Product Code Database
Eric Elliott Reece, AC (6 July 190923 October 1999) was Premier of Tasmania on two occasions: from 26 August 1958 to 26 May 1969, and from 3 May 1972 to 31 March 1975. His 13 years as premier remains the second longest in Tasmania's history, second to only Robert Cosgrove. Reece was the first Premier of Tasmania to have been born in the 20th century.
On 23 November 1946, Reece was elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly, representing the state seat of Darwin. He would represent this seat, renamed Braddon in 1955, until his retirement in 1975. Straight away he was appointed to the cabinet led by Robert Cosgrove, and over the next 12 years he held various portfolios, including the Ministry of Mines, the Ministry of Housing, and the Ministry of Lands and Works. These roles he combined with the federal presidency of the Labor Party between 1952 and 1955.
Unexpectedly, Reece lost the premiership in 1969, when the ALP was narrowly defeated by the Liberal Party led by Angus Bethune. This ended 35 years of uninterrupted Labor government in Tasmania. The Liberals had gained a one-seat majority in the House of Assembly by forming a coalition with former Speaker Kevin Lyons, who had founded his own Centre Party. Nevertheless, the period of non-Labor rule ended when Lyons quit the coalition, forcing Bethune back to the polls in 1972. Bethune Memorial , Stateline (Tasmanian edition) (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), 27 August 2004. Reece and the Labor Party regained control in a landslide win. This was as much a personal victory as a political one, since Reece himself topped the poll in Braddon with 35.4%, still a record for an individual candidate in that electorate. As of 2016 he remains the last person to make a comeback as Premier of any Australian state after losing the position.
Well known for his staunch support of Tasmania's Hydro Tasmania and its power development schemes on the Gordon River, Reece acquired as a result the nickname 'Electric Eric'.Millwood, Scott. Whatever Happened to Brenda Hean? Crows Nest, NSW offers some details of his autocratic style of dealing with opposition In 1972, he controversially approved the flooding of Lake Pedder in Tasmania's south west, which proceeded despite a determined protest movement and a blank cheque offer from Prime Minister Gough Whitlam to preserve the Lake Pedder area. Reece refused Whitlam's offer, stating that he would 'not have the Federal Government interfering with the sovereign rights of Tasmania.' Lake Pedder 30th Anniversary, Dimensions in Time (ABC TV), 10 June 2002.
Reece was quoted as saying:
For a while during the 1970s, Reece combined his duties as Premier with a return to the ALP's federal presidency. On 31 March 1975 he resigned as premier and retired from politics; by this stage, the party had introduced a mandatory retirement age of 65. To this day Reece remains one of the few Australian state politicians who never spent a day on the backbench. He spent his entire 28-plus years in the House of Assembly as minister (1946–1958), premier (1958–1969 and 1972–1975) or opposition leader (1969–1972).
Koshin, Jillian (2009) 'Electric Eric. The Life and Times of Eric Reece an Australian State Premier' Bokprint and Maribyrnong Press (Paperback), 978-0-980157-4-6 (Hardback)
|
|
