Warren Errol Truss (born 8 October 1948), is an Australian politician, and leader of the National Party in the Commonwealth Parliament1. He has been a National Party member of the Australian House of Representatives since March 1990, representing the Division of Wide Bay, Queensland.
He was born in Kingaroy, Queensland, and was a farmer before entering politics. He was chair of the Sugar Coast Burnett Regional Tourism Board and a councillor of the Shire of Kingaroy 1976-90.2
Truss was a member of the Opposition Shadow Ministry 1994-96, and was Deputy Leader of the House 1997-98. He was Minister for Customs and Consumer Affairs 1997-98 and Minister for Community Services 1998-99. He was Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, with a seat in the Cabinet, from July 1999 to June 2005.2
In June 2005 John Anderson announced his intention to resign as National Party Leader. Deputy Leader Mark Vaile was elected the new Leader, and Truss was elected Deputy Leader. In the reshuffled ministry following Anderson's resignation Truss became Minister for Transport and Regional Services. In September 2006, following the AWB oil for food scandal, Truss and Vaile swapped portfolios, with Truss becoming Minister for Trade and Vaile taking the Transport and Regional Services portfolio until November 2007.2
In the 2007 Federal Election, Truss was re-elected to the seat of Wide Bay with a 3.87% swing toward the Labor Party.3 In light of the Coalition's defeat in the Election, Mark Vaile declined to continue in his role as National Party Leader, and Warren Truss announced his intention to run for the leadership of the Party, seemingly in contrast to Vaile's call for generational change.4 Truss was elected leader by the party on 3 December 2007.5
Truss is mentioned in Exodus, Part 1, an episode of the television series Lost. The character Sawyer gets deported from Australia after getting into a bar fight with Truss.6
On 22 September 2008, Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull announced Truss as Shadow Minister for Trade, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government.7
References
| Persondata |
| NAME |
Truss, Warren Errol |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES |
|
| SHORT DESCRIPTION |
Australian politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH |
8 October 1948 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH |
Kingaroy, Queensland, Australia |
| DATE OF DEATH |
Living |
| PLACE OF DEATH |
|
|