Peter Lachlan Cochran (born 28 January 1945) is a former

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n politician. He was the National Party member for Monaro in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1988 to 1998. In recent years he has been known for his ongoing lobbying to keep feral horses (known as brumbies in Australia) within the Kosciusko National Park. Cochran was born in Albury in New South Wales. He enlisted in the Army in 1965 and was sent to Vietnam in 1969, returning in 1970. He left the main force in 1972, and was a reservist from 1977 to 1979. Commissioned as a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

, he farmed near

Adaminaby Adaminaby is a small town near the Snowy Mountains north-west of Cooma, New South Wales, Australia, in the Snowy Monaro Regional Council. The historic town, of 301 people at the , is a trout fishing centre and winter sports destination situated ...

after leaving the armed forces and became involved in the National Party. In 1987 he stood unsuccessfully as the National candidate for the federal seat of

Eden-Monaro The Division of Eden-Monaro is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. The previous member, Mike Kelly resigned due to ill health on 30 April 2020. The seat was filled at a by-election on 4 July 2020. Geography S ...

, but came third after Labor MP

Jim Snow James Henry Snow (born 15 September 1934) is a former Australian politician. Snow was born in the Melbourne suburb of Surrey Hills, Victoria and graduated in pharmacy from the Victorian College of Pharmacy. He worked as a goat farmer, phar ...

and Liberal candidate

David Evans David, Dave, or Dai Evans may refer to: Academics * Sir David Emrys Evans (1891–1966), Welsh classicist and university principal * David Evans (microbiologist) (1909–1984), British microbiologist * David Stanley Evans (1916–2004), British a ...

, obtaining 16.4% of the vote. Nevertheless, this was a large increase from the 1984 result of 3.9%. In 1988, Cochran was selected as the Nationals' candidate for the state seat of Monaro, previously a marginal Labor seat. Cochran defeated sitting member

John Akister John Edward Akister (born 6 November 1937) is a former Australian politician. He was the Labor Party member for Electoral district of Monaro in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1976 to 1988, and served as a minister from 1984 to 19 ...

and also warded off an attempt by the Liberal Party to win the seat. In parliament he acted as liaison between the parliamentary party and the Young Nationals. He was known for opposing the creation of new national parks and backing the four-wheel drive lobby to access existing ones. He was re-elected in 1991 and 1995, the latter coming even as 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 ...

lost government. During his final term, he was Monaro's first opposition member in 65 years. He resigned from parliament on 26 October 1998, shortly before the 1999 election. In 2001, Cochran returned to politics as an independent candidate for the federal seat of

, one of several independents to stand in that election. He'd represented most of the eastern portion of the seat at the state level for almost a decade. Cochran came third behind the Liberal and Labor candidates, with 8.2% of the vote. In 2018 Cochran runs commercial horse treks through the Kosciuscko National Park. He has been lobbying for feral horses to remain in the park, and was under scrutiny in May 2018 after it was discovered he and his wife had donated more than $10,000 to the Nationals leader John Barilaro, who had put a bill through parliament listing feral horses in NSW as having heritage significance. Cochran also claimed to have helped create the legislation, causing controversy due to his business having a vested interest in keeping feral horses within the Kosciuscko National Park.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cochran, Peter 1945 births Living people National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly