Barry John MacKinnon (born 29 October 1944) is a former Australian politician who was a

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 ...

member of the Legislative Assembly of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

from 1977 to 1993. He was the state leader of the Liberal Party (and thus

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

) from 1986 to 1992, although he led the party at only one election ( in 1989). MacKinnon had earlier served as a minister in the governments of Sir

Charles Court Sir Charles Walter Michael Court, (29 September 1911 – 22 December 2007) was a Western Australian politician, and the 21st Premier of Western Australia from 1974 to 1982. He was a member of the Liberal Party. Early life Court's family e ...

and

Ray O'Connor Raymond James O'Connor (6 March 1926 – 25 February 2013) was an Australian politician who served as the premier of Western Australia from 25 January 1982 to 25 February 1983. He was a member of parliament from 1959 to 1984, and a minister in ...

. He worked as an accountant before entering politics, and since leaving parliament has involved himself in various community organisations.

Early life

MacKinnon was born in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

to Beryl (née Mounsey) and Keith MacKinnon, his father being a builder.Barry John MacKinnon
Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 2 October 2016. His uncle,

Graham MacKinnon Graham Charles MacKinnon CMG ED (10 December 1916 – 27 June 1992) was an Australian politician who was a Liberal Party member of the Legislative Council of Western Australia from 1956 to 1986. He served as a minister in the governments of D ...

, was a government minister and long-serving Liberal member of the WA Legislative Council, and the two served together in parliament from 1977 to 1986. MacKinnon was raised in

Bridgetown Bridgetown (UN/LOCODE: BB BGI) is the capital and largest city of Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Island ...

(a small town in the

South West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

), and attended

Bridgetown High School Bridgetown High School is a comprehensive public co-educational middle day school, located in Bridgetown, a regional centre in the South West region, south of Perth, Western Australia. The school was established in 1954 as a high school cate ...

before going to Perth to board at Wesley College. He later went on to the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

, where he graduated with a

Bachelor of Economics The Bachelor of Economics (BEc or BEcon), or the "Bachelor of Applied Economics", is a bachelor's degree awarded by many universities and colleges for completion of an undergraduate program in economics, econometrics, or applied economics; the ...

and a diploma in accounting. Before entering politics, MacKinnon worked as an accountant. He began as a clerk with

Bushells Bushells is an Australian company that produces tea and coffee. History Bushell's was founded by Alfred Bushell in 1883, when he opened a tea shop in Queensland. His sons moved the enterprise to Sydney in 1899 and began selling tea commercia ...

(a tea company), and subsequently spent several years with a Perth-based firm before starting his own business.

Political career

MacKinnon was elected to the seat of

Murdoch Murdoch ( , ) is an Irish/Scottish given name, as well as a surname. The name is derived from old Gaelic words ''mur'', meaning "sea" and ''murchadh'', meaning "sea warrior". The following is a list of notable people or entities with the name. ...

in 1977. He switched to the seat of Jandakot in 1989 when Murdoch was abolished. He represented Jandakot until he retired at the 1993 state election. MacKinnon became Leader of the Opposition in February 1986, replacing

Bill Hassell William Ralph Boucher Hassell, best known as Bill Hassell, (born 6 June 1943) is an Australian former Liberal Party politician who was Leader of the Opposition in Western Australia during the mid-1980s. He was a member of the Western Australian ...

. He served as a shadow to three

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 la ...

premiers - Brian Burke,

Peter Dowding Peter McCallum Dowding SC (born 6 October 1943) is an Australian lawyer and former politician who served as the 24th Premier of Western Australia, from 25 February 1988 until his forced resignation on 12 February 1990. He was a member of parli ...

and

Carmen Lawrence Carmen Mary Lawrence (born 2 March 1948) is an Australian academic and former politician who was the Premier of Western Australia from 1990 to 1993, the first woman to become the premier of an Australian state. A member of the Labor Party, sh ...

- over six years. His replacement,

Richard Court Richard Fairfax Court (born 27 September 1947) is a former Australian politician and diplomat. He served as Premier of Western Australia from 1993 to 2001 and as Australian Ambassador to Japan from 2017 to 2020. A member of the Liberal Party, ...

, became Premier after only nine months as Opposition Leader. Court ousted MacKinnon in a leadership coup by a vote of 20 to 12. MacKinnon's leadership came to an end on 12 May 1992 just a day after that of his South Australian Liberal counterpart

Dale Baker Dale Spehr Baker (30 January 1939 – 27 March 2012) was an Australian politician, serving as South Australian Opposition Leader and Leader of the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia from 1990 to 1992. Parliament ...

Honours

In 1997 MacKinnon was made a Member of the Order of Australia for services to people with hearing impairments. He also received a

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or go ...

in 2001.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:MacKinnon, Barry 1944 births Living people Australian accountants Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Western Australia Members of the Order of Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly People educated at Wesley College, Perth Politicians from Perth, Western Australia University of Western Australia alumni