William Ralph Boucher Hassell, best known as Bill Hassell, (born 6 June 1943) is an Australian former

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 ...

politician who was

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

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 ...

during the mid-1980s. He was a member of the

Western Australian Legislative Assembly The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Western Australia, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House in the Western Australian capital, Perth. The Legisla ...

seat of Cottesloe between 1977 and 1990.

Early life

After attending

Hale School Hale School is an independent, Anglican day and boarding school for boys, located in Wembley Downs, a western suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Named after the school founded by Bishop Mathew Blagden Hale in 1858, Hale School claims to b ...

, Hassell attended the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

(UWA), graduating in 1965 with a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

. He entered legal practice in 1966.

Political career

In 1977 Hassell was elected to the

seat of Cottesloe, representing the

. He was

between 1984 and 1986 before being replaced by Barry MacKinnon. Hassell's subsequent political career saw him serve as deputy mayor on Nedlands Council and in this capacity in November 2019, he stated that “Although I loathe and detest welcomes to the country, I sit through them patiently when we have these ceremonies.” Seven months later in June 2020, Hassell tendered his resignation as deputy mayor, and from the council.

Political views

Hassell is a monarchist and was a convenor for the

Australians for Constitutional Monarchy Australians for Constitutional Monarchy (ACM) is a group that aims to preserve Australia's current constitutional monarchy, with Charles III as King of Australia. The group states that it is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organisation whose rol ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hassell, Bill 1943 births Living people Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Western Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Leaders of the Opposition in Western Australia University of Western Australia alumni 20th-century Australian lawyers People educated at Hale School Politicians from Perth, Western Australia Australian monarchists Deputy mayors of places in Australia Western Australian local councillors