Roger Pescott (born 30 May 1946) is a former Australian diplomat and politician. He was born in Melbourne and graduated with a Master of Arts from the Australian National University in 1970. In 1971 he became a diplomat, with postings to New Delhi (1971–72),

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

(1975–76), Brussels (1976–79) and London (1979–80). He was also a member of the Australian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in 1972 and a member of the 2nd NPT Review Conference in Geneva in 1980. In 1981 he left the diplomatic service to become a managing director. A member of the Liberal Party, he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1985 as the member for Bennettswood, transferring to Mitcham in 1992. Immediately after his election he was appointed Secretary to the Shadow Cabinet, and he quickly rose to the front bench as Shadow Minister for Consumer Affairs and Tourism. In 1989 he moved to Transport and also became Deputy Leader of the Opposition, but in 1990 he lost those roles and was Shadow Minister for Manufacturing Industry and Commerce. Following the 1992 state election, which was won by the

Coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

, Pescott became Minister for Industry Services, serving until 1996. Pescott resigned his seat in 1997, ‘in protest at the undermining, as Pescott saw it, of the power of the Auditor General and a belief the AG would no longer be able to fulfil an independent watchdog role.’. Pescott’s final speech in parliament featured a blistering attack on Premier,

Jeff Kennett Jeffrey Gibb Kennett (born 2 March 1948) is a former Australian politician who was the 43rd Premier of Victoria between 1992 and 1999, and currently a media commentator. He was previously the president of the Hawthorn Football Club, serving ...

who he accused of not listening to advice and not fostering debate within the party room. The seat of Mitcham was lost by the Liberal Party and won by Tony Robinson for the Labor Party. Pescott's resignation from Parliament is widely referenced as the beginning of the end of the Kennett Government. In 1998 Pescott became chairman of Environinvest Ltd. Pescott was declared bankrupt in September 2010 after Enviroinvest Ltd. went into liquidation. At the time of his bankruptcy, Pescott owed ‘millions of dollars… to secured financiers’. https://amp.smh.com.au/business/roger-pescotts-tools-of-trade-20110206-1aii5.html

References

1946 births Living people Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Australian diplomats Politicians from Melbourne {{Australia-Liberal-politician-stub