Pamela Ann Buchanan (née Slocombe; 6 February 1937 – 31 March 1992) was an Australian politician who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of

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between 1983 and 1992. She represented the Labor Party for the majority of her time in parliament, and was a minister in the Lawrence government, but resigned to sit as an

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in 1991.

Biography

Buchanan was born in Perth to Doris May (née Brittain) and Walter Scott Slocombe. She attended Perth Girls' High School, and later went on to Perth Technical College. From 1967 to 1976, she was a preschool administrator in Roebourne, in the state's north-west, where she also ran an

adult education Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained educating activities in order to gain new knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ralph G. ''The Pr ...

centre for Aboriginals. A member of the Labor Party from 1976, from 1980 to 1982 Buchanan was an assistant in the Karratha office of Peter Dowding, a member of the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

for North Province and also a future

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. Later president of the party's Wickham branch, she ran for the seat of Pilbara at the 1983 state election, winning with 58.77% of the vote. She replaced the retiring Liberal member, Brian Sodeman, who had held the seat since

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

. Buchanan increased her majority to 64.67% at the 1986 election, after which she was made a government

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. At the 1989 election, Buchanan successfully transferred to the newly recreated seat of Ashburton, with her replacement in Pilbara,

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, retaining that seat for Labor.Black and Prescott (1997), p. 15. The re-elected Dowding government persisted only until February 1990, when it was replaced by the Lawrence government following Dowding's forced resignation. New premier

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 ...

elevated Buchanan to the ministry as Minister for Works and Services and Minister for Regional Development. She was also made assistant minister to Lawrence in her capacity as Minister for Aboriginal Affairs. However, the regional development portfolio was abolished in December 1990, and Buchanan lost her remaining portfolios in February 1991, as part of a ministerial reshuffle prompted by an internal

spill motion In Australian politics, a leadership spill (or simply a spill) is a declaration that the leadership of a parliamentary party is vacant and open for contest. A spill may involve all or some of the leadership positions (leader and deputy leader in ...

. Jeff Carr and Gavan Troy were also removed as ministers, with Carr consequently resigning from parliament. Buchanan herself resigned to sit as an independent on 1 February 1991, before the new ministry was sworn in four days later. She consequently became the first woman in the

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to sit as an independent.

Liz Constable Elizabeth Constable (born 2 December 1943) is an Australian former politician who was an independent member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, first representing the electorate Floreat after winning it at a 1991 by-election follo ...

was the first woman elected to parliament ''standing'' as an independent, winning a by-election in July 1991. Buchanan resigned due to ill health just over a year later, in March 1992, and died at the end of that month, aged 55. She had married George Maitland Buchanan in April 1957, with whom she had two daughters. Her resignation prompted a by-election in Ashburton, which was won by the Labor candidate Fred Riebeling.

References

, - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Buchanan, Pam 1937 births 1992 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia Independent members of the Parliament of Western Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Politicians from Perth, Western Australia 20th-century Australian politicians 20th-century Australian women politicians Women members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly