Michael Townley (born 4 November 1934) is a former Australian politician and pharmacist. He served as a

Senator 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 ...

for

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

from 1971 to 1987. Townley was born in

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

; his father Rex and uncle Athol were also prominent politicians. Before entering politics he operated several pharmacies and made regular radio and television appearances. Townley was a member of the

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 ...

but came into conflict with the state executive. At the 1970 Senate election he was elected as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

. He initially sat on the

crossbench A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...

and was re-elected in 1974, but joined the parliamentary Liberals the following year. This increase in the

Coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

's numbers was one of the contributing factors to the 1975 constitutional crisis. Townley spent the remainder of his time in the Senate as a backbencher and frequently

crossed the floor Crossed may refer to: * ''Crossed'' (comics), a 2008 comic book series by Garth Ennis * ''Crossed'' (novel), a 2010 young adult novel by Ally Condie * "Crossed" (''The Walking Dead''), an episode of the television series ''The Walking Dead'' S ...

. He resigned from the Liberal Party and retired from the Senate before the 1987 election.

Early life

Townley was born on 4 November 1934 in

, Tasmania. He was the son of Winifred (née Jones) and

Rex Townley Reginald 'Rex' Colin Townley CMG (15 April 1904 – 3 May 1982) was an Australian politician who served as leader of the Liberal Party in Tasmania from 1950 to 1956. He also played first-class cricket for the Tasmanian cricket team in his young ...

. His father, a pharmacist by profession, was elected to state parliament in 1946 and was the state Liberal leader in the early 1950s. His uncle Athol was a federal MP and held ministerial office in the

Menzies Government Menzies is a Scottish surname, with Gaelic forms being Méinnearach and Méinn, and other variant forms being Menigees, Mennes, Mengzes, Menzeys, Mengies, and Minges. Derivation and history The name and its Gaelic form are probably derived f ...

. Townley was educated at state schools in

Sassafras ''Sassafras'' is a genus of three extant and one extinct species of deciduous trees in the family Lauraceae, native to eastern North America and eastern Asia.Wolfe, Jack A. & Wehr, Wesley C. 1987. The sassafras is an ornamental tree. "Middle Eoc ...

and Kingston, the

Friends' School Friends schools are institutions that provide an education based on the beliefs and testimonies of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). This article is a list of schools currently or historically associated with the Society of Friends, reg ...

, and

Hobart High School Hobart High School is a coeducational secondary school with academy status, situated in the village of Loddon, near Norwich in Norfolk, England. It typically has around 850 pupils. The school previously had specialist science college status ...

. He graduated from the

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College, one of the university's residential colleges, first pro ...

in 1956 with a degree in engineering, later studying

radio astronomy Radio astronomy is a subfield of astronomy that studies celestial objects at radio frequencies. The first detection of radio waves from an astronomical object was in 1933, when Karl Jansky at Bell Telephone Laboratories reported radiation coming f ...

in Canada at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

for two years. On his return he completed a diploma in pharmacy at Hobart Technical College and was registered as a pharmacist in 1964. By 1968 Townley was operating three pharmacies and was also the major shareholder in a pharmaceutical company distributing medicines under his own brand. He became a public figure in Tasmania as the "Chemist of the Air", making regular radio appearances and appearing weekly on

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

(broadcasting to northern Tasmania) and twice weekly on TVT (broadcasting to southern Tasmania).

Politics

Townley was approached to stand as the Liberal candidate at the 1964 Denison by-election, following his uncle's death in office, but declined for business reasons. In 1968 he was defeated for party

preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presele ...

in Denison by Robert Solomon. Townley subsequently decided to contest the 1969 federal election as an unendorsed Liberal, narrowly losing to Solomon. He remained president of the party's

Lenah Valley Lenah Valley is a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania. It is situated in the foothills of Mount Wellington, north of the CBD between Mount Stuart, New Town and the City of Glenorchy. Lenah Valley was originally known as Kangaroo Bottom, later Kangaro ...

branch until December 1969, when he resigned to pre-empt a no-confidence motion. In May 1970, Townley announced he would contest the 1970 half-Senate election as an independent, after being rejected from the Liberal ticket by the state executive. He did not immediately resign his membership of the party. He was elected with 13.8 percent of the

first-preference votes In certain ranked-voting systems, a first-preference vote (or first preference, 1st preference, or primary vote) is the individual voter's first choice amongst (possibly) many. In certain ranked systems such as Instant-Runoff Voting or Single T ...

to a term beginning on 1 July 1971. He sat on the Senate

with the five Democratic Labor Party (DLP) senators and two other independents,

Syd Negus Sydney Ambrose Negus (12 March 1912 – 1 August 1986) was an Australian politician who was an independent senator for Western Australia from 1971 until 1974. He was previously a carpenter and building contractor. Negus was president of the We ...

and

Reg Turnbull Reginald John David "Spot" Turnbull (21 February 1908 – 17 July 2006) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly from 1946 to 1961 (1946–1959 for the Labor Party, 1959–1961 as an Independent), then a ...

. Following a

double dissolution A double dissolution is a procedure permitted under the Australian Constitution to resolve deadlocks in the bicameral Parliament of Australia between the House of Representatives (lower house) and the Senate (upper house). A double dissolution ...

, Townley was re-elected at the 1974 election with 5.6 percent of the vote, assisted by the lower quotas in place. He initially shared the balance of power in the Senate with

Steele Hall Raymond Steele Hall (born 30 November 1928) is a former Australian politician who served as the 36th Premier of South Australia from 1968 to 1970. He also served in the federal Parliament as a senator for South Australia from 1974 to 1977 and f ...

of the Liberal Movement, but on 11 February 1975 he joined the parliamentary Liberal Party. Townley resigned from the Liberal Party on 5 June 1987, anticipating that he would be demoted to an "unwinnable" spot on the party's ticket at the next federal election. He attributed this to his public support of

Andrew Peacock Andrew Sharp Peacock (13 February 193916 April 2021) was an Australian politician and diplomat. He served as a cabinet minister and went on to become leader of the Liberal Party on two occasions (1983–1985 and 1989–1990), leading the par ...

against the incumbent party leader

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the s ...

Personal life

Townley obtained a private pilot's licence at a young age and also trained with the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

(RAAF) as a national serviceman. In July 1975 his aircraft was badly damaged following an

aborted takeoff In aviation terminology, a rejected takeoff (RTO) or aborted takeoff is the situation in which it is decided to abort the takeoff of an airplane. There can be many reasons for deciding to perform a rejected takeoff, but they are usually due to a ...

Grovedale, Victoria Grovedale is a southern suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. At the , Grovedale had a population of 14,869. History Toponymy The locality was originally named ''Germantown'' because several families of German Lutheran origin had settled th ...

, although he and his two passengers were injured.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Townley, Michael Members of the Australian Senate for Tasmania 1934 births Living people Independent members of the Parliament of Australia Place of birth missing (living people) Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate 20th-century Australian politicians University of Tasmania alumni Politicians from Hobart Australian pharmacists