Peter Vernon Jones (28 January 1933 – 16 January 2017) was an Australian politician who served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of

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 1974 to 1986, representing the seat of Narrogin. He was a minister in the governments of

Charles Court Sir Charles Walter Michael Court, (29 September 1911 – 22 December 2007) was a Western Australian politician, and the 21st Premier of Western Australia from 1974 to 1982. He was a member of the Liberal Party. Early life Court's family e ...

and

Ray O'Connor Raymond James O'Connor (6 March 1926 – 25 February 2013) was an Australian politician who served as the premier of Western Australia from 25 January 1982 to 25 February 1983. He was a member of parliament from 1959 to 1984, and a minister in ...

Early life

Jones was born in

Launceston, Tasmania Launceston () or () is a city in the north of Tasmania, Australia, at the confluence of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River (kanamaluka). As of 2021, Launceston has a population of 87,645. Material was copied ...

, the son of Annie May (née Simmons) and Harold Vernon Jones. He attended

Launceston Church Grammar School (Unless the Lord is with us, our labour is in vain) , established = , type = Independent, co-educational, day & boarding , denomination = Anglican , slogan = Nurture, Challenge, I ...

, where his father was the headmaster. After leaving school, Jones farmed at

Hagley Hagley is a large village and civil parish in Worcestershire, England. It is on the boundary of the West Midlands and Worcestershire counties between the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley and Kidderminster. Its estimated population was 7,162 in 2 ...

. He moved to Western Australia in 1968 and subsequently farmed at Narrogin, on a property of . From 1972 to 1974, Jones was a member of the state

marketing board A marketing board is an organization created by many producers to try to market their product and increase consumption and thus prices. It can also be defined as an organization set up by a government to regulate the buying and selling of a certain ...

for

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...

.Peter Vernon Jones
– Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 23 May 2016. He married Margaret Antonia Maslin in 1960, with whom he had three children. His children were called Philippa, Andrew and Angus.

Politics

A member of the

National Country Party The National Party of Australia, also known as The Nationals or The Nats, is an Australian political party. Traditionally representing graziers, farmers, and regional voters generally, it began as the Australian Country Party in 1920 at a fe ...

(NCP), Jones entered parliament at the 1974 state election, replacing the retiring William Manning. In May 1975, a split in the party saw

Ray McPharlin Walter Raymond McPharlin (21 February 1916 – 13 July 1991) was the Country Party member for Mount Marshall in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1967 to 1983. He played football for East Fremantle from 1938 to 1939 and in 1 ...

replaced as leader by

Dick Old Richard Charles Old (3 December 1922 – 29 June 2007) was an Australian politician who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1974 to 1986. He was state leader of the National Country Party (NCP) from 1975 to 1985, ...

, with Jones replacing

Matt Stephens Matt Stephens (born 1971) is an author and software process expert based in London, UK. In January 2010 he founded independent book publisher Fingerpress UK Ltd, and in November 2014 he founded the Virtual Reality book discovery site Inkflash. H ...

as deputy leader. He was subsequently appointed to the ministry, becoming Minister for Housing, Minister for Conservation and the Environment, and Minister for Fisheries and Wildlife. In a reshuffle after the 1977 state election, Jones was instead made Minister for Education, Minister for Cultural Affairs, and Minister for Recreation. A further reshuffle occurred after the 1980 election, and he became Minister for Resources Development, Minister for Mines, Minister for Fuel and Energy and Minister for Industrial Development and Commerce. In February 1981, Jones added another three portfolios, becoming Minister for Housing (for a second time), Minister for Regional Administration and the North-West, and Minister for Tourism. However, when Ray O'Connor replaced Charles Court as premier in January 1982, his workload was reduced to just three portfolios again – resources development, mines, and fuel and energy. Jones exited the ministry when the Liberal–NCP government was defeated at the 1983 state election. In 1978, several National Country MPs had left the party to form a new group, the National Party. The NCP and the National Party merged in October 1984, under the name of the latter, although the parliamentary NCP was not formally dissolved until January 1985. Its three remaining members in the Legislative Assembly – Jones, Bert Crane, and

– refused to join the new unified party, instead joining 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 ...

. At the 1986 state election, Jones and Old were defeated by National Party, although Crane retained his seat as a Liberal.

Later life

After leaving parliament, Jones initially worked as a company executive, and also occupied several administrative positions in the Liberal Party, serving as state president from April 1989 to July 1991 and as a federal vice-president from July 1990 to October 1996. From 1995 to 2002, Jones chaired the

Water Corporation Water Corporation is the principal supplier of water, wastewater and drainage services throughout the state of Western Australia. It is the seventh successive agency to deal with the services in Perth, Western Australia. With offices in Perth ...

, a WA state government agency. He then chaired

Defence Housing Australia Defence Housing Australia (DHA) is an Australian government business enterprise established by the ''Defence Housing Australia Act 1987''. DHA supplies housing and related services to Australian Defence Force members and their families in lin ...

from 2003 to 2008. Jones died in Perth in January 2017, aged 83."WA energy pioneer, Peter Jones, dies, aged 83"
''The West Australian'', 17 January 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2017.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Peter 1933 births 2017 deaths Australian farmers Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Western Australia Members of the Order of Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Western Australia Politicians from Launceston, Tasmania People educated at Launceston Church Grammar School