Robert Leslie Chynoweth (born 7 June 1941) is an Australian politician. He was an
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms t ...
member of the
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia.
The term of members o ...
from 1983 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 1996.
Chynoweth was born in
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
, an inner suburb of
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
to a family of Cornish descent.
.
Chynoweth first entered federal parliament at the federal election of March 1983, as part of a landslide Labor win under the leadership of Bob Hawke. He was the
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 ...
candidate for the seat of Flinders, based on the outer south eastern fringe of Melbourne. He defeated incumbent
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
member
Peter Reith
Peter Keaston Reith (15 July 1950 – 8 November 2022) was an Australian politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1982 to 1983 and from 1984 to 2001, representing the Liberal Party. He was the party's deputy leader from 199 ...
. Only months earlier Labor had failed to win Flinders, with a different candidate, Rogan Ward, at 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 ...
held in December 1982. Ward did not become the candidate again due to dissatisfaction with his candidacy at the by-election.
Following a redistribution of electoral boundaries in 1984, Chynoweth opted to contest the seat of Dunkley. Dunkley was one of a number of new seats created as a consequence of the enlargement of parliament. The seat took in much of the urban area previously covered by Flinders, and was considered a safer bet for a Labor candidate than the redistributed Flinders. (Dunkley was created with a notional two-party margin of Labor 53.2% to Liberal 46.8%. Flinders had a notional post-redistribution two-party margin of Labor 50.7% to Liberal 49.3%.) Chynoweth won the seat of Dunkley at the 1984 federal election and was re-elected in
1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...
.
Chynoweth was defeated at the 1990 federal election as one of a number of Labor losses in
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
at that election. However, he was to make a comeback to politics by winning back the seat of Dunkley at the 1993 federal election. He defeated
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
MP Frank Ford, who had defeated him three years earlier.
A redistribution that took place ahead of the 1996 federal election transformed Dunkley from a marginal Labor seat into a seat with a notional Liberal majority.Psephos: 1996 Federal election, Victoria /ref> Chynoweth re-contested the redistributed Dunkley but lost to Liberal candidate