Graham Kierath
{{short description|Australian politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2016}}
{{Use Australian English|date=November 2016}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = The Honourable
| name = Graham Kierath
| honorific-suffix =
| image =
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| caption =
| office = Western Australian Minister for Labour Relations
| term_start = 16 February 1993
| term_end = 28 July 1998
| predecessor = Yvonne Henderson
| successor = Cheryl Edwardes
| premier = Richard Court
| constituency_MP1 = Riverton
| parliament1 = Western Australian
| term_start1 = 4 February 1989
| term_end1 = 10 February 2001
| predecessor1 = New creation
| successor1 = Tony McRae
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1950|07|21|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Subiaco, Western Australia
| birthname = Graham Donald Kierath
| citizenship = Australian
| party = Liberal Party
| spouse =
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}}
Graham Donald Kierath (born 21 July 1950) is a former Australian politician who served 11 years in the Parliament of Western Australia. He is best known for his five-year term as Western Australian Minister for Labour Relations.
Political career
Kierath was elected to the seat of Riverton in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly at the 1989 Western Australian election,{{cite web | url=http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/Parliament%5CMemblist.nsf/WAllMembersFlat/Kierath,+Graham+Donald?opendocument | title=Hon. Graham Donald Kierath MLA | publisher=Parliament of Western Australia | accessdate=28 December 2013}} representing the Liberal Party.
After the election of Richard Court as Western Australian Premier in 1993, Kierath was appointed as Minister for Labour Relations. Soon after taking on the role, he initiated the first of what were to become three waves of industrial relations changes. The first wave involved legislation to allow employees to directly negotiate workplace contracts with employers. Those changes attracted fierce criticism from the labour and union movements, with stickers being produced reading "Kierath's a Wanker".{{cite news | title=Wins, Losses In Workplace | work=The West Australian | date=28 November 1996 | author=Pryer, Wendy}}{{cite news | title=Kierath - from villain to man of the moment. | work=The Australian | date=19 January 2001 | author=Egan, Colleen}} In 1993, Kierath introduced the Workplace Agreements Act 1993, the most significant and fundamental reform of the Western Australian industrial relations system since the enactment of the original Conciliation and Arbitration Act in 1900.{{cite hansard |jurisdiction=Western Australia: Legislative Assembly |title=Workplace Agreements Bill. Second Reading |url=http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/hansard/hansard1870to1995.nsf/vwMainBackground/19930708_Assembly.pdf/%24File/19930708_Assembly.pdf |date=8 July 1993 |page_start=1450|page_end=1451|speaker=Graham Kierath|position=Minister for Labour Relations}}
In 1997 Kierath introduced anti-smoking regulations that banned smoking in all enclosed workplaces from mid-1998. While the regulations were criticised by the hotel industry, the Australian Medical Association recognised him with the "AMA President's Award".{{cite news | title=Smoking ban sets benchmark for States. | work=The Australian | date=23 July 1997 | author=Price, Matt}}{{cite web|url=https://ama.com.au/award-winners-ama |title=President's Award |publisher=The Australian Medical Association |accessdate=29 December 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140208054336/https://ama.com.au/award-winners-ama |archivedate=8 February 2014 |df=dmy-all }}
Later career
Following his unexpected defeat at the 2001 election, after a 10.16% swing against him, Kierath remained closely involved with the WA Liberal Party and retained his political ambitions.{{cite news|last=Hickey|first=Phil|title=Graham Kierath banned from road for 10 months|url=http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/graham-kierath-banned-from-road-for-10-months/story-e6frg14l-1226397539135|accessdate=2014-01-28|newspaper=Sunday Times (Perth)|date=2012-06-16}} He unsuccessfully contested the preselection for his former seat at the 2005 state election but was the Liberal Party candidate in the seat of Alfred Cove, where he was beaten by the sitting independent Janet Woollard. He failed to gain preselection for the electorate of Murdoch in 2008.{{cite news|title=Tips and rumours|url=http://www.crikey.com.au/2008/08/20/tips-and-rumours/?wpmp_switcher=mobile|accessdate=2014-01-28|newspaper=Crikey|date=2008-08-20}} He became president of the party's Tangney division.