John Francis "Mick" Cotter (born 21 March 1935) is an Australian retired politician. Born in

Yarram, Victoria Yarram (formerly Yarram Yarram) is a town in the Shire of Wellington, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, located in the southeast of Gippsland. At the , the population of the town was . Nearby towns include Welshpool, Victoria, Welshpool, ...

, he was a pastoralist,

miner A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face (mining), face; cutt ...

prospector Prospector may refer to: Space exploration * Prospector (spacecraft), a planned lunar probe, canceled in 1962 * ''Lunar Prospector'', a NASA spacecraft Trains * Prospector (train), a passenger train operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Western ra ...

and contractor before entering politics. Having moved to

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, he was elected to Coolgardie Shire Council in 1965. In 1974 he left the council to run as the

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 ...

candidate for 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. ...

seat of

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie-Boulder (or just 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 referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder as the surroundi ...

, losing to long-serving

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

Fred Collard Frederick Walter Collard (6 June 1912 – 1 December 1986) was an Australian politician and trade unionist. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and served in the House of Representatives from 1961 to 1975, representing the W ...

. He sought a rematch against Collard in 1975, this time winning. He held the seat until his defeat in 1980. Cotter had a long-standing involvement with the

Royal Flying Doctor Service The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), commonly known as the Flying Doctor, is an aeromedical retrieval service in Australia and the largest of its kind in the world. It is a non-profit organisation that provides urgent and emergency medica ...

, serving on the national council for 26 years including a period as federal president.

References

Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Kalgoorlie Members of the Australian House of Representatives Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia 1935 births Living people Australian MPs 1975–1977 Australian MPs 1977–1980 {{Australia-Liberal-politician-stub