Anthony John Crook (born 23 June 1959) is a retired Australian politician. He was the member of the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...

seat of O'Connor for the

National Party of Western Australia The National Party of Australia (WA) Inc, branded The Nationals WA, is a political party in Western Australia. It is affiliated with the National Party of Australia but maintains a separate structure and identity. Since the 2021 state election ...

from the 2010 federal election until August 2013. Crook served as chairman of the Western Division of the

Royal Flying Doctor Service The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), commonly known as the Flying Doctor, is an air medical service in Australia. It is a non-profit organisation that provides emergency and primary health care services for those living in rural, remote an ...

for 10 years until his retirement in 2009. __TOC__

Early life

Crook was born and raised in Merredin in the wheatbelt region, where his family were pioneer farmers in the area. Crook once owned Woolibar station, a

sheep station A sheep station is a large property ( station, the equivalent of a ranch) in Australia or New Zealand, whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and/or meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or sout ...

approximately 45 km south of

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

and sold the business in 2006 to become part of an agricultural consultancy in Kalgoorlie with his brother Brett.

Politics

In the 2007 federal election, Crook stood for the WA Nationals for a

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

seat but was unsuccessful. He also stood for the seat of Kalgoorlie at the 2008 state election, losing to independent John Bowler. Following the redistribution of O'Connor, where the seat lost the

Mid West The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

region and gained the Goldfields-Esperance region, Crook ran against

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

incumbent

Wilson Tuckey Charles Wilson Tuckey (born 10 July 1935) is a former Australian politician who was a member of the House of Representatives from 1980 to 2010, representing the seat of O'Connor in Western Australia for the Liberal Party. He was a minister in ...

at the 2010 election where a

hung parliament A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition (also known as an alliance or bloc) has an absolute majority of legisl ...

resulted. The WA Nationals campaigned as an independent party which would not "report, answer and take direction from (federal Nationals leader)

Warren Truss Warren Errol Truss, (born 8 October 1948) is a former Australian politician who served as the 16th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development in the Abbott Government and the Turnbull Governm ...

". Crook won with 28.85 percent of the primary vote, a swing to the WA Nationals of 19.68 percent, finishing with 53.56 percent of the

two-candidate preferred In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP, ...

vote. Crook campaigned on a platform of a

Royalties for Regions policy Royalties for Regions is a political policy formulated by the National Party in 2008 which involves the redirection of Western Australian state government spending from the major population centres, particularly Perth, into the rural areas of th ...

on a national level, was against the Mineral Resource Rent Tax, and sought these interests in his discussions with the major parties over who would get Crook's

confidence and supply In a parliamentary democracy based on the Westminster system, confidence and supply are required for a ruling cabinet to retain power in the lower house. A confidence-and-supply agreement is one whereby a party or independent members of par ...

vote to form government. Crook stated he would sit as a

crossbencher A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...

advocating the interests of regional Western Australia. "I'm clearly an independent," he stated to reporters. "I can sit on the crossbenches quite comfortably." Later, he added that "

Tony Abbott Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott was born in Londo ...

urged me to consider my position and said to consider that I am a member of the Nationals. But I highlighted to him that although we are a federated body, the WA Nationals are an autonomous political organisation." Crook said he had been disappointed by media coverage of the hung parliament, which counted him as part of the Coalition along with National MPs from east of the

Nullarbor The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of , 'no', and , 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its ...

. "In every news report and press report we see, my number is being allocated in with the Coalition and it shouldn't be," he said. As mentioned above, the WA Nationals, unlike their federal counterparts, were not bound by any federal Coalition agreement. Crook stated that he was open to negotiating with either side to form government. On 6 September Crook declared his support for the Coalition on confidence and supply, but would otherwise sit on the crossbench. On 27 September Crook announced he would not be attending federal National Party of Australia party room meetings. Crook at times did vote for federal Labor government policies in parliament, contrary to the official position of the National Party of Australia. On 2 May 2012 Crook announced that from Tuesday 8 May, he would move from the cross benches to sit with his National Party colleagues. He did not, however, participate in joint Coalition meetings.

Retirement

On 9 April 2013 Crook announced he planned to retire from politics at the forthcoming election citing stress resulting from long-distance travel and separation from his family. At the Australian Federal election held on 7 September 2013, the Western Australian National Party suffered a 3.5% swing against them with the consequent return of the seat to the Liberal Party. The party no longer has representation in Australia's Federal parliament. In early 2016 he was preselected by the Nationals WA to contest the seat of

in the March 2017 state election from the retiring Nationals WA member

Wendy Duncan Wendy Maxine Duncan (née Tonkin; born 7 October 1954) is an Australian politician who was a National Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 2013 to 2017, representing the seat of Kalgoorlie. She was previously a m ...

MLA. Following the 2017 State Election in which Crook was unsuccessful he was appointed the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Racing Club Inc (KBRC). The KBRC is one of the oldest and largest provincial racing clubs in Western Australia; well known for hosting ''The Round''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crook, Tony 1959 births Living people National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for O'Connor People from Merredin, Western Australia Australian pastoralists 21st-century Australian politicians