Neil Leonard Charles Batt (born 14 June 1937),

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n politician, is a former

Tasmanian government The Tasmanian Government is the executive branch of the Australian state of Tasmania. The leader of the party or coalition with the Confidence and supply, confidence of the Tasmanian House of Assembly, House of Assembly, the lower house of the ...

minister,

Deputy Premier A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

and Member of the

Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Tasmanian Legislative Council, Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House, Hobart, Parliament Hou ...

. A member of the Labor Party, he was leader of the party in Tasmania, and

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

from 1986 to 1988.

Early life and education

Batt was born in

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

, and educated at Hobart High School and the

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College (University of Tasmania), Christ College, one of the unive ...

, from which he graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

. He worked as a secondary school teacher from 1960 to 1961, and from 1964 to 1966.

Political career

In 1966, Batt ran as the Labor candidate for Denison in the 1966 federal election, although he was unsuccessful, with the incumbent

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, Adrian Gibson, retaining the seat. Batt was elected to the

on 10 May 1969 at the 1969 state election, representing Denison for the Labor Party. On 3 May 1972, Batt was appointed Chief Secretary and Minister for Transport in

Eric Reece Eric Elliott Reece, AC (6 July 190923 October 1999) was Premier of Tasmania on two occasions: from 26 August 1958 to 26 May 1969, and from 3 May 1972 to 31 March 1975. His 13 years as premier remains the second longest in Tasmania's history, se ...

's cabinet. On 17 April 1974, he was made Minister for Education, with Recreation, the Arts and Federal Affairs being added to his portfolio in 1976. When Doug Lowe became

Premier of Tasmania The premier of Tasmania is the head of the Government of Tasmania, executive government in the Australian state of Tasmania. By convention, the leader of the party or political grouping which has majority support in the Tasmanian House of Assem ...

on 1 December 1977, Batt was appointed

and Treasurer. He was re-elected for Denison at the 1979 state election, but the enforcement of a previously-ignored rule which capped campaign expenditure at $1,500 saw the election of three MHAs (Julian Amos, John Devine and John Green) declared invalid. As a result, a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

was called for February 1980, and all Denison candidates were up for re-election, including Batt who stood down as Deputy Premier and Treasurer until the by-election was held. The ALP held a conference to endorse its candidates for the by-election, and the party's Left faction decided to produce a " how-to-vote" card, endorsing its preferred candidate John Green first, with Batt placed fourth. With the Left faction's perceived snub to Batt, the government sought to negate the effect of the how-to-vote ticket, and settled on the introduction of "

Robson Rotation Robson Rotation is an Australian term for the practice of rotating the order of candidates' names during the printing of the ballot papers for an election, so that the advantage of being listed near the start of the ballot is spread equally amo ...

", a method of printing ballot papers in batches with candidates listed differently to combat the effect of the "

donkey vote In electoral systems which use ranked voting, a donkey vote is a cast ballot where the voter ranks the candidates based on the order they appear on the ballot itself. The voter that votes in this manner is referred to as a donkey voter. Typi ...

". Batt resumed his role as Deputy Premier and Treasurer on 25 February, with responsibility for Finance and Forests. However, on 28 July, Batt announced his resignation from the House of Assembly and the Labor Party to take up a position with the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. Upon the end of his UN posting, Batt worked in private industry, but returned to politics in 1986, when he was re-elected to the House of Assembly for Denison on at the state election on 8 February. On 19 February, he became leader of the Labor Party in Tasmania, serving as

until 14 December 1988. He retired from politics on 13 May 1989.

Honours

In 1991, he was made an Officer of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

for in recognition of service to the Tasmanian Parliament, to politics and to the community.BATT, Neil Charles Leonard
''It's an Honour'' (Australian Government honours database), 10 June 1991.

References

External links

Neil Batt's blog
(Open Forum) {{DEFAULTSORT:Batt, Neil 1937 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Tasmania Deputy premiers of Tasmania Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly Officers of the Order of Australia University of Tasmania alumni Leaders of the opposition in Tasmania Treasurers of Tasmania