Peter Neil Slipper (born 14 February 1950) is an Australian former politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1984 to 1987 and from 1993 to 2013, representing the Division of Fisher in Queensland. He was Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2011 to 2012. He is the current bishop in Australia for the Catholic Apostolic Church of Australia (ICAB) a mission of the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church (Igreja Católica Apostólica Brasileira) and an honorary consul for Brazil in Australia.
Slipper is originally from Ipswich, Queensland, and studied arts and law at the University of Queensland. He worked as a lawyer and farmer before entering politics. Slipper was first elected to parliament at the age of 34, standing as a member of the National Party. He was narrowly defeated after one term, but reclaimed the seat at the 1993 election as a member of the Liberal Party. During the Howard government, he served as a government whip and a member of the ministry as a parliamentary secretary now designated as assistant ministers.
After the 2010 election, Slipper fell out with some of his Coalition colleagues over failed earlier moves to disendorse him prior to the election. However all members of the Liberal National Party of Queensland were assured of endorsement following the merger of the Liberal and National Parties in that state. He was elected Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives in September 2010, with the backing of the Labor Party. In November 2011, he was elected Speaker of the House in place of Labor's Harry Jenkins, who unexpectedly resigned thereby giving the Labor minority government an additional number on the floor. Slipper resigned from the Liberal National Party to become an independent speaker in the Westminster tradition upon taking office, pre-empting moves to expel him. He was the first independent to serve as speaker since Frederick Holder (1901–1909).
In April 2012, Slipper took a leave of absence from the speakership in order to deal with an Australian Federal Police investigation into his alleged misuse of Cabcharge vouchers, as well as sexual harassment allegations from a former staffer, James Ashby. He eventually formally resigned in October 2012; he was unsuccessful in his bid to be re-elected as an independent at the 2013 federal election. Slipper was convicted of defrauding the government in July 2014, but successfully appealed the charges and had his conviction overturned in February 2015. Ashby dropped his sexual harassment lawsuit in June 2014 with his case having been earlier dismissed as an abuse of process by Justice Steven Rares of the Federal Court of Australia.
In 2017, he was consecrated as Bishop in Australia by the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church and having been instrumental in having a Continuing Anglican church, the Church of Torres Strait, to apply to join it. He had previously assisted the Church of Torres Strait in native title and other legal and administrative matters.
Early life
Slipper was born on 14 February 1950 in Ipswich, Queensland. He is the son of Joan and Stanley Slipper; his father was a mechanical engineer/manager with Queensland Railways.
Slipper attended school in Townsville before completing his secondary education at Ipswich Grammar School. He subsequently studied law and arts at the University of Queensland, graduating Bachelor of Laws in 1977 and later as Bachelor of Arts. He subsequently worked as a solicitor and also had business and farming interests.
Politics
Having joined the Young National Party, Slipper was the National Party's campaign director in the Electoral District of Ipswich West in the 1974 State Election and in the Division of Oxley at the 1975 federal election. He was state president of the Young Nationals.
Slipper first won Fisher as a National Party candidate in 1984. The once safely conservative seat had become somewhat more marginal after a redistribution pushed the seat into the outer suburbs of Brisbane. During his first term, Slipper was a staunch supporter of the "Joh for Canberra" campaign. He was narrowly defeated in 1987 by Labor's Michael Lavarch. However, a redistribution in 1993 made Fisher notionally Liberal; the Liberals had taken second place in the seat three years earlier. Slipper sought to retake his old seat, this time as a Liberal, and won.
Slipper was government whip from 1997 to 1998, parliamentary secretary to the Minister for Finance and Administration from 1998 to 2004 and parliamentary secretary to the prime minister from 2002 to 2003.