll.

For some time after the 2002 defeat, Doyle remained Opposition Leader, partly through the sheer shortage of potential alternative candidates for the job. However, following the decisions of Shadow Minister Victor Perton and Deputy Leader Phil Honeywood to resign, and the further resignation of Doyle's Chief of Staff Ron Wilson and his Director of Communications Rob Clancy, debate as to Doyle's future was re-ignited. Even many of Doyle's key supporters - including Upper House MPs Andrea Coote and Philip Davis, and Michael Kroger and Helen Kroger - eventually recognised that Doyle's leadership was unlikely to attract sufficient electoral support. It was also reported that Doyle's personal approval rating had dropped to 15 per cent. On 4 May 2006, Doyle announced his resignation as Opposition Leader, stating that "I have given my best - it was not enough" and that the move would give the party the "best chance of electoral success". Ted Baillieu succeeded Doyle in the post.

He officially ended his term as a Member of Parliament for the District of Malvern on 25 November 2006. On that day, the Liberals under Baillieu were again severely defeated; and as a result, Doyle publicly criticised several prominent party figures in a factionally motivated attack. During election night coverage on ABC, Doyle indicated that he felt that the Liberal Party's next credible hope of forming government would not be until 2014, and went on undermine key figures in the party as part of a strategy to ensure that his allies in the parliamentary party were able to retain their leadership positions. Within Liberal ranks, Dolye is now widely despised.