Paul Domenic Omodei (born 26 May 1950), Australian politician, was the leader 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 ...

and

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

from 24 March 2006 until 17 January 2008.

Background

Omodei was born in Manjimup, a town in the

South West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

, and is of Italian ancestry. He attended St Joseph's School in Pemberton and worked as a

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

farmer and horticulturalist in the area. He became a councillor for the

Shire of Manjimup The Shire of Manjimup is a local government area in the South West region of Western Australia, about south of the state capital, Perth. The Shire covers an area of , and its seat of government is the town of Manjimup. History The Shire area ...

in 1977 and served as Shire President in 1983–1985 and 1987–1988. At the 1989 election, he won the previously safe

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

seat of

Warren A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval A ...

for the

in the

Western Australian Legislative Assembly The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Western Australia, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House in the Western Australian capital, Perth. The Legisla ...

. In 1992, he became the Shadow Minister for Local Government. When the Liberals won power under

Richard Court Richard Fairfax Court (born 27 September 1947) is a former Australian politician and diplomat. He served as Premier of Western Australia from 1993 to 2001 and as Australian Ambassador to Japan from 2017 to 2020. A member of the Liberal Party, ...

at the 1993 election, he became Minister for Local Government — a post he held for both of Court's terms of office — and Water Resources. In 1995, he moved from Water Resources to Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs. The following year, he won the enlarged seat of Warren-Blackwood. In 1997, he added the Disability Services portfolio and in 1999 Forest Products. Following the defeat of the Court government at the 2001 election, Omodei held various shadow cabinet posts. These included Local Government, Emergency Services and Regional Development. At the 2005 election, where Labor achieved a decisive victory,

Colin Barnett Colin James Barnett (born 15 July 1950) is a former Australian politician who was the 29th Premier of Western Australia. He concurrently served as the state's Treasurer at several points during his tenure and had previously held various other po ...

resigned as leader of the party, and

Matt Birney Matthew John Birney (born 10 June 1969) was an Australian politician. He was a Liberal member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 2001 to 2008, serving as Leader of the Opposition from 2005 to 2006. Birney was born in Sydney but ...

was elected in Barnett's stead, with Omodei elected deputy leader. But Omodei was forced to resign in October 2005 after he was convicted of unlawfully shooting his son during a rabbit cull. His son's thumb was shot after the gun accidentally went off while being loaded. An appeal against the conviction was dismissed. News coverage during the latter part of Birney's time in office centred on an alleged breach of parliamentary disclosure rules and several gaffes. After a botched attempt to sack shadow attorney-general Sue Walker, a leadership spill was declared on 24 March 2006, which Omodei narrowly won after deputy leader

Troy Buswell Troy Raymond Buswell (born 19 March 1966) is a former Australian politician who was a Liberal member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 2005 to 2014, representing the seat of Vasse. He was Treasurer of Western Australia in the ...

voted for him over Birney. In mid-2007, with increasingly hostile coverage from the state newspaper of record, ''

The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuousl ...

'', and the Liberal Opposition's failure to make ground on any key issue against the Government despite a number of scandals, speculation emerged in the media that Omodei would be replaced as leader by his deputy,

after the Federal election on 24 November 2007. In December, Newspoll recorded Omodei's preferred premier rating as 13% against premier

Alan Carpenter Alan John Carpenter (born 4 January 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th Premier of Western Australia, from 2006 to 2008. From Albany, Carpenter graduated from the University of Western Australia, and worked as a journ ...

's 63% — ranking as one of the lowest ever figures for an Opposition leader in Australia. In January 2008, Buswell announced he would challenge Omodei's leadership. After a spill motion carried in the Liberal party room on 17 January, Omodei did not contest the ensuring leadership spill, which was won by Buswell. After losing the leadership, Omodei sought preselection to move to the Legislative Council after boundary changes saw Warren-Blackwood becoming marginal when it merged with nearby Stirling held by the Nationals. Although preselected for the winnable second seat for the

Legislative Council region, a State conference on 3 May 2008 lowered him to an unwinnable fourth position. Omodei expressed his outrage that as a former Liberal leader he had to struggle even to find a seat in the upper house in order to stay in Parliament. However, WA Liberal state president

Danielle Blain Danielle is a modern French female variant of the male name Daniel, meaning "God is my judge" in the Hebrew language. Variants *Dana – Czech, German, Romanian Polish *Danette – English *Daniela – Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, English, Germ ...

said that the party preferred that Omodei contest the reconfigured seat of Blackwood-Stirling. On 19 June, Omodei announced his resignation from the Liberal Party. In his announcement, he stated that in his opinion, Buswell was "not a fit and proper person to lead the party". However, he did not make his resignation official until 19 June. In 2017, he once again became President of the Shire of Manjimup. He has also been Commissioner of the

Shire of Cue The Shire of Cue is a local government area in the Mid West region of Western Australia, about east-northeast of the port city of Geraldton and about north-northeast of the state capital, Perth. The Shire covers an area of , and its seat of g ...

(2011–2012) and the

Shire of Perenjori The Shire of Perenjori is a local government area in the Mid West region of Western Australia, about north of the state capital, Perth. The Shire covers an area of , and its seat of government is the town of Perenjori. History The Shire of ...

(2019–2020).

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Omodei, Paul Living people 1950 births Australian politicians of Italian descent Leaders of the Opposition in Western Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly People from Manjimup, Western Australia 20th-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian politicians Mayors of places in Western Australia Western Australian local councillors