Graeme Campbell (born 13 August 1939) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

far-right

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. Campbell represented the vast seat of

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 ...

in 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 the ...

from 1980 to 1998 as a member of the

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 the f ...

. Campbell later founded the nationalist

Australia First Party The Australia First Party (NSW) Incorporated, often shortened to the Australia First Party (AFP), is an Australian far-right political party founded in 1996 by Graeme Campbell. The policies of Australia First have been described as ultranat ...

, before joining

Pauline Hanson's One Nation Pauline Hanson's One Nation (PHON or ONP), also known as One Nation or One Nation Party, is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia. It is led by Pauline Hanson. One Nat ...

Biography

Campbell was born in

Abingdon, Oxfordshire Abingdon-on-Thames ( ), commonly known as Abingdon, is a historic market town and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England, on the River Thames. Historically the county town of Berkshire, since 1974 Abingdon has been admin ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and came to Australia as a child. He was educated at

Urrbrae Agricultural High School Urrbrae Agricultural High School is a public high school in the Australian state of South Australia, with approximately 1,016 students. The school is located in the Adelaide suburb of Netherby, about south-east of the Adelaide city centre. ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. In 1972, Campbell met his future wife, French-Australian Michele Lelievre, at a sheep station in the

Nullarbor Plain The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of , 'no', and , 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its ...

. Campbell worked in a range of occupations before entering federal parliament in October 1980 as 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 labour ...

member for

. Considered a

maverick Maverick, Maveric or Maverik may refer to: History * Maverick (animal), an unbranded range animal, derived from U.S. cattleman Samuel Maverick Aviation * AEA Maverick, an Australian single-seat sportsplane design * General Aviation Design Burea ...

, he was an ardent supporter of the mining industry, and crossed the floor on gold tax in 1988, and was also a vocal critic of the Mabo decision and sanctions on the apartheid regime in South Africa, and a proponent of

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

mining. In October 1993, and again in May 1995, he delivered a speech at the national seminar of the

Australian League of Rights The Australian League of Rights is a far-right and antisemitic political organisation in Australia. It was founded in Adelaide, South Australia, by Eric Butler in 1946, and organised nationally in 1960. It inspired groups like the Canadian Leag ...

, a far-right group for which he was believed to hold sympathies, and in

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 ...

s in Mackellar and

Warringah Warringah is a name taken from the local Aboriginal word for Middle Harbour, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It may refer to: *Division of Warringah, an electoral division of the Australian House of Representatives created in 1922 *Electoral ...

(safe

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 ...

seats on the

Northern Beaches The Northern Beaches is a region within Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, near the Pacific coast. This area extends south to the entrance of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), west to Middle Harbour and north to the entra ...

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 Mountain ...

) in 1994, he urged electors to vote for

Australians Against Further Immigration Australians Against Further Immigration (AAFI) was an Australian far-right political party which described itself as " eco-nationalist", was opposed to mass immigration and aimed for zero net migration. The party was founded in 1989 and register ...

(AAFI). After numerous run-ins with the Labor leadership and considerable media attention to his exploits, he was finally expelled from the party on 30 November 1995 after addressing an AAFI meeting where he criticised Labor's immigration policies. He continued to sit in parliament as an independent, and was reelected as an independent in the 1996 election, when he only received 35% of the primary vote, but defeated the Labor candidate, former

Deputy Premier of Western Australia The deputy premier of Western Australia is a role in the Government of Western Australia assigned to a responsible Minister in the Australian state of Western Australia. It has second ranking behind the premier of Western Australia in Cabinet, ...

Ian Taylor, on Liberal preferences. In June 1996, Campbell founded the

, but was officially reckoned as an independent. He was defeated for reelection at the 1998 federal election after being eliminated on the seventh count. Campbell blamed his loss on Australia First being eclipsed by One Nation. In 2009, he claimed that, if not for the presence of a One Nation candidate, he would have picked up an additional 8.5% of the vote, which would have been enough to keep him in the race. He remained Australia First's leader until June 2001, when he left the party to stand (unsuccessfully) as a One Nation

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

candidate in

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 ...

. In 2004, he attempted unsuccessfully to regain his old federal seat as an independent. He stood for the Senate in Western Australia at the

2007 federal election This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not i ...

as an independent, but only achieved 0.13% of the vote.

Electoral performance

House

2004

1998

1996

1993

1990

1987

1984

1983

1980

Senate

References

Bibliography

* Graeme Campbell and Mark Uhlmann. ''Australia Betrayed: How Australian democracy has been undermined and our naive trust betrayed'', Foundation Press, Perth, 1995. {{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Graeme 1939 births Living people Pauline Hanson's One Nation politicians Independent members of the Parliament of Australia Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Kalgoorlie English emigrants to Australia People from Abingdon-on-Thames Australia First Party members of the Parliament of Australia 20th-century Australian politicians