William Richard Marmion (born 22 May 1954) is an Australian politician who was a 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 ...
between 2008 and 2021, representing the
seat of Nedlands. He served as a minister in the government of
Colin Barnett
Colin James Barnett (born 15 July 1950) is a former Australian politician who was the 29th Premier of Western Australia. He concurrently served as the state's Treasurer at several points during his tenure and had previously held various other po ...
from 2010 to 2017. He later served as deputy leader of the
Liberal Party of Australia (Western Australian Division)
The Liberal Party of Australia (Western Australian Division), branded as Liberal Western Australia, is the division of the Liberal Party of Australia in Western Australia. Founded in March 1949 as the Liberal and Country League of Western Austr ...
from 2019 to 2020.
Early life
Marmion was born in
Kalgoorlie
Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...
, Western Australia, to Betty Ellen (née Ramm) and Richard Stephen Marmion. His great-grandfather,
William Edward Marmion, was a member of parliament in the 19th century. His father was a mechanical engineer, and the family lived for periods in Kalgoorlie and
Wittenoom before eventually settling in
Bunbury. Marmion attended
Bunbury Senior High School
Bunbury Senior High School is a comprehensive public co-educational high day school, located in Bunbury, a regional centre in the South West region, south of Perth, Western Australia.
History
The school was established in 1918 and in 2017 ha ...
and then boarded at
Hale School
Hale School is an independent, Anglican day and boarding school for boys, located in Wembley Downs, a western suburb of Perth, Western Australia.
Named after the school founded by Bishop Mathew Blagden Hale in 1858, Hale School claims to b ...
,
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 ...
, for his final two years of high school. He went on to study at 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 ...
, initially graduating with a
Bachelor of Engineering
A Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) is an academic undergraduate degree awarded to a student after three to five years of studying engineering at an accredited college or university.
In the UK, a Bache ...
(B.Eng.) degree and later returning to complete a
Master of Business Administration
A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...
(M.B.A.) degree. Before entering politics, Marmion worked as a civil engineer for
Main Roads Western Australia
Main Roads Western Australia (formerly the Main Roads Department) is a statutory authority of the Government of Western Australia that is responsible for implementing the state's policies on road access and main roads. It operates under the ''M ...
, as a VFM auditor for the state government's
auditor-general
A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior-level execut ...
, and for his own strategic planning business. He was also president of the state branch of
Engineers Australia
Engineers Australia (EA) is an Australian professional body and not-for-profit organisation whose purpose is to advance the science and practice of engineering for the benefit of the community. Engineers Australia is Australia's recognized org ...
for three years.
[William (Bill) Richard Marmion](_blank)
– Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
Politics
From 1992 to 1997, Marmion was the private secretary to
Peter Foss
Peter Gilbert da Conceição Foss KC (born 24 March 1946 in England) is a former Australian politician, who represented the Liberal Party.
Elected to parliament in the 1989 state election, he was a member of the Western Australian Legislati ...
, a state Liberal MP and a minister in the government of
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, ...
. In 1997, he transferred to Court's office, where he remained until the government's defeat at the
2001 state election.
Marmion entered parliament himself at the
2008 state election, winning the
seat of Nedlands from
Sue Walker, an
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
who had resigned from the Liberal Party earlier in the year. He was made
parliamentary secretary to the
Minister for Transport
A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government ag ...
(
Simon O'Brien) shortly after the election, and later served in a similar position for the premier. In April 2010, following the resignation of
Troy Buswell
Troy Raymond Buswell (born 19 March 1966) is a former Australian politician who was a Liberal member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 2005 to 2014, representing the seat of Vasse. He was Treasurer of Western Australia in the ...
, Marmion was elevated to the ministry as
Minister for Commerce,
Minister for Housing, and
Minister for Science and Innovation. In a reshuffle in December 2010, he was instead made
Minister for the Environment and
Minister for Water. Another reshuffle occurred after the
2013 state election, with Marmion becoming
Minister for Mines and Petroleum and Minister for Housing (for a second time). He was also made
Minister for Finance
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...
in December 2014, and
Minister for State Development in March 2016, but lost the mines portfolio to
Sean L'Estrange
Sean Kimberley L'Estrange (born 19 September 1967) is a former Australian politician. He was the Member for the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Churchlands from 2013 until 2021. He was the Minister for Finance; Minister for Mi ...
.
[Hon. William (Bill) Richard Marmion MLA BE, MBA](_blank)
– Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 11 July 2016. In September 2016, he was shifted from finance to transport to replace resigned minister
Dean Nalder
Dean Cambell Nalder (born 5 February 1966) is an Australian former politician who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia for the Liberal Party from 2013 to 2021, representing the seat of Alfred Cove until 2017, and Batem ...
.
In
2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...
, Marmion suffered a swing of almost 11 percent, and was left as one of only nine Liberals from Perth.
Four years later, Marmion was swept out amid the Liberals' meltdown in the capital. He lost over 16 percent of his primary vote from 2017, and narrowly trailed Labor challenger
Katrina Stratton
Katrina Stratton (born 6 January 1973) is a member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for the electoral district of Nedlands for the Australian Labor Party (Western Australian Branch), Australian Labor Party. She won her seat at t ...
on the first count. Ultimately, Stratton defeated Marmion on the fifth count after
Green
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...
preferences flowed overwhelmingly to her.
2021 State General Election – Nedlands District Results
WAEC
See also
* Barnett Ministry
The Barnett Ministry was the 35th Ministry of the Government of Western Australia. It included 13 members of the Liberal Party, three members of the National Party and an independent. It was led by the Premier of Western Australia, Colin Barnett, ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marmion, Bill
1954 births
Living people
Australian civil engineers
Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Western Australia
Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly
People educated at Hale School
People from Kalgoorlie
21st-century Australian politicians
People from Bunbury, Western Australia
University of Western Australia alumni