David Prowse (politician)

David John Prowse (born 10 March 1941), a former Australian politician, was the first Speaker of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly, serving between 1989 and 1992. Elected at the 1989 general election to the inaugural multi-member single electorate unicameral Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly representing, initially, the No Self-Government Party, Prowse then sat as an independent, before joining the Liberal Party.

David Prowse
Member of the ACT Legislative Assembly
In office 4 March 1989 – 15 February 1992 Serving with Berry, Collaery, Connolly, Duby, Follett, Grassby, Humphries, Jensen, Kaine, Kinloch, Maher, Moore, Nolan, Stefaniak, Stevenson, Wood, Whalan
Succeeded by	Multi-member single constituency
1st Speaker of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly
In office 11 May 1989 – 15 February 1992
Succeeded by	Roberta McRae
Personal details
Born	10 March 1941 Cairns, Queensland
Nationality	Australian
Political party	No Self-Government Party Independents Group Liberal Party
Children	6
Alma mater	Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
Occupation	Electrical engineer, naturopath, politician
Military service
Allegiance	Australia
Branch/service	Royal Australian Air Force
Rank	Squadron Leader
[1][2]

Biography

Born in Cairns, Queensland, Prowse was educated at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology where he graduated with an Associate Diploma in Electrical Engineering and worked as an electrical fitter and mechanic, and later as an electrical engineer with the Royal Australian Air Force. Prowse rose through the Air Force ranks to become an Engineer Officer (Instrumentation) before retiring with the rank of Squadron Leader after twenty years service.[2] Prowse retrained as a naturopath and rose to political prominence as an anti-water fluoridation activist.[3]

Prowse was elected on a ticket of No Self-Government, he was ultimately successful, along with three other candidates of the Party. On 3 December 1989, Prowse, together with Duby and Maher formed the Independents Group. However, Prowse left this group on 31 July 1990 and sat out the remainder of his term as a member of the Liberal Party.[2] At the first meeting of the Legislative Assembly, held on 11 May 1989, some eight weeks after the election, following the swearing in of the elected members, the next item of business was the election of a Presiding Officer. Following a ballot of members of the Assembly, Prowse was elected as the Presiding Officer. The Assembly subsequently resolved that the title of the Presiding Officer be Speaker of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly.[4] Prowse held this title during the term of his first Assembly;[2] and did not seek re-election at the 1992 general election.[5]

During his term in office, Prowse travelled to Thailand where he was bitten by a holiday resort monkey; and later told a press conference he feared that he might have contracted the rabies virus.[6]

References

1. Louttit, Anne; Louttit, John (1989). Who's Who in Canberra. C.E.S.L. Support Services Pty Ltd. p. A-158. ISSN 1032-710X.
2. "Members of the First Assembly" (PDF). ACT Legislative Assembly. September 1990. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
3. Hull, Crispin (16 May 2009). "House of farce no more". Crispin Hull. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
4. "Debates of the Legislative Assembly of the Australian Capital Territory" (PDF). Hansard. ACT Legislative Assembly. 11 May 1989. pp. 4, 9. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
5. "List of candidates". 1992 election. ACT Electoral Commission. 1992. Archived from the original on 30 September 2009. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
6. Uhlmann, Chris (8 July 2013). "Spirit of the 'House of Farce' lives on". The Drum. ABC News 24. Retrieved 16 December 2013.