Alexander Rodney Douglas (born 24 November 1958) is a former Australian politician. He was a National Party member of the

Queensland Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly ...

from April to September 2006, representing the electorate of Gaven. He was elected for the same seat as a Liberal National Party member in 2009, and re-elected in 2012. In late 2012, he left the Liberal National Party to sit as an independent, and subsequently joined the United Australia Party, rebranded as the

Palmer United Party The United Australia Party (UAP), formerly known as Clive Palmer's United Australia Party and the Palmer United Party (PUP), is a currently deregistered Australian political party formed by mining magnate Clive Palmer in April 2013. The party ...

(PUP), in June 2013, serving as its state leader. He resigned from the Palmer United Party in August 2014 and again sat as an independent for the final months of his term, but was defeated at the 2015 state election.

Family and early career

Born in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, Douglas comes from a political family: his great-grandfather was John Douglas,

Premier of Queensland The premier of Queensland is the head of government in the Australian state of Queensland. By convention the premier is the leader of the party with a parliamentary majority in the unicameral Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The premier is ap ...

from 1877 to 1879, and his grandfather was Henry Douglas, member for

Cook Cook or The Cook may refer to: Food preparation * Cooking, the preparation of food * Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food * Cook (professional), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry * ...

from 1907 to 1915. Douglas is related to the current (12th)

Marquess of Queensberry Marquess of Queensberry is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. The title has been held since its creation in 1682 by a member of the Douglas family. The Marquesses also held the title of Duke of Queensberry from 1684 to 1810, when it was inh ...

. His uncle is federal MP

Bob Katter Robert Bellarmine Carl Katter (born 22 May 1945) is an Australian politician who has been a member of the House of Representatives since 1993. He was previously active in Queensland state politics from 1974 to 1992. Katter was a member of the ...

. Educated at St Joseph's College, Gregory Terrace, and the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

, Douglas was a general practitioner and medical officer before entering parliament, and was deputy chair of the Queensland Division of General Practice. He was also on the Central Council of the National Party.

Political career

In April 2006, Douglas was elected to the

Legislative Assembly of Queensland The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembl ...

in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

for the previously

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

-held seat of Gaven, representing the National Party. He was appointed Deputy Opposition Whip in August, but at the 2006 state election in September he was defeated by Labor candidate Phil Gray, the same candidate he had defeated earlier that year. Douglas contested the

2007 federal election This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not i ...

as the National Party candidate for Fadden, but was defeated by the Liberal candidate

Stuart Robert Stuart Rowland Robert (born 11 December 1970) is an Australian Liberal Party politician who served as Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business from 2021 to 2022, following his appointment as Minister for Governmen ...

. The 2009 state election saw Douglas pitted against Gray for the third consecutive time. On this occasion, Douglas, running under the banner of the newly formed Liberal National Party, narrowly emerged as the victor, reclaiming his old seat of Gaven. On 16 June 2011, Douglas was appointed as the first non-government chair of the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee. On 29 November 2012, following a dispute with LNP Premier

Campbell Newman Campbell Kevin Thomas Newman (born 12 August 1963) is a former Australian politician who served as the 38th Premier of Queensland from 26 March 2012 to 14 February 2015. He served as the member for Ashgrove in the Legislative Assembly of Quee ...

over his removal from membership of parliamentary committees, Douglas resigned from the LNP to sit as an independent. On 30 April 2013, he joined the newly created United Australia Party, and became the Queensland leader of the party (quickly renamed the

) in June 2013. Douglas resigned as leader in August 2014 to protest against his lack of involvement in the preselection of candidates for the

2015 Queensland state election The 2015 Queensland state election was held on 31 January 2015 to elect all 89 members of the unicameral Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The centre-right Liberal National Party (LNP), led by Premier Campbell Newman, attempted to win a s ...

. At the same time, he announced he was quitting the party as well, and would once again sit as an independent. Party founder and federal leader

Clive Palmer Clive Frederick Palmer (born 26 March 1954) is an Australian businessman and politician. He has iron ore, nickel, and coal holdings. Palmer owns many businesses such as Mineralogy, Waratah Coal, Queensland Nickel at Townsville, the Palmer C ...

, himself a Queenslander, countered that Douglas had been in talks to merge with

Katter's Australian Party Katter's Australian Party (KAP) is an agrarian political party in Australia. It was founded by Bob Katter, an independent and former Nationals MP for the seat of Kennedy, with a registration application lodged to the Australian Electoral Co ...

, led by his uncle.Kym Agius (11 August 2014)
"Palmer United Party Queensland leader Alex Douglas quits amid claims of 'jobs for the boys'"
– ABC News. Retrieved 11 August 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas, Alex 1958 births Australian general practitioners Australian people of English descent Australian people of Scottish descent Independent members of the Parliament of Queensland Liberal National Party of Queensland politicians Living people Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly United Australia Party (2013) politicians People educated at St Joseph's College, Gregory Terrace Politicians from Brisbane National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Queensland University of Queensland alumni People from the Gold Coast, Queensland 21st-century Australian politicians