Alexander Rodney Douglas (born 24 November 1958) is a former Australian politician. He was a

National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...

member of the

Queensland Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly h ...

from April to September 2006, representing the electorate of Gaven. He was elected for the same seat as a Liberal National Party member in 2009, and re-elected in 2012. In late 2012, he left the Liberal National Party to sit as an independent, and subsequently joined the United Australia Party, rebranded as the

Palmer United Party The United Australia Party (UAP), formerly known as Clive Palmer's United Australia Party and the Palmer United Party (PUP), is an Australian political party formed by mining magnate Clive Palmer in April 2013. The party was deregistered by ...

(PUP), in June 2013, serving as its state leader. He resigned from the Palmer United Party in August 2014 and again sat as an independent for the final months of his term, but was defeated at the 2015 state election.

Family and early career

Born in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, Douglas comes from a political family: his great-grandfather was John Douglas,

Premier of Queensland The premier of Queensland is the head of government in the Australian state of Queensland. By convention the premier is the leader of the party with a parliamentary majority in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The premier is appointed ...

from 1877 to 1879, and his grandfather was Henry Douglas, member for

Cook Cook or The Cook may refer to: Food preparation * Cooking, the preparation of food * Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food * Cook (profession), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry * C ...

from 1907 to 1915. Douglas is related to the current (12th)

Marquess of Queensberry Marquess of Queensberry is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. The title has been held since its creation in 1682 by a member of the Douglas family. The Marquesses also held the title of Duke of Queensberry from 1684 to 1810, when it was i ...

. His uncle is federal MP

Bob Katter Robert Bellarmine Carl Katter (born 22 May 1945) is an Australian politician who has served as the member of parliament (MP) for the Queensland division of Division of Kennedy, Kennedy since 1993 and Father of the Australian House of Represent ...

. Educated at

St Joseph's College, Gregory Terrace St Joseph's College, Gregory Terrace (colloquially known as Gregory Terrace, Terrace or GT) is an independent Catholic primary and secondary day school for boys, located in Spring Hill, an inner suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Found ...

, and the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

, Douglas was a

general practitioner A general practitioner (GP) is a doctor who is a Consultant (medicine), consultant in general practice. GPs have distinct expertise and experience in providing whole person medical care, whilst managing the complexity, uncertainty and risk ass ...

and medical officer before entering parliament, and was deputy chair of the Queensland Division of General Practice. He was also on the Central Council of the

Political career

In April 2006, Douglas was elected to the

Legislative Assembly of Queensland The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly ...

in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

for the previously

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 ...

-held seat of Gaven, representing the National Party. He was appointed Deputy Opposition Whip in August, but at the 2006 state election in September he was defeated by Labor candidate

Phil Gray Philip Gray (born 2 October 1968) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer. A striker, Gray won 26 caps for his country and played for ten professional clubs, his transfer fees totalling £1,475,000. Northern Ireland won every game Phi ...

, the same candidate he had defeated earlier that year. Douglas contested the 2007 federal election as the National Party candidate for Fadden, but was defeated by the Liberal candidate

Stuart Robert Stuart Rowland Robert (born 11 December 1970) is an Australian former politician who served as Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business from 2021 to 2022, following his appointment as Minister for Government Service ...

. The 2009 state election saw Douglas pitted against Gray for the third consecutive time. On this occasion, Douglas, running under the banner of the newly formed Liberal National Party, narrowly emerged as the victor, reclaiming his old seat of Gaven. On 16 June 2011, Douglas was appointed as the first non-government chair of the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee. On 29 November 2012, following a dispute with LNP Premier

Campbell Newman Campbell Kevin Thomas Newman (born 12 August 1963) is an Australian former politician who served as the 38th Premier of Queensland from 26 March 2012 to 14 February 2015. He served as the member for Ashgrove in the Legislative Assembly of Que ...

over his removal from membership of parliamentary committees, Douglas resigned from the LNP to sit as an independent. On 30 April 2013, he joined the newly created United Australia Party, and became the Queensland leader of the party (quickly renamed the

) in June 2013. Douglas resigned as leader in August 2014 to protest against his lack of involvement in the preselection of candidates for the

2015 Queensland state election The 2015 Queensland state election was held on 31 January 2015 to elect all 89 members of the unicameral Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The centre-right Liberal National Party (LNP), led by Premier Campbell Newman, attempted to win a seco ...

. At the same time, he announced he was quitting the party as well, and would once again sit as an independent. Party founder and federal leader

Clive Palmer Clive Frederick Palmer (born 26 March 1954) is an Australian billionaire businessman and politician. He has iron ore, nickel, and coal holdings. Palmer owns many businesses such as Mineralogy, Waratah Coal, Queensland Nickel at Townsville, t ...

, himself a Queenslander, countered that Douglas had been in talks to merge with

Katter's Australian Party Katter's Australian Party (KAP) is an agrarian populist political party in Australia that advocates for agrarian socialist economic policies and conservative social policies. It was founded by Bob Katter, an independent and former National ...

, led by his uncle.Kym Agius (11 August 2014)
"Palmer United Party Queensland leader Alex Douglas quits amid claims of 'jobs for the boys'"
– ABC News. Retrieved 11 August 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas, Alex 1958 births Australian general practitioners Australian people of English descent Australian people of Scottish descent Independent members of the Parliament of Queensland Liberal National Party of Queensland politicians Living people Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly United Australia Party (2013) politicians People educated at St Joseph's College, Gregory Terrace Politicians from Brisbane National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Queensland University of Queensland alumni People from the Gold Coast, Queensland 21st-century Australian politicians