Brian Courtice
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Brian William Courtice (born 17 April 1950) is a former Australian politician and trade unionist. He represented the
Division of Hinkler The Division of Hinkler is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. Geography Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Australi ...
in federal parliament from 1987 to 1993 as a member of 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 ...
(ALP). He was expelled from the party in 2005.


Early life

Courtice was born in
Bundaberg Bundaberg is a city in the Bundaberg Region, Queensland, Australia, and is the tenth largest city in the state. Bundaberg's regional area has a population of 70,921, and is a major centre of the Wide Bay–Burnett geographical region. The Bun ...
,
Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...
. His uncle Ben Courtice was an ALP senator and government minister. He was a cane farmer and organiser with the
Australian Workers' Union The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoral and mining industries in the 1880s and currently has approximately 80,000 members. It has exerci ...
(AWU) before entering parliament.


Parliament

Courtice stood for the newly created
Division of Hinkler The Division of Hinkler is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. Geography Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Australi ...
at the 1984 federal election, narrowly losing to National Party candidate
Bryan Conquest Bryan Joseph Conquest (20 July 1930 – 2 January 2018) was an Australian politician. Born in Quilpie, Queensland, he was a managing director and Bundaberg City Councillor before entering politics. In 1984, he was elected to the Australian Hous ...
. He defeated Conquest in a re-match at the 1987 election. He increased his majority at the 1990 election but
Paul Neville Paul Neville may refer to: * Paul Neville (politician) (1940–2019), Australian politician *Paul Neville (musician), British industrial metal guitarist *Paul Neville (actor) Paul Neville may refer to: *Paul Neville (politician) (1940–2019), Aus ...
regained the seat for the Nationals in 1993. He was unsuccessful in an attempt to recapture the seat in 1996. Courtice served as head of the Hawke and Keating Governments' Country Task Force. In 1990, as chair of the ALP caucus primary industries and resources committee, he delivered a report which concluded that the government "had been conned by green groups and would risk future electoral success if it continued to 'appease' them". Courtice publicly supported
Paul Keating Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is an Australian former politician and unionist who served as the 24th prime minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He previously serv ...
against
Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and union organiser who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (A ...
in the June 1991 ALP leadership spill. In 1992, he was a member of the Caucus Joint Working Group on Homosexual Policy in the Australian Defence Force, where he opposed allowing gay people to serve in the military.


Later political involvement

In 1994, Courtice began working in the office of federal resources minister
David Beddall David Peter Beddall (born 27 November 1948) is a former Australian politician. Beddall was born in Manchester, England and was employed by the Commonwealth Bank and was a self-employed commercial finance consultant before he entered parliament ...
, with responsibility for Queensland projects. He unsuccessfully stood against Bill Ludwig for the state secretaryship of the AWU in 1997. He appeared before the Shepherdson Inquiry and publicly accused Ludwig of "orchestrating electoral fraud in Queensland". Courtice was expelled from the ALP in 2005 "on the grounds he had brought it into disrepute". He had been a party member for 32 years. His expulsion came after he leaked party documents to state Nationals MP
Rob Messenger Robert Desmond Messenger (born 26 October 1962) is an Australian politician. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland representing the Electoral district of Burnett. Originally a member of the Queensland branch of the National ...
, which "purportedly exposed the 'siphoning' of $7,000 in branch funds". He had also alleged that his wife Marcia had lost ALP preselection for the state seat of
Bundaberg Bundaberg is a city in the Bundaberg Region, Queensland, Australia, and is the tenth largest city in the state. Bundaberg's regional area has a population of 70,921, and is a major centre of the Wide Bay–Burnett geographical region. The Bun ...
due to a "dirty factional deal". His wife was subsequently sacked from her job as a staffer for Bundaberg MP
Nita Cunningham Junita Irene "Nita" Cunningham (12 February 1939 – 7 February 2015) was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland. She was first elected in 1998 as the member for Bundaberg. A former minister for Local Government and Planning, her ...
and brought an unfair dismissal claim. In the lead-up to the 2007 federal election, Courtice appeared in a
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 ...
election advertisement warning voters against ALP leader
Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...
but denied that this made him a "Labor rat" despite his expulsion from the party in 2005. In response, shadow education minister Stephen Smith described him as "someone who we've known for a long time has been disillusioned, disaffected, distressed and disappointed at his own exit from parliament and public life, and probably bitter". In 2009, Courtice held a press conference with
Liberal National Party of Queensland The Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP) is a major political party in Queensland, Australia. It was formed in 2008 by a merger of the Queensland divisions of the Liberal Party and the National Party. At a federal level and in most other ...
MP Rob Messenger criticising the factionalism of the state ALP. In 2019 he publicly criticised the Queensland ALP government for "stalling" the approval of the
Carmichael coal mine The Carmichael coal mine is a coal mine in Queensland, Australia which produced its first shipment of coal in December 2021. The mine has drawn criticism for its environmental impacts on the Great Barrier Reef, water usage and carbon emissions ...
.


Other activities

Courtice's family property
Sunnyside Sugar Plantation Sunnyside Sugar Plantation is the heritage-listed remains of a former sugar plantation at 94 Windermere Road, Windermere, Bundaberg Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built in s by South Sea Islander labour. It is also known as Dry-rubble B ...
outside of Bundaberg contains the unmarked graves of 29
South Sea Islander South Sea Islanders are the Australian descendants of Pacific Islanders from more than 80 islandsincluding the Oceanian archipelagoes of the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, the Gilbert Islands and New Irelandwho were kidnappe ...
s, who were buried there in the 19th century after being
blackbirded Blackbirding involves the coercion of people through deception or kidnapping to work as slaves or poorly paid labourers in countries distant from their native land. The term has been most commonly applied to the large-scale taking of people ...
. His grandfather bought the property in the 1920s and he grew up hearing stories about burials. The gravesites were eventually found in 2012 and the site was heritage-listed. Courtice has campaigned for greater recognition of South Sea Islanders. He has collected a "large brief of evidence on South Sea Islander slavery, including verbal testimony taken during the 1990s from an elderly Bundaberg resident whose relatives had direct experience with the slave trade". In 2020, in response to Prime Minister
Scott Morrison Scott John Morrison (; born 13 May 1968) is an Australian politician. He served as the 30th prime minister of Australia and as Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia from 2018 to 2022, and is currently the member of parliament (MP) for t ...
's comments about
slavery in Australia Slavery in Australia has existed in various forms from colonisation in 1788 to the present day. European settlement relied heavily on convicts, sent to Australia as punishment for crimes and forced into labour and often leased to private indivi ...
, he said "the majority of Australians don't know our history" and invited Morrison to come to Sunnyside. He also called for the history of South Sea Islanders to be taught in schools.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Courtice, Brian Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Hinkler Members of the Australian House of Representatives 1950 births Living people 20th-century Australian politicians Australian trade unionists Australian farmers People from Bundaberg Trade unionists from Queensland