Ian James Cover (born 31 July 1956) is an Australian radio presenter, comedian, politician and author. He rose to prominence as a founding member of radio sporting comedy group the

Coodabeen Champions The Coodabeen Champions'' (often referred to as "The Coodabeens") are an Australian comedy team with radio programs broadcast on the ACE Radio Network in Melbourne on 1377AM 3MP and sell as across regional Victoria and Southern New South Wales. ...

, entered Victorian state politics in 1996, serving one term as a

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

member of the

Victorian Legislative Council The Victorian Legislative Council (VLC) is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria, Australia, the lower house being the Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The Legislative C ...

, and subsequently returned to radio comedy. Cover has also been a radio presenter and newspaper columnist in his own right, and has written three books. Cover was born in

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 ...

, and was educated at Bellaire Primary School and Belmont High School in Geelong. He initially worked as a journalist for the ''

Geelong Advertiser The ''Geelong Advertiser'' is a daily newspaper circulating in Geelong, Victoria, Australia, the Bellarine Peninsula, and surrounding areas. First published on 21 November 1840, the ''Geelong Advertiser'' is the oldest newspaper title in Victor ...

'' from 1976 until 1981, when he went into radio comedy. He was a founding member of the

, and was part of their ''Coodabeens Footy Show'' across three different radio stations:

3RRR 3RRR (pronounced "Three Triple R", or simply "Triple R") is an Australian community radio station, based in Melbourne. 3RRR first commenced broadcasting in 1976 from the studios of 3ST, the student radio station of the Royal Melbourne Institut ...

, 3AW, and

774 ABC Melbourne ABC Radio Melbourne (official callsign: 3LO) is an ABC Local Radio station in Melbourne, Australia. It began transmission on 13 October 1924, and was Melbourne's second licensed radio station after 3AR. Most Local Radio stations in Victoria sim ...

. Outside his work with the Coodabeen Champions, he briefly worked as a personal assistant to Liberal MLC Glyn Jenkins in 1982, worked as a journalist for the ''

Herald and Weekly Times The Herald and Weekly Times Pty Ltd (HWT) is a newspaper publishing company based in Melbourne, Australia. It is owned and operated by News Pty Ltd, which as News Ltd, purchased the HWT in 1987. Newspapers The HWT's newspaper interests date ba ...

'' from 1982 to 1986, and was a radio announcer with

3UZ RSN Racing & Sport (ACMA callsign: 3UZ) is an Australian radio station in Australia. Owned and operated by thoroughbred, harness and greyhound racing bodies of Victoria, it broadcasts a sports radio format to Melbourne, and to much of Victori ...

from 1987 to 1989. Cover joined the Liberal Party in 1995, and was subsequently preselected as the Liberal candidate for the open seat of Geelong Province for the 1996 election, after being approached by Premier Jeff Kennett. He was endorsed by the party's administrative committee over the top of the local party branch, causing some consternation, but nonetheless went on to win the seat. He was appointed secretary of the parliamentary Liberal Party after the party lost government at the 1999 election, and was promoted into the shadow ministry in July 2000 as Shadow Minister for Sport and Recreation, Shadow Minister for Racing and Shadow Minister for Youth Affairs. He was rumoured as a likely candidate for the Legislative Assembly seat of Bellarine at the 2002 election, but instead recontested and lost his Legislative Council seat in the Liberal Party's landslide loss that year. He subsequently returned to radio comedy. A property Cover and his family had owned for thirty years was destroyed in the Dereel bushfires of March 2013. Cover has a daughter called Coco.

Books

* ''The Coodabeen Champions Big Bumper Footy Book'' (1990) * ''The Coodabeen Champions Take a Good Hard Look at Australia'' (1992) * ''Merv and Me - On Tour'' (1993)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cover, Ian James 1956 births Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria Living people Members of the Victorian Legislative Council ABC radio (Australia) journalists and presenters Radio personalities from Melbourne People from Geelong