Tim Fischer

For the wrestler, see Tim Fischer (wrestler).

His Excellency, The Honourable Tim Fischer AC
10th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
In office 1996–1999
Preceded by	Kim Beazley
Succeeded by	John Anderson
Member of the Australian Parliament for Farrer
In office 1 December 1984 – 8 October 2001
Preceded by	Wal Fife
Succeeded by	Sussan Ley
Personal details
Born	(1946-05-03) 3 May 1946 Lockhart, New South Wales, Australia
Political party	National Party of Australia

Timothy Andrew Fischer, AC (born 3 May 1946), is a former Australian politician. He served as Deputy Prime Minister in the Howard Government from 1996 before retiring from Cabinet in 1999. He retired from Parliament in 2001, and was formerly the Australian Ambassador to the Holy See between 2008 and 2012.

Early history

Fischer was born in Lockhart, in the Riverina district of New South Wales, son of a farmer of German descent. He was educated at Xavier College, Melbourne. In 1966 he was conscripted into the Australian Army, and served in the Vietnam War - an experience which left him with a lifelong identification with the Australian armed forces, as well as an affinity with Asia.

On his return from Vietnam, Fischer took up farming at Boree Creek in the Riverina, and became active in the Country Party, as the party was then called. He represented Sturt in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1971 to 1980 and Murray from 1980 to 1984. He served on the opposition frontbench from 1978 to 1984.

Federal political career

In 1984 Fischer won the federal seat of Farrer for the National Party of Australia (NPA), as the Country Party had been renamed. Within a year he was on the opposition frontbench, and soon became a popular figure in both the NPA and the Parliament: his sometimes rustic manner and bumbling English concealing a shrewd political brain. In 1990, when an attempt by Charles Blunt to modernise the NPA's image ended with his losing his seat, Fischer was elected NPA leader, defeating the former leader Ian Sinclair.

Fischer was an enthusiastic supporter of the "Fightback" package of economic and tax reforms proposed by the Liberal leader Dr John Hewson in 1991. But he was unsuccessful in persuading the majority of rural voters, particularly in Queensland, that the proposed changes, particularly the goods and services tax (GST) was in their interests, and Labor under Paul Keating won the 1993 election.

The Liberals finally regained office under John Howard in 1996. Fischer became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade. The Liberals had won a majority in their own right in the 1996 election, leaving the Nationals in a much weaker position compared to previous Coalition governments. Nonetheless, Fischer was fairly active. He supported the government introducing tough gun control measures following the Port Arthur massacre in April 1996, measures which were opposed by much of his party's rural base.

Fischer also had difficulty with the determination of many Liberals, including the Treasurer, Peter Costello, to carry out sweeping free-market reforms, including abolishing tariff protection for rural industries, deregulating petrol prices and other measures seen as harmful by farmers' organisations. The issue of native title for indigenous Australians following the Mabo and Wik decisions also caused much political difficulty for Fischer.

Further trouble for Fischer and the NPA came with the rise of One Nation, a right-wing populist party led by Pauline Hanson, a disendorsed Liberal candidate who was nonetheless elected member for the Queensland seat Oxley at the 1996 federal election. One Nation had its greatest appeal in country areas of New South Wales and Queensland--the NPA's traditional heartland. For much of 1997 and 1998, it looked as though One Nation might sweep the NPA out of existence. In the 1998 election campaign, however, Fischer strongly counter-attacked One Nation, mainly on the grounds of their "flat tax" economic policies, and succeeded in holding the NPA's losses to one Senate seat in Queensland.

Family life and post-political career

In 1992 Fischer married Judy Brewer, and they had two sons called Dominic and Harrison.

In 1999 he surprised his colleagues by resigning as party leader and as a minister, and by announcing that he would retire at the election due in 2001. His decision to quit politics was motivated partly by the demands of his family, in particular that his son Harrison suffers from autism (Fischer himself has high functioning autism ). After his retirement, he returned to farming at Boree Creek, and became involved in charity work, assisting organisations such as the St Vincent de Paul Society, the Fred Hollows Foundation and Autism New South Wales.

In 2004, Fisher was appointed chairman of Tourism Australia. His term as chairman ended on 30 June 2007.

In 2005 Fischer received Australia's highest civilian honour, when he was made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC).

File:Tim Fischer aboard train.JPG

Tim Fischer aboard the inaugural Adelaide to Darwin train, 15 January 2004.

Fischer is noted as a tireless advocate for rail transport and is probably Australia's best known railfan. He had a childhood hobby of studying rail gauges of the world. Since retiring from politics he has continued his association with rail as Special Envoy to the Adelaide to Darwin railway line and travelled on the first freight train and first Ghan passenger train to Darwin in 2004.

Fischer was made a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (FTSE) in 2001. He served as Chairman of the ATSE Crawford Fund supporting international agricultural research from 2001 to 2006.

In 2007 he led the Rail Freight Network Review into rail freight in Victoria, as commissioned by the Victorian Government.

On 21 July 2008 Tim Fischer was nominated by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as the first resident Australian Ambassador to the Holy See since 1973, when diplomatic relations with the Vatican and Australia was first established.. Tim Fischer worked closeley with the Vatican on all aspects of the Canonisation of Australia's first saint, Mary MacKillop.

On 20 January 2012 Fischer retired from his post as the Australian Ambassador to the Holy See.

Publications

• Seven days in East Timor: ballot and bullets by Tim Fischer, Allen & Unwin, 2000. ISBN 9781865082776.
• Tim Fischer's Outback Heroes: and communities that count by Peter Rees and Tim Fischer, Allen & Unwin, 2003. ISBN 9781865088310.
• Transcontinental Train Odyssey: the Ghan, the Khyber, the Globe by Tim Fischer, Allen & Unwin, 2004. ISBN 9781741144505. A personal guide to the great transcontinental railways of the world.
• Asia & Australia: tango in trade, tourism and transport by Tim Fischer, University of New England Press, 2005. ISBN 9781863899222.
• Trains Unlimited by Tim Fischer, Harper Collins, 2011. ISBN 9780730497400

References

• The boy from Boree Creek: the Tim Fischer story by Peter Rees, Allen & Unwin, 2001. ISBN 1865085340.

External links

• Parliament biography
• Interview with Tim Fischer by Kerry O'Brien (The 7.30 Report)
• Inauguration of Tourism Australia