Michael Richard "Mitch" Williams (born 27 June 1953) is a farmer and former deputy leader of the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia. He resigned from the Liberals and was elected to the safe Liberal seat of MacKillop in the state's south east at the 1997 election as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

, but he re-joined the Liberals in 1999. He retained the seat as a Liberal in 2002 and represented it until his retirement in 2018.

Political career

Williams was a member of the Liberal Party when he resigned in 1997 to run against

Dale Baker Dale Spehr Baker (30 January 1939 – 27 March 2012) was an Australian politician, serving as South Australian Opposition Leader and Leader of the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia from 1990 to 1992. Parliament ...

as an independent in MacKillop, based on Millicent. Williams took advantage of a public backlash against Baker, who was accused of impropriety over a forestry land deal. At the 1997 election, Williams halved Baker's primary vote and was elected on

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 ...

preferences. Williams was one of three conservative crossbenchers whose support kept the Liberal government of

John Olsen John Wayne Olsen AO (born 7 June 1945) is an Australian politician, diplomat and football commissioner. He was Premier of South Australia between 28 November 1996 and 22 October 2001. He is now President of the Federal Liberal Party, Chairma ...

in office after the Liberals lost their previous overwhelming majority. He rejoined the Liberal Party in December 1999, giving the Liberals a majority of one seat until Peter Lewis was expelled from the party in July 2000. Williams was handily re-elected in MacKillop in 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014. Williams was elected unopposed as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party in South Australia on 6 April 2010. On 19 October 2012,

Martin Hamilton-Smith Martin Leslie James Hamilton-Smith (born 1 December 1953) is a former Australian politician who represented the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Waite from the 1997 election until his retirement in 2018. First elected as a candidat ...

announced he would be challenging

Isobel Redmond Isobel Mary Redmond (born 8 April 1953) is a former Australian politician who was the member for the electoral district of Heysen in the House of Assembly from 2002 to 2018. She was the parliamentary leader of the South Australian Division of ...

for the parliamentary leadership of the South Australian Liberal Party, with

Steven Marshall Steven Spence Marshall (born 21 January 1968) is a former Australian politician who served as the 46th premier of South Australia between 2018 and 2022. He was a member of the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia in the ...

challenging Williams for the deputy leadership. A partyroom ballot occurred on 23 October 2012, Redmond retained the leadership by one vote, however Marshall was elected to the deputy leadership after Williams withdrew at the last minute. Williams did not re-contest his seat at the 2018 election.

Political views

In 2014, Williams personally advocated for reform of the Freedom of Information Act. Williams believes that current legislation allows Ministers unprecedented power to block the release of documents outright. He has drawn attention to more progressive legislation implemented in New Zealand as a potential future model for South Australia. Williams believes that the New Zealand analog favours release over suppression, and points out that it assumes that all government documents are in the public interest and fit for release unless proven otherwise. As of September 2014, Williams has not formally presented a call for FoI reform to his party.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Mitch Members of the South Australian House of Assembly Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of South Australia 1953 births Living people Independent members of the Parliament of South Australia 21st-century Australian politicians Farmers from South Australia