Robert Frank JohnsonOAM (born 17 October 1943) is an Australian former politician who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1993 to 2017. He was elected as a member of the Liberal Party, and served as a minister in the government of Colin Barnett from 2008 to 2012, but resigned from the party in April 2016 to sit as an independent[1]
. He was defeated at the 2017 election.
Political career
Local politics
Johnson was born in London, England. At the age of 35, he was elected as a councillor for the London Borough of Sutton and subsequently became Mayor.[2]
Soon after emigrating to Australia in 1988, he was elected as a councillor to the City of Wanneroo in 1991. The following year he was elected Mayor.[2]
Western Australian Parliament
Johnson was elected as the member for Whitford in 1993 and, following a re-distribution of boundaries, was re-elected for the seat of Hillarys in 1996.[3]
From December 1999 until February 2001, Johnson served in the CourtCoalition government, as Minister for Works, Services, Citizenship and Multicultural Interests.[2] He became Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Road Safety with the return to power of the Coalition in September 2008.[3]
Johnson supports reintroducing the Death Penalty, in 2007 he lobbied the Western Australia liberal party to adopt a policy on capital punishment.[4]
In his first two years as minister in the new Barnett government, Johnson introduced 16 bills into the Legislative Assembly.[5] Many of them were controversial and high-profile,[6] including increasing the impounding period of a vehicle for anyone convicted of a "hoon" offence.[7] Other measures were to ensure motorists with a blood alcohol reading of 0.08 or above lost their licence immediately at the roadside,[8] that all revenue from speed and red light cameras would go to road safety projects,[9] and a proposal for Australia's first online sex offender register.[10]
Investigations following a major bushfire in the Perth hills in February 2011, with the loss of 71 homes,[11][12] and another in the Margaret River area, resulted in severe criticism of Johnson, and he was removed from the Emergency Services portfolio.[13]
In May 2012, federal Liberal MP for Canning, Don Randall, attacked Johnson in Federal Parliament, labelling him bumbling, weak and incompetent.[6] In turn, Johnson called for Randall to be sacked over the misuse of travel expenses.[14]
