Wayne Goss

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Australian politician

title: "Wayne Goss" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1951-births", "2014-deaths", "20th-century-australian-lawyers", "leaders-of-the-opposition-in-queensland", "members-of-the-queensland-legislative-assembly", "people-from-wide-bay–burnett", "premiers-of-queensland", "university-of-queensland-alumni", "deaths-from-brain-cancer-in-australia", "deaths-from-cancer-in-queensland", "neurological-disease-deaths-in-queensland", "australian-labor-party-members-of-the-parliament-of-queensland"] description: "Australian politician" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Goss" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Australian politician ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
honorific-prefix	The Honourable
name	Wayne Goss
image	Portrait of Wayne Keith Goss, Premier of Queensland.jpg
caption	Official portrait, 1996
office	34th Premier of Queensland
term_start	7 December 1989
term_end	19 February 1996
monarch	Elizabeth II
governor	Walter Campbell
Leneen Forde
deputy	Tom Burns
predecessor	Russell Cooper
successor	Rob Borbidge
office1	Minister for Economic and Trade Development
term_start1	7 December 1989
term_end1	19 February 1996
predecessor1	Position established
successor1	Doug Slack
office2	Minister for the Arts
term_start2	7 December 1989
term_end2	24 September 1992
predecessor2	Paul Clauson
successor2	Dean Wells
office3	Leader of the Opposition in Queensland
term_start3	2 March 1988
term_end3	2 December 1989
deputy3	Tom Burns
predecessor3	Neville Warburton
successor3	Russell Cooper
office4	Leader of the Labor Party in Queensland
term_start4	2 March 1988
term_end4	19 February 1996
deputy4	Tom Burns
predecessor4	Neville Warburton
successor4	Peter Beattie
office5	Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Logan
term_start5	1 November 1986
term_end5	13 June 1998
predecessor5	New seat
successor5	John Mickel
office6	Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Salisbury
term_start6	22 October 1983
term_end6	1 November 1986
predecessor6	Rosemary Kyburz
successor6	Len Ardill
birth_name	Wayne Keith Goss
birth_date
birth_place	Mundubbera, Queensland, Australia
death_date
death_place	Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
nationality	Australian
party	Labor
spouse
children	2
parents	Allan James Goss
Norma Josephine Dalton Goss
education	Inala State High School
alma_mater	University of Queensland (LLB, MBA)
occupation
::

Early life

Goss was born at Mundubbera, Queensland, and grew up at Inala where he was educated at Inala State High School and the University of Queensland where he earned a bachelor of laws degree. He worked as a solicitor and then with the Aboriginal Legal Service before setting up his own practice, but did not become a member of the Australian Labor Party until the dismissal of Gough Whitlam's government in November 1975.

Political career

Goss entered state politics as a Labor Party MLA in 1983 for the electoral district of Salisbury and, from 1986 onwards, for Logan.

Along with others, Goss was a key figure in the 1970s–1980s civil liberties fight against the Bjelke-Petersen Government, pursuing legal and political strategies against Bjelke-Petersen. He was elected Leader of the Opposition in March 1988.

Leader of the Labor Party

Goss led Labor into the 1989 state election against the National Party government of Russell Cooper. The Queensland Nationals were still reeling from revelations of the rampant corruption of longtime premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen, and polls showed Labor had its best chance of winning power in years. Labor had been in opposition since 1957, and last made a serious bid for government in 1972. Cooper had toppled Bjelke-Petersen's immediate successor, Mike Ahern, in a September party-room coup, two months before the writ was dropped.

Goss seized on National ads that argued his plans to decriminalise homosexuality would result in gays flooding into Queensland. He replied with ads painting Cooper as a wild-eyed reactionary and a carbon copy of Bjelke-Petersen.

Premiership

Main article: Goss Ministry

Goss and Labor won a strong majority government at the 1989 election, scoring a 24-seat swing, the worst defeat of a sitting government up until that time in Queensland. This was fuelled by a massive Labor wave that swept through Brisbane; Labor won all but five of the capital's 36 seats.

His election win, which ended 32 years of Coalition/National Party rule, was seen as "the end of the Bjelke-Petersen era" and the beginning of a new era, with The Courier-Mail declaring "Goss the Boss". Once installed in office, he presided over the implementation of many of the reforms of the landmark Fitzgerald Inquiry into police corruption.

The Goss Government introduced several electoral and public sector reforms, the most notable being the elimination of the "Bjelkemander" malapportionment that had helped keep the Queensland Nationals in power. In addition to reforming the state's electoral laws and boundaries, the Goss Government "introduced merit-based appointments to the Queensland public service, created new National Parks and oversaw a new regime of economic and budgetary management" It also introduced social reforms such as decriminalising homosexuality, appointing Queensland's first female Governor, abolishing the Queensland Police Special Branch and Imperial honours, and made provision "to buy thousands of extra university places and hire thousands of new teachers". Goss' Chief of Staff as Premier was former diplomat Kevin Rudd, later leader of the federal Labor Party and Prime Minister of Australia, and Goss' 1989 campaign director was Wayne Swan, subsequently Deputy Prime Minister of Australia. Glyn Davis also worked in senior roles during the Goss governments.

Goss won a second term at the 1992 state election, maintaining the same 19-seat majority he won in 1989 over the National Party and the Liberal Party (the two non-Labor parties went out of coalition in 1983, but resumed the coalition after the 1992 election).

Before the 1995 election, the Goss Government announced a plan to clear sensitive bushland for an alternative to one of south-east Queensland's major roadways. This prompted the Greens Party to do something it had never done before: it recommended that its supporters not give their second preference, on voting ballots, to Labor. Partly as a result of this, as well as the increasing unpopularity of Goss's management style (widely thought to be authoritarian) and growing anger at the federal Labor government, Labor was severely punished at the polls. Notably, it lost several seats in Brisbane's Bayside area, known as 'the koala seats' because of the passion stirred up by a belief that the new road would destroy the habitat of koalas. While Labor lost the popular vote to the Rob Borbidge-led Coalition, Labor managed to win 31 out of 40 seats in Brisbane while most of the Coalition's majority was wasted on large majorities in National heartland. This seemingly allowed Labor to salvage a knife-edge majority of one seat.

After the 1995 election, Labor's majority hung on the Townsville seat of Mundingburra, which had been won by Labor's Ken Davies by only 12 votes over the Coalition's Frank Tanti. However, several irregularities were discovered, the most serious being that several servicemen serving in Rwanda did not have their votes counted. The Supreme Court of Queensland, sitting as a Court of Disputed Returns, ordered a by-election for February 1996, which Tanti won. This outcome brought about a hung Parliament, with both the Coalition and Labor on 44 seats. The balance of power was held by Gladstone's newly elected Independent member, Liz Cunningham. Nine days after the by-election, Cunningham announced that she was going to support the Coalition on the floor of Parliament, leaving Goss with no alternative but to resign as Premier on 19 February 1996.

Goss' defeat proved to be a harbinger of federal Labor's massive defeat in the federal election held a month later. Federal Labor suffered particularly heavy losses in Queensland at the subsequent federal election; it was cut down to only two seats there, its worst result in the state since being reduced to only one seat in 1975. Goss later said that Queensland voters had turned so violently on then-Prime Minister Paul Keating that they had been "sitting on their verandas with baseball bats" waiting for the writs to drop, a phrase that has since entered the Australian political lexicon.

Resignation of leadership

After resigning as Premier and Leader of the Labor Party on 19 February 1996, Goss returned to the back benches of the Opposition under new Opposition Leader Peter Beattie and assumed something of an "elder statesman" role. He had begun the process of seeking preselection as the Labor candidate for the federal seat of Oxley in the 1998 election. However, a diagnosis of a brain tumour (uneventfully, partially removed) forced him to scale back his activities. Despite support from both sides of Parliament—evidenced when the House gave him a standing ovation on his return from surgery—Goss retired from politics at the 1998 Queensland state election.

Post-political career

After his retirement from politics, Goss served in a variety of community and business roles. He was awarded an MBA at the University of Queensland. Goss was also awarded honorary doctorates (DUniv) by QUT and Griffith University.

Goss was Chairman of the Queensland Art Gallery for 3 terms from 1999 until 2008, a period which included the development of the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA), and served a term as a Director of the Brisbane Broncos NRL rugby league team.

Goss received a Centenary Medal in 2001.

In business, Goss served as National Chairman of the Australian section of Deloitte from 2005 to 2013. Goss was also chairman of engineering firm Ausenco from 2002 until 2013. From 2003 to 2007, Goss was on the board of Ingeus Limited, the company founded by Thérèse Rein, the wife of former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, his former chief-of-staff. Further, Goss was Chairman of FreeTV Australia, the lobby group representing the free-to-air television companies in Australia, from 2008 until 2011.

Goss was also an Ambassador of the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation, and a member of a business task force dealing with the aftermath of the 2010-11 Queensland floods.

Family

Goss lived in Brisbane with his wife, Roisin (née Hirschfeld). Roisin's father was Konrad Hirschfeld (a Rhodes Scholar in 1927) and her grandfather Eugen Hirschfeld (a member of the first University of Queensland Senate in 1910). Wayne and Roisin Goss had two children, Ryan and Caitlin, both of whom attended the University of Queensland and were awarded Rhodes Scholarships to attend the University of Oxford in 2007 and 2009 respectively.

Death, funeral and legacy

Goss battled a recurrent brain tumour for 17 years, undergoing four operations to manage it. He died aged 63 at his home in Brisbane on 10 November 2014, with his wife and children present.

Condolence motions were moved in the Queensland Parliament and in the Parliament of Australia.

In marking Goss' death, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd described Goss as Queensland's "greatest postwar Premier"; former Premier Peter Beattie described Goss as "Labor’s best premier since T. J. Ryan in 1915"; former Premier Anna Bligh stated that "Wayne Goss was the father of modern Queensland". The then Liberal National Premier Campbell Newman acknowledged Goss' "amazing contribution to Queensland".

Instead of a state funeral, a private funeral was held, and a public memorial service was organised by the family at the upper level open spaces areas of the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art. Goss' wife Roisin shared recollections about his life as a private citizen and his favourite saying at family gatherings or just lounging outside on a sunny day: "This Is Good". Close friend and former State Attorney-General, the Hon. Matt Foley gave a detailed testimonial about his friendship with Goss and their days in political office. Over a thousand mourners attended the service, some accommodated in overflow rooms with views to monitors and speakers.

A central building at the Griffith University Logan City campus is named after Goss in recognition of his work as an "education visionary". The rainforest tree genus Gossia in the myrtle family is named after Wayne Goss in honour of his conservation work.

References

"Wayne Goss".
(2015). "Former Members". [[Parliament of Queensland]].
"Disruptive influences – Griffith Review".
Deller's Digital Transfers. (29 November 2014). "Nationals Campaign Queensland 1989".
"Four Corners – 03/03/2008: Program Transcript".
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Hurst, Daniel. (15 November 2011). "Labor spruiks achievements – all six of them". [[Brisbane Times]].
(3 December 2006). "20 things you need to know about Kevin Rudd". [[The Age]].
Swan, Wayne. (2015). "About Wayne".
(10 November 2014). "Wayne Goss, a modernising leader who left Queensland a better place".
Moore, Tony. (6 December 2013). "Koala habitat at risk from new highway". [[Brisbane Times]].
Green, Antony. (2010). "2010 election preview: Queensland". [[ABC News (Australia).
(20 May 2007). "Sounding a dud note – Opinion – theage.com.au".
Cater, Nick. (1 May 2015). "The Howard Factor: A decade that changed a nation". Melbourne University Publishing.
"Senator Evans asked the opposition...: 8 Nov 2011: Senate debates (OpenAustralia.org)".
(6 May 2005). "Transcripts: Wayne Goss". [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]].
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Welford, Rob. (12 October 2007). "Gallery chairman to retire after third term". [[Queensland Government]].
(14 February 2005). "Wayne Goss resigns". [[Brisbane Broncos]].
(1 January 2001). "Centenary Medal".
Moore, Tony. (10 November 2015). "Queensland arts growth proves Wayne Goss' international legacy". [[Brisbane Times]].
(31 May 2013). "Ausenco chairman resigns". Mining Australia.
(21 April 2011). "Therese Rein the $1.4bn queen of British welfare".
(10 November 2014). "Free TV mourns Wayne Goss".
. (23 August 2011). ["IQ2: If we keep populating we will perish"](http://www.abc.net.au/tv/bigideas/stories/2011/08/23/3299095.htm).
(19 January 2011). "Business taskforce to help flood recovery effort".
"Way Goss farewelled". [[The Australian]].
(2009). "2009 Rhodes Scholar maintains family winning streak". University of Queensland.
(1 January 2015). "UQ pays tribute to Wayne Goss". [[University of Queensland]].
(11 November 2014). "Former Queensland premier Wayne Goss dies". [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]].
"Goss to be honoured in Qld parliament – Yahoo!7".
(24 November 2014). "Federal Politics Live: November 24, 2014".
(10 November 2014). "Former Queensland premier Wayne Goss dead aged 63". [[The Courier-Mail]].
(10 November 2014). "Wayne Goss remembered: Colleagues and past foes pay tribute to former Queensland premier". [[The Courier-Mail]].
(10 November 2014). "Wayne Goss remembered as courageous Queensland reformer". [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]].
(12 November 2014). "Goss family turns down state funeral, in keeping with former Queensland premier's wishes". [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]].
Atfield, Cameron. (21 November 2014). "Wayne Goss farewelled at GOMA". [[Brisbane Times]].
"Flags at half mast as Wayne Goss farewelled at public memorial". [[The Australian]].
(10 December 2015). "Centre named after education visionary, Wayne Goss".
[[Alexander Floyd]] (2008) ''Rainforest Trees of Mainland South-eastern Australia''. Inkata Press. {{ISBN. 978-0-9589436-7-3. page 243.

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