Ronald Frederick Edwards (born 2 July 1945) is a retired Australian politician. Born in

Perth, Western Australia Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, he was educated at the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

and the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

, after which he became a lecturer in

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

and

industrial relations Industrial relations or employment relations is the multidisciplinary academic field that studies the employment relationship; that is, the complex interrelations between employers and employees, labor union, labor/trade unions, employer organ ...

. In 1983, he was elected to the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Australian Senate, Senate. Its composition and powers are set out in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. ...

as the

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

member for

Stirling Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

, defeating the sitting member,

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

minister

Ian Viner Robert Ian Viner (born 21 January 1933) is an Australian barrister and politician. He was a member of the House of Representatives from 1972 to 1983, representing the Liberal Party, and held senior ministerial office in the Fraser government. V ...

. Edwards held Stirling until his defeat by Liberal candidate

Eoin Cameron Eoin Harrap Cameron (4 January 1951 – 23 June 2016) was an Australian radio personality in Perth, Western Australia and member of the Australian House of Representatives. Until August 2015 he presented the ABC's Perth local station 720 ABC ...

in 1993.

Early life

Edwards was born on 2 July 1945 in West Midland, Western Australia. He was the second of two children born to Daphne () and Norman Frederick Edwards; his father was an

engine driver A train driver is a person who operates a train, railcar, or other rail transport vehicle. The driver is in charge of and is responsible for the mechanical operation of the train, train speed, and all of the train handling (also known as bra ...

. He was educated at

Governor Stirling Senior High School Governor Stirling Senior High School (abbreviated as GSSHS) is a Public school (government funded), public Mixed-sex education, co-educational Selective school, partially selective Secondary education#Australia, high day school, located in Wood ...

, going on to complete a Bachelor of Education at the

in 1966. In 1966, Edwards moved to Canberra to become an administrative trainee with the

Public Service Board The Australian Public Service Commissioner is an official appointed by the Australian Government to take a leading role ensuring the Australian Public Service has adequate organisational and workforce capability. Until 1987 the Australian Public ...

. He then moved to Sydney where he was a research officer with the

Department of Labour and National Service The Department of Labour and National Service was an Government of Australia, Australian government department that existed between October 1940 and December 1972. Scope Information about the department's functions and government fund ...

from 1967 to 1970. He later taught economics and industrial relations at

Sydney Technical College The Sydney Technical College, now part of TAFE NSW, is a technical school established in 1878, that superseded the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts. The college is one of Australia's oldest technical education institutions. History The Sydney M ...

and was then head of social sciences at the New South Wales Department of Technical Education. In 1976, Edwards returned to Western Australia and settled in the suburb of Trigg. He became a lecturer in economics and industrial relations at the Churchlands College of Advanced Education, also completing a Master of Education degree at the

by correspondence in 1983.

Politics

Edwards joined the Australian Labor Party in 1970 while living in Sydney. He served as president of its Manly branch from 1972 to 1976. After returning to Perth he joined the party's Karrinyup branch. Edwards elected to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

at the 1983 federal election, defeating the incumbent

MP and serving government minister

in the seat of

. He retained Stirling at three subsequent elections, although it remained a

marginal seat A marginal seat or swing seat is a constituency held with a small majority in a legislative election, generally one conducted under a single-winner voting system. In Canada, they may be known as target ridings. The opposite is a safe seat. T ...

throughout his tenure. In parliament, Edwards was a member of the

Labor Right The Labor Right (LR), also known as Labor Forum, Labor Unity or simply Unity, is one of the two major political factions within the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It is nationally characterised by social democratic to Third Way economic policies ...

faction and was a "firm supporter of the

Hawke government The Hawke government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Bob Hawke of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1983 to 1991. The government followed the Liberal-National Coalition Fraser government and was su ...

's economic and industrial relations reform agenda". He was deputy speaker and chairman of committees from 1989 to 1993 and was the first person to hold the formal title of "deputy speaker", which was created in 1992. Edwards lost his seat to the

candidate

at the 1993 election; in WA seats that election Labor had suffered badly in swings toward the Coalition, despite a nationwide swing to the ALP.

Leo McLeay Leo Boyce McLeay (born 4 October 1945) is a former Australian politician who served as a Labor Party member of the House of Representatives from June 1979 to October 2004. He was Speaker of the House of Representatives 1989–93. During 1992 h ...

, the incumbent ALP speaker, had resigned his post shortly before the election and it was speculated that Edwards would have succeeded as speaker had he not been defeated.

Later activities

After his defeat, Edwards hosted a talkback radio show on

6PR 6PR, known as 6PR Perth, is a commercial radio station based in Perth, Western Australia. Owned by Nine Entertainment, its focus is on news, talk and sport, and is Perth's only commercial talkback radio station. It commenced broadcasting on 14 ...

. He held board seats on the

Anglican Schools Commission AngliSchools, formerly known as the Anglican Schools Commission (ASC), was established in 1985, following the passage of a resolution by the Anglican Diocese of Perth, Perth Diocesan Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia. It was given the r ...

(1994–2017), the

Perth Mint The Perth Mint is Australia's official bullion mint and wholly owned by the Government of Western Australia. Established on 20 June 1899, two years before Australia's Federation in 1901, the Perth Mint was the last of three Australian colonia ...

(2005–2015), and the

Potato Marketing Corporation of Western Australia The Potato Marketing Corporation of Western Australia (PMC) was a statutory corporation created by the Government of Western Australia's ''Marketing of Potatoes Act 1946''. It was charged with managing the supply of fresh table potatoes in West ...

(2013–2017). Edwards is the co-founder and board member of The Graham (Polly) Farmer Foundation, an educational not-for-profit founded in 1995.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Ron Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Stirling Members of the Australian House of Representatives 1945 births Living people University of Western Australia alumni University of Sydney alumni Australian educators Academic staff of Edith Cowan University People educated at Governor Stirling Senior High School Australian lecturers Australian MPs 1983–1984 Australian MPs 1984–1987 Australian MPs 1987–1990 Australian MPs 1990–1993