Eric Reece | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Reece in 1973 | |
| 32nd Premier of Tasmania | |
| In office 26 August 1958 – 26 May 1969 | |
| Deputy | John Dwyer Roy Fagan |
| Preceded by | Robert Cosgrove |
| Succeeded by | Angus Bethune |
| Constituency | Darwin/Braddon |
| In office 3 May 1972 – 31 March 1975 | |
| Deputy | Merv Everett Bill Neilson |
| Preceded by | Angus Bethune |
| Succeeded by | Bill Neilson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1909-07-06)6 July 1909 |
| Died | 23 October 1999(1999-10-23) (aged 90) Hobart, Tasmania |
| Nationality |  Australian |
| Party | Labor Party |
| Spouse | Alice "Lal" Hanigan |
Eric Elliott Reece,AC (6 July 1909 – 23 October 1999) wasPremier of Tasmania on two occasions: from 26 August 1958 to 26 May 1969, and from 3 May 1972 to 31 March 1975. His 13 years as premier remains the second longest in Tasmania's history, second to onlyRobert Cosgrove. Reece was the first Premier of Tasmania to have been born in the 20th century.
Born in the small Tasmanian town ofMathinna, Reece joined the Australian Workers' Union in 1934, having that year obtained a job at a copper mine after four years' unemployment. From 1935 to 1946 he was in charge of the AWU's West Coast District organisation.
Reece attempted to enter theHouse of Representatives for theDivision of Darwin at the federal elections of1940 and1943, but failed both times. In 1943, his successful opponent was DameEnid Lyons.
On 23 November 1946, Reece was elected to theTasmanian House of Assembly, representing the state seat of Darwin. He would represent this seat, renamedBraddon in 1955, until his retirement in 1975. Straight away he was appointed to the cabinet led bySir Robert Cosgrove, and over the next 12 years he held various portfolios, including the Ministry of Mines, the Ministry of Housing, and the Ministry of Lands and Works. These roles he combined with the federal presidency of the Labor Party between 1952 and 1955.
Reece became leader of the state Labor Party, and hence Premier, in 1958 after Cosgrove's resignation.
Unexpectedly, Reece lost the premiership in 1969, when the ALP was narrowly defeated by the Liberal Party led byAngus Bethune. This ended 35 years of uninterrupted Labor government in Tasmania. The Liberals had gained a one-seat majority in the House of Assembly by forming a coalition with former SpeakerKevin Lyons, who had founded his ownCentre Party. Nevertheless, the period of non-Labor rule ended when Lyons quit the coalition, forcing Bethune back to the polls in 1972.[1] Reece and the Labor Party regained control in a landslide win. This was as much a personal victory as a political one, since Reece himself topped the poll in Braddon with 35.4%, still a record for an individual candidate in that electorate. As of 2016 he remains the last person to make a comeback as Premier of any Australian state after losing the position.
Well known for his staunch support of Tasmania'sHydro Electric Commission and its power development schemes on theGordon River, Reece acquired as a result the nickname 'Electric Eric'.[2] In 1972, he controversially approved the flooding ofLake Pedder in Tasmania'ssouth west, which proceeded despite a determined protest movement and a blank cheque offer from Prime MinisterGough Whitlam to preserve the Lake Pedder area. Reece refused Whitlam's offer, stating that he would 'not have the Federal Government interfering with the sovereign rights of Tasmania.'[3]
Reece was quoted as saying:
There was a National Park out there, but I can't remember exactly where it was ... at least, it wasn't of substantial significance in the scheme of things. The thing that was significant was that we had to double the output of power in this state in 10 years in order [to] supply the demands of industry and the community. And this was the scheme that looked as though it could do a greater part of [the] job for us.[4]
For a while during the 1970s, Reece combined his duties as Premier with a return to the ALP's federal presidency. On 31 March 1975 he resigned as premier and retired from politics; by this stage, the party had introduced a mandatory retirement age of 65. To this day Reece remains one of the few Australian state politicians who never spent a day on the backbench. He spent his entire 28-plus years in the House of Assembly as minister (1946–1958), premier (1958–1969 and 1972–1975) or opposition leader (1969–1972).
Despite being no longer involved with day-to-day state politics after 1975, Reece continued to make occasional public appearances. The most famous of these was when he took part in the December 1982 rally atQueenstown in support of theOrganisation for Tasmanian Development. On this occasion he marched with the incumbent Liberal PremierRobin Gray (a great and self-confessed admirer of his, despite the two men's political differences) in support of theGordon-below-Franklin dam[5] He died on 23 October 1999 at the age of 90.
Green, Roger (1981)Battle for the Franklin Sydney: Australian Conservation Foundation and Fontana BooksISBN 0-00-636715-1 – specifically pp 26–38 for an extended interview as to his views of theLake Pedder issue.
Koshin, Jillian (2009) 'Electric Eric. The Life and Times of Eric Reece an Australian State Premier' Bokprint and Maribyrnong PressISBN 978-0-9806157-3-9 (Paperback), 978-0-980157-4-6 (Hardback)
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Premier of Tasmania 1958–1969 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Leader of the Opposition inTasmania 1969–1972 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Premier of Tasmania 1972–1975 | Succeeded by |
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| International | |
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| National | |
