Alexander Ashley Lewis ( 22 January 1931 – 9 May 2016), known as Sandy Lewis, was an Australian politician who represented the

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 ...

n Legislative Assembly seat of Blackwood from 1972 until 1974, and one of the two Legislative Council seats for

Lower Central Province The Lower Central Province was a two-member electoral province of the Western Australian Western Australian Legislative Council, Legislative Council, located in the South West (Western Australia), South West and Great Southern (Western Australia), ...

from 1974 until 1989. He was a member 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 ...

Family

Lewis was born in

Glen Osmond Glen Osmond is a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of Burnside which is in the foothills of the Adelaide Hills. It is well known for the road intersection on the western side of the suburb, where the South Eastern Freeway (National ...

, a suburb of

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, to Lancelot Lewis, a managing director of Goldsbrough Mort in Adelaide and brother of

Essington Lewis Essington Lewis, CH (13 January 18812 October 1961) was a prominent Australian industrialist. He was the Director-General of the Department of Munitions during World War II. Biography Early life Essington Lewis was born in Burra, South Austr ...

, and Grace Laidlaw OBE. His older brother, Tom, briefly served as

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from 3 January 1975 until 23 January 1976. He was educated at St Peter's College and at the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

, before moving to Western Australia in October 1952. He initially worked as a jackeroo, trade cadet and farm contractor, before taking up farming at Kojonup in 1955. On 21 May 1955, he returned to Adelaide to marry Patricia Symons, with whom he had one daughter Bronwyn Mary in 1959. In March 1978, he and his wife divorced, and nine months later, he married Patricia Wright in Claremont. He died on 9 May 2016 in South Australia.Malcolm Quekett, (12 May 2016), Former MP Sandy Lewis a champion of WA farming, ''The West Australian''
Retrieved 16 May 2016

Career and politics

In 1961 he founded and was the principal director of PS Agencies and in 1967 became the first individual winner of the John Lynn Memorial Prize for outstanding contribution to the farm machinery industry. Lewis became active in

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politics, becoming president of the Mobrup branch near Kojonup, and then president for the

Division of Forrest The Division of Forrest is an Australian Electoral Division in Western Australia. Geography Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the ...

. At a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

on 16 December 1972, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Blackwood. When this seat was abolished at the 1974 election, he successfully transferred to a

seat in the Legislative Council. From 1977 until 1984, with a brief break in 1982–1983, Lewis served as secretary to the Parliamentary Liberal Party, and in 1983–1984, to the Shadow Cabinet following the defeat of the Liberal government. Additionally, he was a member of the Joint House Committee for the entire period, and chaired a Select Committee into national parks in 1980–1981, into cultural and recreational facilities in 1982, and into the Conservation and Land Management Bill 1984 (during which he became an honorary Royal Commissioner). In March 1986, he resigned from the Liberal Party over a disagreement with leader

Bill Hassell William Ralph Boucher Hassell, best known as Bill Hassell, (born 6 June 1943) is an Australian former Liberal Party politician who was Leader of the Opposition in Western Australia during the mid-1980s. He was a member of the Western Australian ...

over the shadow cabinet's relationship with Select Committees. He designated himself an "independent Liberal" but rejoined the party in October 1986. He was rewarded with a shadow secretary role with special responsibility for party liaison, the campaign committee and special projects in December 1986, and served on select committees inquiring into the SEC advanced coal purchase from Western Collieries Ltd and the state funding of Aboriginal programs in 1988. With the abolition of his seat at the 1989 election, he nominated for Liberal preselection for a winnable seat 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 sepa ...

region, but failed in his bid, and exited from political life at the election. He engaged actively in the local community, serving on the Bushfire Brigades Committee as well as football and aero clubs. From 1977, he was also state secretary of the Farm Machinery Dealers' Association, becoming its national secretary in 1979.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Sandy 1931 births Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council University of Adelaide alumni 2016 deaths People educated at St Peter's College, Adelaide Politicians from Adelaide Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Western Australia