Brian Courtice
{{short description|Australian politician|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Use Australian English|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix =
| name = Brian Courtice
| honorific-suffix =
| image =
| constituency_MP = Hinkler
| parliament = Australian
| majority =
| predecessor = Bryan Conquest
| successor = Paul Neville
| term_start = 11 July 1987
| term_end = 13 March 1993
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1950|4|17}}
| birth_place = Bundaberg, Queensland
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = Australian
| spouse =
| party = Labor (c. 1973–2005)
| relations = Ben Courtice (uncle)
| children =
| residence =
| alma_mater =
| occupation = Cane farmer, union organiser
| profession =
| religion =
| signature =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
Brian William Courtice (born 17 April 1950) is a former Australian politician and trade unionist. He represented the Division of Hinkler in federal parliament from 1987 to 1993 as a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He was expelled from the party in 2005.
Early life
Courtice was born in Bundaberg, Queensland. His uncle Ben Courtice was an ALP senator and government minister. He was a cane farmer and organiser with the Australian Workers' Union (AWU) before entering parliament.{{cite web|last=Carr|first=Adam|title=Australian Election Archive|work=Psephos, Adam Carr's Election Archive|url=http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia|year=2008|access-date=2008-07-16}}
Parliament
Courtice stood for the newly created Division of Hinkler at the 1984 federal election, narrowly losing to National Party candidate Bryan Conquest. He defeated Conquest in a re-match at the 1987 election. He increased his majority at the 1990 election but Paul Neville regained the seat for the Nationals in 1993. He was unsuccessful in an attempt to recapture the seat in 1996.
Courtice served as head of the Hawke and Keating governments' Country Task Force. In 1990, as chair of the ALP caucus primary industries and resources committee, he delivered a report which concluded that the government "had been conned by green groups and would risk future electoral success if it continued to 'appease' them".{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/122308680|title=Emissions target a hard sell for Kelly|newspaper=The Canberra Times|date=4 September 1990|first=Helen|last=Seidel}} Courtice publicly supported Paul Keating against Bob Hawke in the June 1991 ALP leadership spill.{{Cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/118147762|title=Open slanging match on eve of contest|date=3 June 1991|newspaper=The Canberra Times|first=Tony|last=Wright}} In 1992, he was a member of the Caucus Joint Working Group on Homosexual Policy in the Australian Defence Force, where he opposed allowing gay people to serve in the military.{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/126943715|title=Cabinet to lift services' ban on gays 'within weeks'|newspaper=The Canberra Times|date=19 September 1992|first=Tom|last=Connors}}
Later political involvement
In 1994, Courtice began working in the office of federal resources minister David Beddall, with responsibility for Queensland projects.{{cite news|url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/fear-of-foreigners-is-driving-foes-of-adani/news-story/a89633b79bf7c13780c83d25a318bd80|title='Fear of foreigners' is driving foes of Adani|newspaper=The Weekend Australian|date=5 March 2019|access-date=11 July 2020|first=Jared|last=Owens}} He unsuccessfully stood against Bill Ludwig for the state secretaryship of the AWU in 1997. He appeared before the Shepherdson Inquiry and publicly accused Ludwig of "orchestrating electoral fraud in Queensland".{{cite news|url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/courtice-bitter-and-disaffected-smith-20071115-gdrls1.html|title=Courtice bitter and disaffected: Smith|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=15 November 2007|access-date=11 July 2020}}
Courtice was expelled from the ALP in 2005 "on the grounds he had brought it into disrepute".{{cite news|url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/libs-recruit-expelled-labor-mp-for-ad/news-story/a6ea555c62dd0f38e2c9ddfabeed9a24|title=Libs recruit expelled Labor MP for ad|newspaper=The Australian|date=14 November 2007|access-date=11 July 2020}} He had been a party member for 32 years.{{cite news|url=https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/play-the-game-or-get-the-boot/news-story/7f400663123364544e4e71fb4c18ac70?sv=abb73a4015c4348581cb1a5d13c3a87c|title=Play the game or get the boot|newspaper=The Courier-Mail|date=25 August 2007|access-date=11 July 2020|first=John|last=McCarthy}} His expulsion came after he leaked party documents to state Nationals MP Rob Messenger, which "purportedly exposed the 'siphoning' of $7,000 in branch funds".{{cite news|url=https://www.crikey.com.au/fed2010-hinkler/|title=Electoral Form Guide: Hinkler|publisher=Crikey|access-date=11 July 2020}} He had also alleged that his wife Marcia had lost ALP preselection for the state seat of Bundaberg due to a "dirty factional deal". His wife was subsequently sacked from her job as a staffer for Bundaberg MP Nita Cunningham and brought an unfair dismissal claim.{{cite news|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2005-11-18/mps-sacked-staffer-to-fight-dismissal/742860|title=MP's sacked staffer to fight dismissal|date=18 November 2005|access-date=11 July 2020|work=ABC News}}
In the lead-up to the 2007 federal election, Courtice appeared in a Liberal Party election advertisement warning voters against ALP leader Kevin Rudd but denied that this made him a "Labor rat"{{Cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/liberals-use-exalp-mp-in-new-attack-20071114-1a4d.html|title = Liberals use ex-ALP MP in new attack|date = 14 November 2007}} despite his expulsion from the party in 2005.
In response, shadow education minister Stephen Smith described him as "someone who we've known for a long time has been disillusioned, disaffected, distressed and disappointed at his own exit from parliament and public life, and probably bitter". In 2009, Courtice held a press conference with Liberal National Party of Queensland MP Rob Messenger criticising the factionalism of the state ALP.{{cite news|url=https://www.news-mail.com.au/news/labor-mp-brian-courtice-on-attack/195491/|title=Labor MP Brian Courtice on attack|newspaper=NewsMail|date=26 March 2009|access-date=11 July 2020}} In 2019 he publicly criticised the Queensland ALP government for "stalling" the approval of the Carmichael coal mine.
Other activities
Courtice's family property Sunnyside Sugar Plantation outside of Bundaberg contains the unmarked graves of 29 South Sea Islanders, who were buried there in the 19th century after being blackbirded. His grandfather bought the property in the 1920s and he grew up hearing stories about burials. The gravesites were eventually found in 2012 and the site was heritage-listed. Courtice has campaigned for greater recognition of South Sea Islanders.{{cite news|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-22/australian-south-sea-islanders-blackbirding/9270734|title='Australia's slave trade': The growing drive to uncover secret history of Australian South Sea Islanders|work=ABC News|date=22 December 2017|access-date=11 July 2020|first=Nance|last=Haxton}} He has collected a "large brief of evidence on South Sea Islander slavery, including verbal testimony taken during the 1990s from an elderly Bundaberg resident whose relatives had direct experience with the slave trade".{{cite news|url=http://nationalunitygovernment.org/content/australian-slavery-buried-queensland-mass-grave-0|title=Australian slavery buried in Queensland mass grave|newspaper=Herald-Sun|date=7 December 2012|first=Marty|last=Silk|access-date=11 July 2020}} In 2020, in response to Prime Minister Scott Morrison's comments about slavery in Australia, he said "the majority of Australians don't know our history" and invited Morrison to come to Sunnyside. He also called for the history of South Sea Islanders to be taught in schools.{{cite news|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-12/call-for-scott-morrison-visit-bundaberg-to-learn-about-slavery/12347686|title=Scott Morrison's 'no slavery' comment prompts descendants to invite him to sugar cane regions|first=Kallee|last=Buchanan|work=ABC News|date=12 June 2020|access-date=11 July 2020}}
References
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{{succession box | title=Member for Hinkler | before=Bryan Conquest| after=Paul Neville| years=1987–1993}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Courtice, Brian}}
Category:Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia
Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Hinkler
Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives
Category:Australian trade unionists
Category:People from Bundaberg
Category:Trade unionists from Queensland
Category:20th-century Australian farmers
Category:Farmers from Queensland