Warren Errol Truss, (born 8 October 1948) is a former Australian politician who served as the 16th
Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
The deputy prime minister of Australia is the deputy chief executive and the second highest ranking officer of the Australian Government. The office of deputy prime minister was officially created as a ministerial portfolio in 1968, althoug ...
and
Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development in the
Abbott Government and the
Turnbull Government. Truss served as the federal leader of the
National Party of Australia
The National Party of Australia, also known as The Nationals or The Nats, is an List of political parties in Australia, Australian political party. Traditionally representing graziers, farmers, and regional voters generally, it began as the Au ...
(The Nationals) between 2007 and 11 February 2016 when he announced his decision to retire and not contest the
2016 federal election.
He was the member of the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
for
Wide Bay from the
1990 election until his retirement in May 2016. Following the merger of the Queensland branches of the Nationals and
Liberals, Truss was re-elected in 2010 for the
Liberal National Party.
Early life
Truss was born in the region of
Kingaroy
Kingaroy is a rural town and locality in the South Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia. The town is situated on the junction of the D'Aguilar and the Bunya Highways, north-west of the state capital Brisbane and south west of Gympie. As a ...
, Queensland. He attended
Concordia Lutheran College
, motto_translation = Without the Lord, all is in vain
, established = 1946
, type = Independent, co-educational, day & boarding
, denomination = Lutheran
, slogan =
, principal = Anton Prinsloo
, key_people =
, chaplain ...
in
Toowoomba
Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 C ...
. He was a bean farmer before he entered politics. He was chair of the Sugar Coast Burnett Regional Tourism Board and a councillor of the
Shire of Kingaroy
The Shire of Kingaroy was a local government area in the South Burnett region of Queensland, Australia, about northwest of the capital, Brisbane. The shire covered an area of , and existed as a local government entity from 1912 until 2008, when ...
1976–90.
He was Chairman of Kingaroy Shire Council from 1983 to 1990.
Political career
Truss's first attempt at a parliamentary seat was in the Queensland state parliament as the Nationals candidate at the
1988 Barambah by-election, triggered by the retirement of former premier
Joh Bjelke-Petersen
Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen (13 January 191123 April 2005), known as Joh Bjelke-Petersen, was a conservative Australian politician. He was the longest-serving and longest-lived premier of Queensland, holding office from 1968 to 1987, during ...
. However, Truss lost in an upset to the
Citizens Electoral Council
The Australian Citizens Party (ACP), formerly the Citizens Electoral Council of Australia (CEC), is a minor political party in Australia affiliated with the international LaRouche Movement which was led by American political activist and conspir ...
candidate
Trevor Perrett
Trevor John Perrett (born 2 August 1941 in Kingaroy, Queensland) is a former Australian politician. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 1988 to 1998, representing the electorate of Barambah. Perrett was elected at th ...
, who later joined the National Party.
Parliament
Truss was elected to the safe National seat of Wide Bay at the
1990 election. He was a member of the Opposition Shadow Ministry 1994–96.
With the
Liberal/National Coalition
The Liberal–National Coalition, commonly known simply as "the Coalition" or informally as the LNP, is an political alliance, alliance of Centre-right politics, centre-right political parties that forms one of the two major groupings in Politic ...
defeating the
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...
at the
1996 election, Truss was appointed Deputy Leader of the House 1997–98,
Minister for Customs and Consumer Affairs 1997–98, and Minister for Community Services 1998–99. He was promoted to the
John Howard
John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the s ...
cabinet and served as
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry 1999–2005.
[
]
Nationals leadership
In June 2005 John Anderson John Anderson may refer to:
Business
*John Anderson (Scottish businessman) (1747–1820), Scottish merchant and founder of Fermoy, Ireland
* John Byers Anderson (1817–1897), American educator, military officer and railroad executive, mentor of ...
announced his intention to resign as National Party Leader. Deputy Leader Mark Vaile
Mark Anthony James Vaile (born 18 April 1956) is a former deputy prime minister of Australia and former leader of the National Party of Australia. Vaile is currently a non-executive director of a number of public listed corporations.
Early li ...
was elected the new Leader, and Truss was elected Deputy Leader. In the reshuffled ministry following Anderson's resignation Truss became Minister for Transport and Regional Services.
In 2006, following the AWB oil for food scandal, Truss and Vaile swapped portfolios, with Truss becoming Minister for Trade and Vaile taking the Transport and Regional Services portfolio until the defeat of the Liberal/National Coalition government at the 2007 election.[
After the election, Mark Vaile resigned as National Party Leader, citing the party's need for "generational renewal". With some reluctance,][ Truss nominated for the leadership, and was elected as federal leader of the Nationals on 3 December 2007.
In 2008, Coalition leader ]Malcolm Turnbull
Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia.
Turnbull grad ...
appointed Truss as Shadow Minister for Trade, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. He retained that portfolio after 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 ...
became Coalition leader in late 2009. Following the 2010 election, Truss became Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. At this election, Truss was elected for the Liberal National Party, which had been formed from the 2009 merger of the two non-Labor parties' Queensland branches. However, he continued to sit as a National, and remained the Nationals' federal leader.
Deputy Prime Minister
Truss retained his seat in the 2013 Federal election, in which the Coalition was elected to a strong majority government. On 18 September, Truss was sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister, per a longstanding agreement between the Liberals and Nationals. The leader of the Nationals has ranked second in all but two non-Labor governments since the Coalition was first formed in 1923.
Truss remained Deputy Prime Minister after Turnbull deposed Abbott in a 2015 leadership spill. On 11 February 2016 Truss announced his decision to retire from politics at the 2016 federal election and immediately resigned as Nationals leader and Deputy Prime Minister. Barnaby Joyce
Barnaby Thomas Gerard Joyce (born 17 April 1967) is an Australian politician who served as the 17th deputy prime minister of Australia under Malcolm Turnbull from 2016 to 2018 and under Scott Morrison from 2021 to 2022. He was the leader of the ...
was elected as leader and was sworn as the Deputy Prime Minister. Truss also resigned from cabinet and returned to the backbench.
Truss's leadership of the Nationals was considered steady, albeit rarely visible. Despite being the number-two man in the government, Truss was relatively unknown; only one in five Australians were familiar with him. He lifted the party's representation in the House of Representatives from ten seats in 2007 to 15 seats in 2013.
Honours and awards
On 1 January 2001, Truss was awarded the Centenary Medal
The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or go ...
for "service as Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry".[It's an honour entry – Centenary Medal – 1 January 2001](_blank)
Citation: For service as Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
In 2014, the South Burnett Regional Council
The South Burnett Region is a local government area in the South Burnett district of Queensland, Australia.
Origins
This Local Government was created in March 2008 as a result of the report of the Local Government Reform Commission released in ...
named their Kingaroy Chambers the "Warren Truss Chamber" in recognition of Truss's time as Mayor of the former Kingaroy Shire.
Truss was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...
in the 2019 Australia Day Honours
The 2019 Australia Day Honours are appointments Australian honours system, to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by Australian citizens. The list was announced on 26 January 2019 by the Governor General of Australia, Pet ...
for "eminent service to the Parliament of Australia, particularly in the areas of trade, transport, agriculture, and rural and regional development".
References
External links
Warren Truss official website
Electoral Division of Wide Bay (Qld) The Hon Warren Truss MP
Warren Truss maiden speech 15 May 1990 Hansard p522
Lost (TV Series 2004–2010) - IMDb
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Truss, Warren
1948 births
20th-century Australian politicians
21st-century Australian politicians
Abbott Government
Australian monarchists
Companions of the Order of Australia
Deputy Prime Ministers of Australia
Government ministers of Australia
Leaders of the National Party of Australia
Liberal National Party of Queensland members of the Parliament of Australia
Living people
Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Wide Bay
Members of the Cabinet of Australia
National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia
People from Kingaroy
People from Maryborough, Queensland
Recipients of the Centenary Medal
Turnbull Government