Michael Pengilly

Michael Redding Pengilly (born 13 June 1950) is an Australian politician who is the mayor of Kangaroo Island. [1] He formerly represented the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Finniss from the 2006 election to 2018, representing the Liberal Party.[2]

See also: Climate change denial
Michael Pengilly
Member of the South Australian House of Assembly
for Finniss
In office
18 March 2006 – 17 March 2018
Preceded byDean Brown
Succeeded byDavid Basham
Personal details
Born (1950-06-03) 3 June 1950
Kingscote, Kangaroo Island, South Australia
NationalityAustralian
Political partyLiberal Party (SA)
ResidenceVictor Harbor, South Australia

Career

Pengilly is a resident of Victor Harbor, and first served as the mayor of Kangaroo Island as well as chairman of the SA Country Fire Service Board from 1995 to 2000. He was also the chairman of the Hills Mallee and Southern Regional Health Service Board for 8 years. The 2006 election saw Pengilly elected with a two-party margin of 6.5 percent, 9.1 percent less than under Dean Brown. Pengilly recovered 5.8 percent of the two-party vote at the 2010 election. He was elected mayor of Kangaroo Island for a second term in 2018.

Controversies

Pengilly controversially labelled Prime Minister Julia Gillard a "dog" on social media site Twitter on 24 November 2011, following her successful move to boost her government's numbers in House of Representatives by replacing Harry Jenkins as Speaker with Liberal National Party member Peter Slipper.[3] That put Pengilly at risk of losing Liberal preselection for his seat of Finniss.[4][5] In March the following year he remarked in Parliament that Transport Minister Chloe Fox "ought to be put down, fair dinkum" further jeopardising his preselection chances. The Fox comment was the latest in a series of at least four gaffes.[6]

Pengilly has also supported the prospect of seal culling in South Australia in defense of the interests of the fishing industry. In 2015 he said of the animals:

"Common sense dictates that where seals are way out of control and impacting on fishing, the Government needs to take a common sense approach rather than a foolish, do-nothing situation before (if it’s not happening already) people take the law into their own hands and do it anyway... Seals are in plague proportions, (and they) are not warm and cuddly, but highly invasive, aggressive animals.”[7]

In 2015, Pengilly expressed his support for Oceanic Victor to establish an enterprise similar to Swim with Tuna (which was previously located near Port Lincoln) on and in waters adjacent Granite Island. Pengilly also praised the company's "transparency."[8] Oceanic Victor is directed by Tony Santic of Tony's Tuna International.

Pengilly did not re-contest his seat at the 2018 election.[9]

Pengilly was elected mayor of the Kangaroo Island Council in November 2018, defeating incumbent Peter Clements.[10] He has identified himself as an anti-science climate change denier.[11]

References
  1. Council, Kangaroo Island (1 November 2019). "Michael Pengilly". Kangaroo Island Council. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  2. "Michael Pengilly MP State Member for Finniss". Liberal Party. Archived from the original on 28 February 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  3. Martin, Sarah (24 November 2011). "Liberal MP Michael Pengilly retracts PM 'dog' tweet". Herald Sun. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  4. Owen, Michael (25 November 2011). "South Australian MP Michael Pengilly likely to lose pre-selection". The Australian. Archived from the original on 24 November 2011. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  5. Martin, Sarah (26 November 2011). "New allegations dog MP Pengilly". The Advertiser (Adelaide). Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  6. Wills, Daniel (30 March 2012). "Liberal MP for Finniss Michael Pengilly expected to lose preselection". The Advertiser. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  7. Islander, The. "Fur seals taking over - penguins, pelicans, tuna and fish at risk". Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  8. "Community focus on Granite Island". Fairfax Media. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  9. Wills, Daniel (18 January 2017). "Former Liberal leader Isobel Redmond will retire at the 2018 state election". The Advertiser (Adelaide). Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  10. Boisvert, Eugene (11 November 2018). "South Australian council elections see wave of women take control". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  11. https://twitter.com/PengillyMichael/status/1210087554260750337
South Australian House of Assembly
Preceded by
Dean Brown		 Member for Finniss
2006–2018		 Succeeded by
David Basham
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