Raymond Francis Chappell (born 11 September 1942) is a former Australian politician. He was the National Party member for

Northern Tablelands The Northern Tablelands, also known as the New England Tableland, is a plateau and a region of the Great Dividing Range in northern New South Wales, Australia. It includes the New England Range, the narrow highlands area of the New England reg ...

in the

New South Wales Parliament The Parliament of New South Wales is a bicameral legislature in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), consisting of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly (lower house) and the New South Wales Legislative Council (upper house). Each ...

from 1987 to 1999, and served as a minister from 1993 to 1995. Chappell was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

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, the son of Eric and Phyllis Chappell. He was educated in

Armidale Armidale is a city in the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. Armidale had a population of 24,504 as of June 2018. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. It is the administrative centre for the Northern Tablelands, New South ...

in New South Wales at De La Salle College, receiving his Leaving Certificate in 1959. He went on to

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, and was an administration clerk at the

University of New England University of New England may refer to: * University of New England (Australia), in New South Wales, with about 18,000 students * University of New England (United States), in Biddeford, Maine, with about 3,000 students See also *New England Colle ...

from 1960. On 1 February 1964 he married Annette Mary Napier, with whom he would have five children. In 1968, Chappell was elected to Armidale City Council, where he served until 1983. He left the university in 1977 to open a small retail business. During this period he became active in the National Party, holding positions on the state and federal electorate councils. In 1987 he was preselected as the National candidate for the local state seat of

after the local member,

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's Bill McCarthy, had died. Labor endorsed McCarthy's widow Thelma to contest the by-election, and in a tightly fought campaign Chappell emerged the victor with a small 2.5% margin. A subsequent redistribution made Northern Tablelands notionally a National seat. He was comfortably reelected at the 1988 state election amid that year's decisive Coalition victory, actually winning enough primary votes to retain the seat without the need for preferences. He was reelected almost as easily in

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. In 1993 he was appointed Minister for Small Business and Regional Development, but he lost that position when Labor won office in 1995. In 1999, he was challenged for his seat by Richard Torbay, a popular former mayor of Armidale who was running as an

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. In a surprise result, Torbay defeated Chappell convincingly. Chappell lost 18 percent of his primary vote from 1995, taking 34.09% to Torbay's 44.15%. Ultimately, Torbay won with a two-party-preferred margin of 59.37%. After his defeat Chappell retired from politics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chappell, Ray 1942 births Living people National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly People from Armidale