Matthew John Birney (born 10 June 1969) was an Australian politician. He was a Liberal member of the

Western Australian Legislative Assembly The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Western Australia, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House in the Western Australian capital, Perth. The Legislat ...

from 2001 to 2008, serving as

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

from 2005 to 2006. Birney was born in Sydney but comes from a family long established on the Western Australian goldfields, and has lived in the regional city of

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area inclu ...

since childhood. His father,

Jack Birney Reginald John "Jack" Birney (26 September 1928 – 1 January 1995) was an Australian politician. Born in Sydney, he was a barrister before entering politics. In 1975, he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Liberal membe ...

, was a Liberal 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 established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Austra ...

from 1975 until his defeat in 1983. The younger Birney was educated at North Kalgoorlie Primary and Eastern Goldfields Senior High School. He was a small business proprietor and a board member of the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Chamber of Commerce and Industry, before being elected to the

for the seat of

in February 2001, defeating

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 ...

incumbent Megan Anwyl. The seat had long been a Labor stronghold; Labor had held it without interruption since 1923 and for all but seven years since its creation in 1901. However, Anwyl only led Birney by eight votes on the first count. Birney defeated Anwyl when the One Nation candidate Guy Hopkins's preferences flowed overwhelmingly to him. He was the first Liberal ever to win Kalgoorlie, and only the third non-Labor member in the seat's 100-year history. He was also the only Liberal challenger to unseat a Labor incumbent in an election which saw Labor elected to a strong majority government. Birney was Shadow Minister for Youth and the Goldfields-Esperance region from 2001 to 2002, Shadow Minister for Police, Goldfields-Esperance and Communication Services from 2002 to 2004 and Shadow Minister for Police, Commerce, Communications and Goldfields-Esperance from 2004 to 2005. Despite his relative lack of experience, Birney was widely seen as one of the Liberal Party's better performers in Opposition during the 2001-2005 parliament. After the Liberal Party under

Colin Barnett Colin James Barnett (born 15 July 1950) is a former Australian politician who was the 29th Premier of Western Australia. He concurrently served as the state's Treasurer at several points during his tenure and had previously held various other p ...

was heavily defeated at the 2005 elections by the Labor government 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 ...

, Barnett returned to the backbench and Birney was elected unopposed as party leader. He had retained Kalgoorlie with a healthy swing of eight percent, making Kalgoorlie a safe Liberal seat. Indeed, he actually won enough primary votes to retain the seat without the need for preferences. After becoming leader, Birney came under consistent criticism from both inside and outside his party. A number of public gaffes, including saying that the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

had a wife and taking his girlfriend on a taxpayer funded tour of Europe, reduced his effectiveness as Opposition Leader. Within the party he was criticised for his lack of inclusiveness in policy formation. These problems led Barnett's former deputy leader, Paul Omodei, to challenge Birney for the leadership. Omodei defeated Birney in a party room ballot held on 24 March 2006. Omodei stated he would consider offering Birney a position on the Liberal front bench, but Birney remained on the back bench thereafter. Birney's demise as WA Liberal leader was later echoed by that of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

n Liberal leader

Iain Evans Iain Frederick Evans (born 18 April 1959) is a former Australian politician. He was leader of the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia from 2006 to 2007. Early life Evans attended Heathfield Primary and subsequently He ...

a year later in 2007. Both Birney and Evans became their party's leaders following its defeat in the respective state elections only to be dumped a year later in a leadership coup. Birney became the first WA Liberal leader who did not lead the party to an election since the party's first leader, Ross McDonald. On 3 January 2008, Birney announced that he would be quitting politics for the corporate world, and duly retired at the 2008 state election. On 24 August 2014, ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, wh ...

'' reported that Birney was considering a return to state politics, quoting him as saying that he had "unfinished business". He said he would not challenge a sitting member for pre-selection. As of April 2019, his return to state politics did not eventuate.

References

External links

Goldfield larrikin's rapid rise up ranksBirney takes stand on schoolyard bulliesInaugural speech (PDF)
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Birney, Matt 1969 births Living people Leaders of the Opposition in Western Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Western Australia People from Kalgoorlie 21st-century Australian politicians