Richard Mulcahy (Australian politician)

A long-term Canberra resident, Richard Mulcahy entered the Legislative Assembly after becoming concerned with the quality of core services in Canberra – especially the health and education systems.[2]

He is on the record as saying that it should be possible for the people of the ACT to enjoy quality core services without having to endure a heavy tax burden. He was committed to efficiency in Government and introduced several pieces of legislation to provide taxation relief for the people of Canberra.[3] Richard Mulcahy was committed to working hard in the electorate. By the ACT Government's own admission he had produced more case work on behalf of constituents than any other non-government member.

Originally from Tasmania, Richard Mulcahy has enjoyed a highly successful career in business and other roles before entering politics. He was the Principal Personal Assistant to the former Premier of Victoria, the late Sir Rupert Hamer and has also advised a number of other Parliamentary figures.[4] He also served in Chief Executive roles with the Confectionery Manufacturers of Australia as well as other industry organisations including the advertising, hotel, agriculture, and, most recently, lighting industries. At one time he was a Director (Dental Programs- Worldwide) of the William Wrigley Jr. Company based in Chicago, USA. He also held appointments with the US Government and later the Canadian Government.[5] Richard Mulcahy also served on the staff of former Liberal Senator, the late Senator The Hon John Marriott, then the late Hon Michael Hodgman MP (father of Tasmania's current Premier) and Sir Max Bingham QC, former Leader of the Opposition in Tasmania.

Richard Mulcahy is also Adjunct Professor in the Business, Economics and Law Faculty at the University of Queensland, a position he has held since 2004,[6] and is a Life Member Keeper of the Quaich conferred at Blair Castle, Scotland, by the Earl of Elgin in 2002.

He was also awarded the Centenary Medal by the Australian Government in 2003.[7]

Mulcahy entered the Legislative Assembly in 2004 as a Member of the Liberal Party. A strong campaign resulted in the highest vote of all Liberal candidates in the electorate of Molonglo. He easily out-polled former Liberal Leader (now Senator) Zed Seselja[8] and was seen instantly by members of the public and media as a candidate for the Liberal leadership. Mulcahy was appointed to the Shadow Treasury position.

In May 2006, Bill Stefaniak replaced Brendan Smyth as the ACT Leader of the Opposition in a coup engineered by Mulcahy. In return Richard Mulcahy was appointed as Deputy Leader – a position he held until another party room coup in November 2007.[9]

Throughout his time in the Liberal Party serious tensions existed between two factions – those loyal to former Leader Brendan Smyth, whose leadership had seen the party crash to a devastating defeat in the 2004 ACT election, and those loyal to Mulcahy.

In December 2007, Richard Mulcahy was removed from the front bench on the basis of unsubstantiated allegations made against him that were later dismissed in a Court judgement handed down in February 2008. He responded angrily and contemptuously at the behaviour of his colleagues and was expelled from the Parliamentary Party at the behest of the Smyth led faction. The expulsion was unanimous, with former Mulcahy supporters Seselja and Dunne supporting his removal. He subsequently resigned from the lay Liberal Party to serve as an Independent.[10][11] Several days afterwards, the then Liberal Leader Bill Stefaniak was deposed and replaced by Seselja.

His departure left the Party with just six seats in the Assembly and in a precarious position ahead of the October 2008 election.[12]

The Liberal Party infighting and unpleasantness associated with the conduct of Leader Smyth and Steve Pratt, a Smyth acolyte, was blamed for the Party's poor showing at the 2008 ACT Election. While Mulcahy did not come close to regaining his seat,[13] the Liberals were not able to claim it back - rather an unheralded Greens candidate was elected.

During his time in the Legislative Assembly, Richard Mulcahy served as Shadow Treasurer and Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Heritage, Environment and Water, Territory-owned Corporations, Ageing, Arts, Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and Chair of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts.

Mulcahy failed to retain his seat at the election campaign.[14] After his expulsion in 2007 he had remained in the Assembly as a Member of the eponymous Richard Mulcahy Canberra Party, but his aim of contesting the next election as a new force in ACT politics proved to be over ambitious.