Ian Milne Dixon Cameron (born 8 March 1938) is an Australian politician. He was a National Country Party member of 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. ...

, representing the electorate of Maranoa. Born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Cameron moved to

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

where he was a farmer and grazier. He was a

Shire of Tara The Shire of Tara was a local government area in the Darling Downs region of Queensland, Australia. The shire, administered from the town of Tara, covered an area of , and existed as a local government entity from 1912 until 2008, when it amal ...

councillor from 1971 to 1980 and had been president of the Young Country Party from 1967 to 1968 and a member of the National Party Management Committee from 1976 to 1980. Cameron was elected to the House of Representatives at the 1980 federal election. He opposed the return of

Uluru Uluru (; ), also known as Ayers Rock ( ) and officially gazetted as UluruAyers Rock, is a large sandstone monolith. It outcrop, crops out near the centre of Australia in the southern part of the Northern Territory, south-west of Alice Spri ...

to its

traditional owners Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...

in 1985, responding "give 'em

" in a parliamentary debate on the issue. In 1986, in debate on a women's affirmative action bill, Cameron said he had "never seen such a wank of a bill in his life", argued for eliminating support for unmarried mothers, that married women should be encouraged to stay home and that men should be paid more than women to facilitate that, adding "They could be making the kitchen a lot more attractive than what they're doing these days". His wife Jill Cameron responded "He's entitled to his view and I'm entitled to mine. I'll speak to him when he gets home." In July 1986, he called for the cancellation of a contract to buy defence helicopters from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in response to American wheat tariffs. He was reported to have been a "staunch supporter" of the

Joh for Canberra The Joh for Canberra campaign, initially known as the Joh for PM campaign, was an attempt by Queensland National Party of Australia, National Party premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen to become Prime Minister of Australia. The campaign was announc ...

push in 1987, and was one of the rebel National Party MPs who were excluded from the federal party room for a period. However, he strongly resisted rumours that his seat of Maranoa might be a path into parliament for

Joh Bjelke-Petersen Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen (13 January 191123 April 2005) was an Australian politician and farmer who served as premier of Queensland between 1968 and 1987, for almost 20 years, as state leader of the National Party (earlier known as the C ...

, declaring after he had been re-endorsed in the face of some opposition that he had "no idea for which seat Joh would be endorsed, but it would not be Maranoa". He was National Party spokesman on housing and construction from April to August 1987 amidst the party divisions, and then became Shadow Minister for Local Government from August 1987 to March 1988. In March 1988, Cameron was arrested on charges of drink-driving, assaulting and resisting police, after he was reported to have kicked a police officer during a drink-driving stop in Brisbane. He was immediately stood down from the shadow ministry, and was later found guilty, convicted, fined and sentenced to a six-month good behaviour bond, with an appeal unsuccessful. Cameron lost National Party preselection to Bruce Scott for the 1990 election, reportedly due to concerns about his behaviour, and retired at the election. Cameron unsuccessfully challenged Sir Robert Sparkes for the presidency of the National Party in 1990 and then returned to farming. He was injured in an industrial accident in August 2014, when a machinery collapse saw him trapped in an underground grain silo for seven hours.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cameron, Ian National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Maranoa Members of the Australian House of Representatives 1938 births Living people Australian MPs 1980–1983 Australian MPs 1983–1984 Australian MPs 1984–1987 Australian MPs 1987–1990