Ian Morton Armstrong, (17 July 1937 – 16 December 2020) was an Australian politician who served as

Deputy Premier of New South Wales The Deputy Premier of New South Wales is the second-most senior officer in the Government of New South Wales. The deputy premiership has been a ministerial portfolio since 1932, and the deputy premier is appointed by the Governor on the advice ...

Early life

Armstrong attended

Newington College , motto_translation = To Faith Add Knowledge , location = Inner West and Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = A ...

(1949–1953).

Parliamentary career

Armstrong was a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

for Lachlan from 19 September 1981 to March 2007. He was Minister for Agriculture and Rural Affairs from 1988 to 1993. From 1993 until 1995, he was Deputy Premier of New South Wales as well as Minister for Ports and Minister for Public Works. The Coalition government was defeated at the 1995 election and Armstrong stayed on as National Party leader when the Coalition then went into Opposition. During this term in Opposition, a motion in the Legislative Assembly to gag Armstrong was passed thanks to the casting vote delivered by Labor Speaker John Murray against him and Murray attracted criticism for using his casting vote this way. Although Armstrong was set to lead the Nationals at the March 1999 state election, he was unexpectedly ousted by his deputy

George Souris George Souris (born 12 July 1949) is an Australian politician and former member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing Upper Hunter for the Nationals from 1988 to 2015. Souris is a former leader of the National Party in NS ...

just two months beforehand. This ousting came a month after Peter Collins was deposed as Liberal leader by

Kerry Chikarovski Kerry Anne Chikarovski (née Bartels; 4 April 1956) is a former Australian politician who served as leader of the Liberal Party in New South Wales and Leader of the Opposition between 1998 and 2002, the first woman to hold the post. Early li ...

. Armstrong's seat of Lachlan was abolished shortly before the 2007 state election. This change prompted Armstrong's decision to leave the parliament; he had no particular interest in finding another constituency to represent, and he had already been in the legislature for more than a quarter of a century. Nevertheless, Armstrong's public life did not end in 2007. Six years later he was appointed the inaugural Chair of Central Tablelands Local Land Services.

Honours

In the

1979 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1979 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced on 1 January 1979 to celebr ...

, he was made an Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(Civilian Division) in recognition of his service to primary industry and was awarded the

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 for his service to the New South Wales Parliament and to international trade. In the Queen's Birthday Honours 2009 Armstrong was appointed a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

''for service to the Parliament of New South Wales, to the agricultural and livestock sectors, and to the community''. The Ian Armstrong Building in

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

was named after Armstrong. It houses the headquarters of

NSW Department of Primary Industries The New South Wales Department of Primary Industries (DPI) is an agency of the New South Wales Government, responsible for the administration and development for agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture, forestry, and biosecurity in New South Wales. ...

and offices of other state government departments. The building was officially opened and named in September 2020, a few months before Armstrong's death.

Death

His death was announced on 16 December 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, Ian 1937 births 2020 deaths National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly People educated at Newington College Deputy Premiers of New South Wales 21st-century Australian politicians