Bruce McDonald | |
|---|---|
| Leader of the Opposition of New South Wales Elections:1981 | |
| In office 1 June 1981 – 12 October 1981 | |
| Deputy | Jim Cameron |
| Preceded by | John Mason |
| Succeeded by | John Dowd |
| Member of theNew South Wales Parliament forKirribilli | |
| In office 1 May 1976 – 28 August 1981 | |
| Preceded by | John Waddy |
| Succeeded by | District abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1935-05-26)26 May 1935 (age 90) |
| Party | Liberal Party |
Bruce John McDonald,AM (born 26 May 1935) is a former Australian politician having held senior positions with theLiberal Party of Australia at theNew South Wales,South Australian and federal levels.
He wasLeader of the Opposition of New South Wales from 1 June to 12 October 1981, when he lost the election toLabor PremierNeville Wran. McDonald lost the parliamentary seat he contested at the same election.[1]
McDonald was born in the Sydney suburb ofDrummoyne in 1935 and was educated atDrummoyne Boys' High School andSydney Technical High School. He studied civil engineering and urban planning atSydney Technical College and theUniversity of Sydney and was later employed as a Cadet Engineer for the Metropolitan Water Sewerage and Drainage Board from 1951 to 1956. Subsequently, he became a Member of the Institute of Engineers and theRoyal Australian Planning Institute.[1] He served as the Foundation President of theUrban Development Institute of Australia from 1962 to 1964 and again from 1974 to 1976, becoming a Life Member.[2]
He was elected for theNew South Wales Legislative Assembly seat ofKirribilli, after he defeated the sitting memberJohn Waddy for preselection before the1976 election. Waddy resigned from the party and contested the seat as an independent, but lost by a large margin to McDonald.[3]
As a member, McDonald served in various Parliamentary committees and Shadow portfolios, including as Shadow Treasurer, Shadow Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, Business and Consumer Affairs and Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee.[2] McDonald was then elected as Deputy Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party, and was Deputy Leader of the Opposition in 1978 under LeaderJohn Mason, until Mason was deposed by a party poll in late May 1981. Elected the party's leader on 1 June 1981, McDonald led the party to its massive defeat at the1981 election. His seat was abolished, and he opted to follow most of his constituents into the newly createdseat of North Shore. However, he was defeated by the independent candidate,North Sydney Council mayorTed Mack.[4] McDonald's defeat in North Shore meant that the 1981 election was the second election in a row in which the sitting Opposition Leader had failed to win a seat in Parliament, afterPeter Coleman in 1978. As McDonald had made an unsuccessful attempt to move to another seat in the Legislative Assembly, it would not be untilLuke Foley in 2015 that a sitting Opposition Leader succeeded in moving to a new seat in the Legislative Assembly.
Following his loss McDonald moved to South Australia, settling in theAdelaide suburb ofKent Town, and becoming a Member of the SA State Executive (1984–1993), Executive Vice-president from 1984 to 1987 and President of Liberal Party of South Australia from 1987 to 1990. He was also made a Life Member of the State Council of SA.[2] Afterwards he switched to federal politics, becoming Federal Vice-president of the Liberal Party of Australia (1998–2005) and a Member of Federal Executive from 1987 to 1990 and 1998–2005.[2] He has recently[when?] moved to NSW Central Coast where he remains active in the NSW Liberal Party.
His brotherDonald McDonald had served as chairman of theAustralian Broadcasting Corporation from 1996 to 2006.
| New South Wales Legislative Assembly | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member for Kirribilli 1976 – 1981 | District abolished |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Deputy Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party 1978 – 1981 | Succeeded by |
| Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party 1981 | Succeeded by | |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Leader of the Opposition of New South Wales 1981 | Succeeded by |
