John Angus Mackenzie Innes (born 22 May 1939) was a Queensland politician and leader of the state

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

Biography

Innes 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 1978 representing the

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

-area seat of

Sherwood Sherwood may refer to: Places Australia *Sherwood, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane *Sherwood, South Australia, a locality *Shire of Sherwood, a former local government area of Queensland *Electoral district of Sherwood, an electoral district from ...

at a

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to fill a vacancy created by the death of John Herbert. Campaigning heavily on opposition to the controversial street march legislation of then-premier

Joh Bjelke-Petersen Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen (13 January 191123 April 2005), known as Joh Bjelke-Petersen, was a conservative Australian politician. He was the longest-serving and longest-lived premier of Queensland, holding office from 1968 to 1987, during ...

, Innes easily won the seat, relegating the ruling National Party to a distant fourth place. Progressive by nature, Innes had little time for the conservative social policies of the National-dominated government, even though under the

coalition agreement A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

between the Nationals and the Liberals, he was nominally a government backbencher. Innes became associated with a faction within the parliamentary Liberal Party dubbed by the media as the " ginger group", who frequently criticised government policy. The Liberal leader at the time,

Llew Edwards Llewellyn "Llew" Edwards (22 October 1894 – 1965) was a Welsh boxer who fought professionally between 1913 and 1922. He is most noted for winning both the British and the British Empire featherweight boxing titles in 1915 and for an out ...

was more supportive of National party policy, and urged the unruly Liberal backbenchers to be "good coalitionists". Innes did not agree with Edwards' assessment, and went as far as challenging him for the leadership of the party from the backbench. While Edwards survived, it was only by twelve votes to ten, making the growing power of the Ginger Group faction plain for all to see. The group eventually took power a year later when

Terry White Terrence Anthony "Terry" White (born 3 September 1936) is an Australian pharmacist, businessman, and former politician. White achieved notoriety when, as Queensland state leader of the Liberal Party he terminated the longstanding coalition agr ...

became Liberal leader and Innes replaced

Sam Doumany Samuel Sydney Doumany (born 2 September 1937) is an Australian retired politician. He was a Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly and Attorney-General and Minister for Justice in Queensland. Political career Doumany was elected to th ...

as deputy leader. This arrangement did not last long, however. When Bjelke-Petersen refused to appoint White as deputy premier, he and Innes pulled the Liberals out of the Coalition and led them to the crossbenches. In the ensuing 1983 election, Bjelke-Petersen convinced many right-leaning Liberal voters that White and Innes might join forces with

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. As a result, the Liberals were reduced to a rump of only eight members. White and Innes were the only members of the "ginger group" to retain their seats. Two more defected to the Nationals, and Innes was deposed as deputy leader soon afterward. Innes was reelected in 1986, helped by the fact that his National opponent forgot to submit the required paperwork in time. In January 1988, he became leader of the Liberal party, taking over from William Knox. Innes led the Liberals into the 1989 election. He hoped to recover some ground, but was well aware that if the Nationals lost significant ground in

South East Queensland South East Queensland (SEQ) is a bio-geographical, metropolitan, political and administrative region of the state of Queensland in Australia, with a population of approximately 3.8 million people out of the state's population of 5.1 million. Th ...

, many seats that could have theoretically been within striking distance for the Liberals could have fallen to

. At that election, while the Liberals picked up a four percent swing, they actually lost two seats due in part to a massive Labor surge in

. Labor took all but five seats in the capital, allowing it to win government after 32 years in opposition. Innes retired from parliament soon afterwards.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Innes, Angus 1939 births Living people Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Queensland Australian Members of the Order of the British Empire Australian barristers People educated at Queen Elizabeth's High School University of Queensland alumni