Kimberley Maurice "Kim" Chance (16 November 1946 – 22 February 2017) was an Australian farmer and politician who served as a Labor Party member of the

Legislative Council of Western Australia The Western Australian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Western Australia, a state of Australia. It is regarded as a house of review for legislation passed by the Legislative Assembly, the lower house. The two Houses ...

from 1992 to 2009, representing Agricultural Region. He served as a minister in the governments of

Geoff Gallop Geoffrey Ian Gallop (born 27 September 1951) is an Australian academic and former politician who served as the 27th premier of Western Australia from 2001 to 2006. He is currently a professor and director of the Graduate School of Government at ...

and

Alan Carpenter Alan John Carpenter (born 4 January 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th Premier of Western Australia, from 2006 to 2008. From Albany, Carpenter graduated from the University of Western Australia, and worked as a journ ...

between 2001 and 2008.

Early life

Chance was 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 ...

, the son of Hazel Isobel (née Prowse) and Geoffrey Maurice Chance. His uncle, Edgar Prowse, was a Country Party senator. Chance was raised on his father's property at Doodlakine, and then boarded at

Wesley College, Perth Wesley College, informally known as Wesley, is an independent, Day school, day and boarding school for boys and girls (co-ed to Year 6 and boys only Years 7–12), situated in South Perth, Western Australia, South Perth, a suburb of Perth, Wes ...

. He returned to Doodlakine to engage in sharefarming, and later farmed on his own land, initially at Doodlakine and later at Carrabin. Chance served on the executive of the Western Australian Farmers Federation, including as treasurer, and was a state delegate to the National Farmers Federation. He was also a board member of the

Water Authority of Western Australia The Water Authority of Western Australia, also known as WAWA, was a statutory authority of the Government of Western Australia, state government that was responsible for the water supply, sewerage, and main drainage within Western Australia betwe ...

from 1985 to 1992, and a director of the Avon Football Association.Kimberley (Kim) Maurice Chance
Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 24 February 2017.

Politics

Chance joined the Labor Party in 1971. He first stood for parliament at the 1983 federal election, running for 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 ...

in the

Division of O'Connor The Division of O'Connor is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in the States and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is one of Western Australia's three rural seats, and o ...

safe seat A safe seat is an electoral district which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combination of both. With such seats, there is very little chance of a seat changing h ...

for the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

). Chance contested three more federal elections over the following decade (in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

, and

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

), but lost to

Wilson Tuckey Charles Wilson Tuckey (born 10 July 1935) is an Australian politician who was a member of the House of Representatives from 1980 to 2010, representing the seat of O'Connor in Western Australia for the Liberal Party. He was a minister in the H ...

of the

on each occasion. His share of the vote in O'Connor decreased at every election, both in terms of

first preferences A first-preference is a voter's most-preferred candidate. In certain ranked systems such as first preference plurality, ranked-choice voting (RCV), and the single transferable vote, first preferences for a candidate are considered most important ...

and on the

two-party-preferred In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP), is the result of an opinion poll or a projection of an election result where preferences are distributed to one of the two major parties, the Labor Party and the Liberal/Natio ...

count, although this was consistent with Labor's nationwide trends. At the 1989 state election, Chance ran in second position in Labor's ticket in Agricultural Region. He failed to win election, but in March 1992 filled the

casual vacancy ''The Casual Vacancy'' is a novel written by British author J. K. Rowling, published worldwide by the Little, Brown Book Group on 27 September 2012. It was Rowling's first publication since the ''Harry Potter'' series, her first novel apart fr ...

caused by

Jim Brown James Nathaniel Brown (February 17, 1936 – May 18, 2023) was an American professional American football, football player, civil rights activist, and actor. He played as a Fullback (gridiron football), fullback for the Cleveland Browns of the ...

's retirement. Chance was re-elected as the lead Labor candidate in Agricultural Region at the 1993 state election, and at every subsequent election until his retirement. He was included in the shadow ministry in February 1994, when Ian Taylor replaced

Carmen Lawrence Carmen Mary Lawrence (born 2 March 1948) is an Australian academic and former politician who was the premier of Western Australia from 1990 to 1993, the first woman to become the premier of an Australian state. To date she is the only female p ...

as leader, and served as a shadow minister under two more

opposition leaders Opposition may refer to: Arts and media * ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars * The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band * '' The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Comed ...

(

Jim McGinty James Andrew McGinty (born 22 September 1949) is an Australian former politician. He was a Labor member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1990 to 2009, representing the district of Fremantle. He was Labor Party leader and Lea ...

and

).Hon. Kimberley (Kim) Maurice Chance MLC
Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 24 February 2017. Chance became Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council following Labor's victory at the 2001 state election, and was appointed

Minister for Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

, Minister for Forestry, and Minister for Fisheries in the new ministry. His three portfolios were combined in July 2001, although fisheries was separated out again in March 2005 and given to Jon Ford. Chance also held responsibility for several of Western Australia's regions, subordinate to the Minister for Regional Development. He remained in the ministry until the Labor government's defeat at the 2008 state election, which he did not contest. His term ended in May 2009.

Later life

After leaving parliament, Chance served for periods as chairman of the Australian Landcare Council and chairman of the Western Australian Fishing Industry Council. He also spent time as a food-security consultant in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

, and helped establish a camel dairy in Dandaragan, the first such enterprise in the country."Purely by Chance"
''The West Australian'', 3 February 2016. Retrieved 24 February 2017."Taking a chance on camels"
''The West Australian'', 25 November 2016. Retrieved 24 February 2017. Chance died in February 2017, aged 70."Kim Chance, former WA ALP minister and camel dairy farmer, dies aged 70"
ABC News, 23 February 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2017. He had married Susanne O'Rourke in 1974, with whom he had two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chance, Kim 1946 births 2017 deaths 20th-century Australian farmers Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council People educated at Wesley College, Perth People from the Wheatbelt (Western Australia) 21st-century Australian politicians 20th-century Australian politicians Farmers from Western Australia