Peter James Andren
AM (28 August 1946 – 3 November 2007) was an Australian politician. He was an independent 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 set out in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia.
...
from March 1996 until October 2007, representing the electorate of
Calare, New South Wales.
Biography
Peter Andren was born in
Gulargambone,
New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
, and attended
Normanhurst Boys High School and
Macquarie University
Macquarie University ( ) is a Public university, public research university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the Sydney metropolitan area. ...
, Sydney. He was a teacher, television reporter, presenter and producer and radio and television news editor with
Prime Television and
2GZ before entering politics.
In the
1996 election, he stood for election in Calare. He was not only displeased with the quality of candidates in the field to succeed longtime
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
David Simmons, but felt that rural Australia was losing its voice in Canberra.
[ It was initially thought that Simmons' retirement gave the Nationals a chance to take the seat. However, owing partly to his name recognition (Prime's service area covered most of the electorate), Andren won the seat after Labor's preferences flowed overwhelmingly to him, taking 63 percent of the two-candidate vote. He held the seat without serious difficulty in the next three elections; his two candidate-preferred vote of over 75 per cent in ]2001
The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
made Calare the second-safest seat in Australia.
He attempted to implement changes to politicians' superannuation, involving giving members the opportunity to opt out of the parliamentary scheme. He introduced a Private Member's Bill
A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in wh ...
to this extent, which failed to pass through either house. He had been an active opponent of genetically modified crops
Genetically modified crops (GM crops) are plants used in agriculture, the DNA of which has been modified using genetic engineering methods. Plant genomes can be engineered by physical methods or by use of '' Agrobacterium'' for the delivery of ...
, and was involved with the Standing Committee on Primary Industries and Regional Services. Andren was known to join with the other two rural independent members, Bob Katter and Tony Windsor
Antony Harold Curties Windsor, (born 2 September 1950) is a former Australian politician. Windsor was an Independent (politician), independent member for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of electoral district of Tamworth, Tamworth ...
, in raising regional issues with the Parliament and media. He was also a vocal critic of Australia's policy on asylum seekers
An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country, and makes in that other country a formal application for the right of asylum according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 14. A pers ...
, and the Iraq War
The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...
.
A redistribution of electoral boundaries in 2006 effectively cut Calare in half and reduced Andren's notional majority, leading to speculation that he might have stood for the neighbouring seat of Macquarie, which now included former Calare cities Bathurst and Lithgow, at the next election. On 29 March 2007, he instead made an announcement that he would stand down from Calare to contest a New South Wales seat in the Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
—a race that it was widely believed he would win.[
However he subsequently announced on 10 August 2007 that he had been diagnosed with ]pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...
and that "the diagnosis and available interventions to treat this cancer are not very encouraging." Due to his illness, he had to abandon his candidacy for a seat in the Senate and he saw out his term as member for Calare until the parliament was dissolved on 17 October, before the 2007 election. He died less than three weeks later, on 3 November, survived by his partner Valerie Faber, his two sons Greg and Josh and his ex-wife Jenny Price. His funeral at Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Orange was attended by an estimated 600–1000 people.
Andren's seat of Calare was won by John Cobb for the National Party at the 2007 election.
On 9 June 2008 Andren's appointment as a Member 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 ...
was posthumously announced. The award cited his services in Parliament and to rural and regional Australia.
After his death, the Orange Aboriginal Medical Service set up a $5,000 medical scholarship named in Andren's honour.
References
External links
Official Website
from ''The Parliament of Australia''
Cancer Announcement
– Official Press Release
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andren, Peter
1946 births
2007 deaths
Australian television producers
Australian television journalists
Australian television presenters
Independent members of the Parliament of Australia
Macquarie University alumni
Members of the Australian House of Representatives
Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Calare
Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Australia
Members of the Order of Australia
People educated at Normanhurst Boys' High School
Australian MPs 1996–1998
Australian MPs 1998–2001
Australian MPs 2001–2004
Australian MPs 2004–2007