Mike Pratt (politician)
{{Short description|Australian politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}}
{{Use Australian English|date=September 2016}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix =
| name = Mike Pratt
| honorific-suffix =
| image =
| constituency_MP = Adelaide
| parliament = Australian
| majority =
| predecessor = Chris Hurford
| successor = Bob Catley
| term_start = 6 February 1988
| term_end = 24 March 1990
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1948|2|10}}
| birth_place = Blyth, South Australia
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = Australian
| spouse =
| party = Liberal
| relations =
| children =
| residence =
| alma_mater =
| occupation = Farmer, marketing executive
| profession =
| religion =
| signature =
| website =
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}}
Michael Philip Pratt (born 10 February 1948) is an Australian former politician. A member of the Liberal Party, he was elected to the House of Representatives at the 1988 Adelaide by-election. He served until his defeat at the 1990 federal election.
Early life
Pratt was born on 10 February 1948 in Blyth, South Australia. Prior to entering politics he worked as a farmer and from 1984 as a marketing executive with the Norwood Football Club. He joined the Burra branch of the Young Liberals in 1970.{{cite news|url=https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22handbook%2Fallmps%2FPI4%22|title=Biography for PRATT , Michael Philip|publisher=Parliament of Australia|access-date=24 March 2021}}
Parliament
Pratt was elected to the House of Representatives at the 1988 Adelaide by-election, which followed the resignation of the incumbent Australian Labor Party (ALP) member Chris Hurford to take up a diplomatic post.{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/101974694|title=9pc swing to Liberals|newspaper=The Canberra Times|date=7 February 1988}} In parliament he served on the standing committee on the Parliamentary Library. He was defeated for re-election at the 1990 federal election by the ALP candidate Bob Catley.
Later activities
In 1992, Pratt announced that he would contest the Division of Sturt at the next federal election as an independent.{{cite news|url=https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:%22chamber/hansards/1992-12-17/0086%22|title=Matters of public interest: South Australian Liberal Party|first=Chris|last=Schacht|work=Hansard|publisher=Parliament of Australia|access-date=24 March 2021}} This brought him into conflict with Senator Amanda Vanstone, who alleged that he had never intended to win the seat of Adelaide and was in fact using the by-election as a "dummy run" for the state seat of Norwood.{{cite news|url=https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22chamber%2Fhansards%2F1992-12-17%2F0093%22|title=Matters of public interest: Mr Michael Pratt|work=Hansard|publisher=Parliament of Australia|access-date=24 March 2021}}
Pratt later returned to the Liberal Party and supported Vickie Chapman's bid for the state leadership. In 2013, it was reported that he was handing out brochures for independent senator Nick Xenophon.{{cite news|url=https://indaily.com.au/opinion/2013/07/26/the-outsider-probing-adelaides-obsessions-8/|title=The Outsider: Probing Adelaide's obsessions|publisher=InDaily|date=26 July 2013|access-date=24 March 2021}} He operated a Liberal Party campaign bus during the 2019 federal election.{{cite news|url=https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/liberal-campaign-bus-attacking-bill-shorten-papered-over-in-boothby/news-story/d94e12ab22674cd3e48b45e3f261a73f|title=Liberal campaign bus attacking Bill Shorten papered over in Boothby|newspaper=The Advertiser|date=15 May 2019|access-date=24 March 2021}}
His daughter, Penny Pratt was elected as the Liberal member for Frome at the 2022 South Australian state election.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{start box}}
{{s-par|au}}
{{s-bef | before= Chris Hurford }}
{{s-ttl | title= Member for Adelaide | years=1988–1990}}
{{s-aft | after= Bob Catley }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pratt, Mike}}
Category:Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia
Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Adelaide
Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives
Category:Australian MPs 1987–1990
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