Roger Michael Steele (born 29 May 1939) is a former Australian politician. He was a

Country Liberal Party The Country Liberal Party of the Northern Territory (CLP) is a centre-right political party in Australia's Northern Territory. In local politics it operates in a two-party system with the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It also contests federal ...

member of the

Northern Territory Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory is the unicameral legislature of the Northern Territory of Australia. The Legislative Assembly has 25 members, each elected in single-member electorates for four-year terms. The voting method f ...

from 1974 to 1987, representing Ludmilla until 1983 and Elsey thereafter. Steele served as Executive Member for Transport and Industry from 1977 to 1978, Minister for Industrial Development and Minister for Transport and Works from 1978 to 1980, Minister for Primary Production and Minister Assisting the Treasurer from 1980 to 1982, and Minister for Primary Production, Minister for Transport and Works and Minister Assisting the Treasurer in 1982, and Minister for Transport and Works and Minister Assisting the Treasurer from 1982 to 1983. He was then

Speaker of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly The Speaker of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly is the presiding officer in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly. Though the office had existed since the creation of the Assembly in 1974, it was given greater legislative force wh ...

from 1984 to 1986. While Speaker, he was a trenchant critic of Chief Minister

Ian Tuxworth Ian Lindsay Tuxworth (18 June 1942 – 21 January 2020) was an Australian politician, who was Chief Minister of the Northern Territory of Australia from 17 October 1984 until his resignation on 10 May 1986. Early life Tuxworth was born on 18 J ...

, and in May 1986 publicly stated that he believed Tuxworth should and would be ousted by caucus, and that he would resign as Speaker if Tuxworth survived. He did not resign when Tuxworth subsequently won a caucus confidence vote, but stepped down when Tuxworth resigned and was replaced as Chief Minister by

Stephen Hatton Stephen Paul Hatton (born 28 January 1948) is an Australian politician, who was Chief Minister of the Northern Territory of Australia from 1986 to 1988. From 1983 until his retirement in 2001, he was MLA for the seat of Nightcliff. He first bec ...

. Elsey was abolished ahead of the 1987 election, and Steele nominated for CLP preselection to contest

Katherine Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria. In the early Christ ...

, essentially the urbanised portion of his old seat. However, he indicated to the preselection committee that he could not guarantee that he would serve a full term if elected. The Opposition Leader, Terry Smith, publicly suggested that Steele had only renominated because this would increase his superannuation. He was one of three incumbent MLAs at that election to be denied preselection by the party's central council; while

Noel Padgham-Purich Cecilia Noel Padgham-Purich (born 25 December 1927) is a former Australian politician. She was a member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 1977 to 1997, representing Tiwi until 1983, Koolpinyah until 1990 and Nelson thereafte ...

and Denis Collins were re-elected as independents, Steele retired and publicly campaigned for his endorsed successor, Mike Reed.

References

1939 births Living people Members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly Country Liberal Party members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly Speakers of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia {{Australia-politician-stub