David John Hopetoun Watson (born 29 January 1945) is an Australian former politician.

Early life

Born in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

, Watson was educated at 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 ...

and

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...

before becoming an accountant. He was Professor of Accounting and Dean of Commerce and Economics at the University of Queensland before entering politics.

Politics

In 1984, Watson was elected to 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 of ...

as the Liberal member for Forde. He was defeated in the next federal election in 1987, but in 1989 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 Assembly ...

as the member for

Moggill Moggill is a suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Moggill had a population of 4,641 people. Geography Moggill is about by from the Brisbane GPO. The Brisbane River bounds the suburb to the east, south and west wit ...

. He was the Queensland Minister for Housing and Public Works 1997–1998 and Leader of the Queensland Liberal Party 1998–2001. As state Liberal leader and Deputy Leader of the Opposition, he led the Liberals into the 2001 state election, which saw

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 ...

reelected in a record landslide. Watson himself was nearly swept up in that year's massive Labor wave, surviving by only 396 votes. He was left as the only non-Labor MLA from Brisbane.

References

1945 births Living people Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Queensland Ohio State University alumni University of Queensland alumni Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Forde Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly 21st-century Australian politicians 20th-century Australian politicians {{Australia-Liberal-politician-stub