Peter Gilbert da Conceição Foss KC (born 24 March 1946 in England) 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, who represented 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 ...

. Elected to parliament in the 1989 state election, he was a member of the

Western Australian Legislative Council The Western Australian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Western Australia, a state of Australia. It is regarded as a house of review for legislation passed by the Legislative Assembly, the lower house. The two Houses ...

representing the

East Metropolitan Region The East Metropolitan Region is a multi-member electoral region of the Western Australian Legislative Council, located in the eastern and south-eastern suburbs of Perth. It was created by the ''Acts Amendment (Electoral Reform) Act 1987'', and b ...

, he was re-elected in 1993, 1996, and 2001. He retired in 2005. During his time in parliament he served as: * Minister for Health; Consumer Affairs: 16 February 1993 – 10 February 1995 * Minister for the Arts: 16 February 1993 – 22 December 1999 * Minister for Fair Trading: 3 November 1993 – 21 December 1995 * Minister for Water Resources: 10 February 1995 – 21 December 1995 * Minister for the Environment: 10 February 1995 – 9 January 1997 * Attorney General; Minister for Justice: 21 December 1995 – 16 February 2001 He worked as a barrister and solicitor before entering parliament. He was appointed Queen's Counsel while serving as Attorney-General of Western Australia.

Anti-LGBT amendments

Foss was instrumental in creating what has been referred to as Western Australia's "gay propaganda laws". Foss said he would give the support needed to pass a 1989 bill to decriminalise homosexuality, though only if his amendments, later widely referred to as the "Foss Amendments", were included. These included a formal statement from parliament saying it "disapproved of sexual relations between persons of the same sex", and making it a crime to "promote or encourage homosexual behaviour" in schools or for "public purpose". Impacts of the amendments included the banning of a

safe sex Safe sex is sexual activity using methods or contraceptive devices (such as condoms) to reduce the risk of transmitting or acquiring sexually transmitted infections (STIs), especially HIV. "Safe sex" is also sometimes referred to as safer se ...

education campaign in schools, and the removal of police advertisements to recruit openly LGBT people, over concerns about the legality of advertising

public service A public service is any service intended to address specific needs pertaining to the aggregate members of a community. Public services are available to people within a government jurisdiction as provided directly through public sector agencies ...

employment to LGBT people. The ambiguity of what constituted promotion or encouragement of homosexuality caused many issues, such as concern from school teachers regarding how they could offer mental-health support to LGBT youth without breaking the law. The Foss Amendments were abolished in 2001.

Minister for Health

Traditionally, Liberal governments supported the tobacco industry against activist moves to restrict smoking (especially in the workplace) but in WA, the Liberal Health Minister Peter Foss took a hard line against smoking. At a joint meeting of the state Health Ministers acting as a Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy (MCDS) he led the move to have prominent health warnings on every pack with a "Quit" phone number included. This was considered by the industry to be a major threat. In December 1994 he openly attacked the

Tobacco Institute of Australia Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the c ...

and its CEO Donna Staunton, saying "the people who sell tobacco can only be described as international drug pushers." This caused much consternation in the party across Australia since the massive donations made to the party in other states were a major source of campaign funding. The tobacco taxes collected supposedly to support a "Quit" campaign had been systematically syphoned off for other budget items. In November 1994 the Western Australian Health Department announced that it would review the Western Australian Tobacco Control Act which was aimed at restricting sponsorship of sporting events by tobacco companies. Foss's lead in these efforts was a reason for industry concern around the world because this established a priority that others might follow. Foss refused to back down saying: "The bill that we have for smoking related diseases is just enormous. And we certainly don't get back in tobacco taxes anything like the sort of money that we spend on hospitals which have an extra load because of the premature illness caused by tobacco." He wanted warnings to cover the entire side of cigarette packets, and he led the other state Health Ministers in an attempt to get uniform generic packet legislation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foss, Peter Living people Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Western Australia 1946 births Australian people of Portuguese descent Australian King's Counsel 21st-century Australian politicians