Terry White

White was first elected to parliament on 1 September 1979, at a by-election for the seat of Redcliffe following the retirement of incumbent National Party member Jim Houghton.[4]

A small-l liberal, White was not at home with the conservative bent of the National-led government of Joh Bjelke-Petersen, even though he was technically a government backbencher. He advocated seeking senior status for the Liberals in the coalition with the National Party in order to ensure what he described as "responsible democratic government". In Queensland, the Nationals were traditionally the dominant partner in the non-Labor coalition, a reverse of the situation in the rest of Australia. White fell in with a group of MPs known as the "ginger group". This group disagreed with Bjelke-Petersen and Liberal leader Llewellyn Edwards on a number of issues, including the system of electoral malapportionment in use within Queensland at the time, reducing the power of the National Party in the cabinet, and removing the controversial street march laws in place at the time.[5] Despite many of these views being in opposition to Edwards' views and government policy, White was appointed as the minister for Welfare Services in December 1980, just fifteen months after entering parliament.[4][6]

Despite his appointment to cabinet, White continued to have frequent differences of opinion with Edwards. Matters came to a head on 4 August 1983, when Liberal MLA Ian Prentice moved a motion to bring forward debate on the establishment of a public accounts committee to monitor government spending. While this had been approved by a resolution at a Liberal party convention, it was bitterly opposed by Bjelke-Petersen and Edwards was not keen to have it debated, for fear of destabilising the coalition. A division was called, and White and the rest of the "ginger group" crossed the floor to vote with the Labor opposition in favour of the motion. White argued that the principle of cabinet solidarity, which would normally compel him to vote against the motion, did not apply in this case because there was no official government policy on the matter.[5]

This explanation did not sit well with Edwards, who promptly sacked White as Welfare Minister, with Bjelke-Petersen's vocal and public support.[5] In response, White called a spill motion in the partyroom to declare the party leadership open. Edwards was unable to defeat this motion, and declined to renominate for the party leadership. White was elected his successor.[7]

Immediately after the spill, White and his new deputy, fellow "ginger group" member Angus Innes, made their way to Bjelke-Petersen's office in the Executive Building to inform him of the new leadership arrangements within the Liberal Party, as well as the need to revise the coalition agreement. Bjelke-Petersen kept the pair waiting outside his office for an hour, in full view of the media, while working on a way to bypass White and the Liberal Party altogether.[6] Bjelke-Petersen had previously stated that he would not work with Innes, and when he finally admitted White and Innes to his office, he informed them that he would not be appointing White as the deputy premier, as was customary under the existing coalition arrangement.[5]

In response, White pulled the Liberals out of the Coalition, leaving Bjelke-Petersen seven seats short of a majority. He tore up a copy of the press release issued by Bjelke-Petersen explaining his actions, a move that was interpreted by the media at the time as White symbolically tearing up long-standing coalition agreement.[8] White then led the Liberal MLAs to the crossbench. However, he never actually had the opportunity to lead the Liberals on the floor of the legislature, because Bjelke-Petersen had some days earlier convinced the governor to indefinitely adjourn Parliament. Bjelke-Petersen was therefore able to govern for the nine weeks until the 1983 election, free from parliamentary scrutiny and the threat of a no confidence motion.[5]

At the election, Bjelke-Petersen targeted his campaign mainly at right-leaning Liberal voters. He suggested that under White, the Liberals might throw their support behind Labor. The Nationals scored a resounding victory, winning 41 seats in the 82-member parliament, one short of a majority.[9] The Liberals lost 14 seats, leaving them with only eight MLAs. Of the 18 seats that were contested by both a National and a Liberal, the Nationals out-polled the Liberals in 15, and of the "ginger group", only White and Innes retained their seats.[5] They faced the prospect of further blows when Bjelke-Petersen openly invited Liberal MLAs to defect to the Nationals.[10] Two Liberals, Don Lane and Brian Austin, took up his offer, giving the Nationals an outright majority and leaving only six remaining Liberals. At the time, White remarked that "The scent of ministerial leather is a powerful aphrodisiac."[11] That spelled the end of White's leadership, and William Knox was elected to lead the remnants of the party on 3 November. White's term as leader of the Liberal Party had lasted less than three months.[5]

White remained in parliament as a Liberal backbencher. He remained a popular MP – for instance, at the 1986 election he swept every booth in his seat. He managed to stay out of the limelight until the Fitzgerald Inquiry. During 1988, he was subjected to numerous depositions about discussions that took place during his time in cabinet. While he was ultimately cleared of wrongdoing, the numerous lawyers and accountants he had to employ ate into his parliamentary salary and nearly brought down his pharmacy business. At the 1989 state election, White was defeated in the massive Labor wave that swept through Queensland.[8]