Andrew Wilkie


Andrew Damien Wilkie is an Australian politician and independent federal member for Clark. Before entering politics Wilkie was an infantry officer in the Australian Army.
Wilkie served with the Australian Army from 1980 to 2004. An officer with the Royal Australian Infantry Corps who had earlier commanded a company of the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, at the time of his entry to public life Wilkie was posted to Australia's Office of National Assessments as an intelligence analyst. In 2003, in the lead-up to the Iraq War, he resigned from his position at ONA because he feared the humanitarian consequences of invasion, such as Saddam Hussein using his weapons of mass destruction or assisting terrorists.
Following his resignation he said: Iraq's "weapons of mass destruction program is very disjointed and contained by the regime that's been in place since the last Gulf War. And there is no hard intelligence linking the Iraqi regime to al-Qaeda in any substantial or worrisome way." He opposed Australia's contribution to the 2003 invasion of Iraq under the Howard government. Wilkie later argued the Iraq War was based on a "lie".
Wilkie has been active in politics since 2003. He was a Greens candidate for the federal Division of Bennelong in the 2004 federal election and for the Senate in Tasmania at the 2007 federal election. In 2010 he stood as an independent candidate for the state seat of Denison at the Tasmanian state election, narrowly missing out on the final vacancy. Later in the year, again as an independent candidate, he ran for the federal seat of Denison at the 2010 federal election and won, finishing third on the primary vote but winning the seat after the distribution of preferences. Wilkie finished first on the primary vote at both the 2013 federal election and 2016 federal election, increasing his margin each time. In 2019, the Division of Denison was replaced by the Division of Clark, which Wilkie won at the 2019 Australian federal election with a margin of 22.19%.

Early life and education

Wilkie trained at the Royal Military College, Duntroon and graduated in 1984. He joined the Young Liberals while a cadet. He also studied at the University of New South Wales, and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree, a Graduate Diploma of Management, and a Graduate Diploma of Defence Studies. After graduation and being stationed in Brisbane, he joined the Liberal Party before allowing his membership to lapse. His military career spanned 1980–2001 and he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was seconded to the ONA, an Australian intelligence agency, from 1999 until late 2000. After a stint with US defence company Raytheon, Wilkie returned to the ONA shortly after the September 11 attacks.

Military career, 1980—2003

Wilkie joined the Army in 1980, and was first stationed in Brisbane, Queensland. He served in the Royal Australian Infantry Corps and achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He was discharged in 2001.

Opposition of Iraq War, and aftermath (2001–2003)

In the aftermath of the September 11 Terror Attacks, the United States called upon Australia to assist in enforcing the 1991 Gulf War peace treaty which had been repeatedly breached by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Iraq failed to comply with demands to allow unfettered arms inspections, and the Howard Government elected to send forces to support the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. While the Government was considering the case for war, Wilkie was asked to report on humanitarian considerations. According to a leaked report published in the Herald Sun, in December 2002 Wilkie had submitted an ONA report on the humanitarian implications of war in Iraq to the Government. In it he cautioned against unpredictable but potentially serious humanitarian consequences of war against Saddam, such as the use of weapons of mass destruction against civilians.
In response to widespread opposition to the war, Wilkie gave extensive television interviews and accepted numerous offers of public speaking engagements. He subsequently gave evidence to official British and Australian inquiries into the government's case for involvement in the Iraq war. In 2004, Wilkie published Axis of Deceit, an account of the reasons for his decision and its results. He describes his views on the nature of intelligence agencies and the analyst's work, the history of the Iraq war, the untruths of politicians and the attempts to suppress the truth.
Following Britain's 2016 Chilcot Report which criticised the Blair Government's prosecution of the war, Wilkie said that Howard, Bush and Blair should be brought before an international court, and called for Australia to hold another inquiry into the war. Howard rejected Wilkie's proposition and called him "irrational", telling the media: "Andrew Wilkie said the Iraq invasion was responsible for the Bali attack of 2005. What about the Bali attack of 2002? And he blamed it on the Lindt Cafe siege. I mean, this is irrational."

Resignation from ONA (2003)

On 11 March 2003, Wilkie resigned from the ONA, asserting that while Iraq likely did possess weapons of mass destruction, its program in this area was contained, that international sanctions were having an effect, and therefore an invasion was premature and also reckless in potentially provoking Saddam Hussein to use those weapons and possibly even begin supporting terrorism. He told the ABC: "I think that invading Iraq at this time would be wrong. For a start, Iraq does not pose a security threat to any other country at this point in time. Its military is very weak, it's a fraction of the size of the military at the time of the invasion of Kuwait. Its weapons of mass destruction program is very disjointed and contained by the regime that's been in place since the last Gulf War. And there is no hard intelligence linking the Iraqi regime to al-Qaeda in any substantial or worrisome way." Wilkie later told the press that in the lead up to his resignation he had increasingly encountered ethical conflict between his duty as an intelligence officer and his "respect for the truth". During his later political career, Wilkie said that the notion that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and co-operated with terrorists had been "a lie" and denounced other politicians who had made the claim.

Political career, 2004—present

Candidacy for Australian Greens (2004–2008)

Wilkie was a member of the Australian Greens by 2004 and stood unsuccessfully on the Tasmanian Senate ticket in 2007. He resigned from the party in 2008, criticising it for a lack of professionalism.
Wilkie stood as the Australian Greens candidate for Bennelong against John Howard in the Australian House of Representatives in the 2004 federal election. He was a supporter of the 'Not happy, John!' campaign which ran during the election campaign. Polling 16 per cent of the primary vote, Wilkie achieved the fifth-highest Green vote percentage across the nation at the time. This result was a considerable increase from the Greens' previous election figure of 5%. Although Wilkie's vote was nowhere near enough to win the seat, there was a swing of 3.18% against John Howard, the sitting Liberal Party member and prime minister, who achieved a primary vote of 49.89%, which resulted in the seat being decided on preferences.
At the 2007 federal election, nearly 80% of Green's voters directed the preferences to Labor's Maxine McKew, who defeated Howard with 51.4% of the two-candidate preferred vote. With this defeat, Howard became only the second sitting Prime Minister to lose his seat in the election that defeated his government, though he continued as caretaker Prime Minister until Kevin Rudd was sworn in.
He was nominated as the Greens' second Tasmanian candidate for the Australian Senate at the 2007 federal election, behind the Greens federal leader, Bob Brown.

Member of Parliament (2010–present)

; Gillard-Rudd Government
Wilkie stood as an independent candidate in the state Division of Denison, based around central Hobart, in the 2010 Tasmanian state election. He won 8.44 per cent of first preference votes, and was beaten by 315 votes by Liberal candidate Elise Archer after distribution of preferences.
Wilkie stood as an independent for the federal Division of Denison, which has the same boundaries as the state division, in the 2010 federal election and won more than 20 per cent of the primary vote. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation declared Wilkie the winner on election night, predicting that Wilkie would be vaulted into second place on Green preferences and ultimately take the seat on Liberal preferences. On the third count, he picked up enough Green preferences to put him in second place, ahead of the Liberal candidate. On the fourth count, more than 79 percent of the Liberal candidate's preferences flowed to Wilkie, allowing him to win the seat with just over 51 per cent of the two-candidate-preferred vote. Reportedly, Wilkie benefited from a lacklustre campaign by Labor's candidate, Jonathan Jackson, the son of former longtime state Labor minister Judy Jackson; Labor lost almost a quarter of its primary vote from 2007, and Labor theoretically tallied a two-party vote of more than 65 percent.
Following the election, he declared that he would back the Australian Labor Party minority government, in return for the Gillard government committing $340 million to the Royal Hobart Hospital and a commitment to reduce problem gambling. In contrast the Coalition offered A$1 billion in funding for the same hospital in their offer to Wilkie, which was perceived by Wilkie as "almost reckless". Wilkie described this as being part of the evidence that Labor would better be able to offer a more stable, competent and ethical government than the Coalition. The agreement to support the government only extended to issues of supply and no confidence motions.
Wilkie was unexpectedly admitted to hospital on 12 November 2010 to have his gall bladder removed. This did not interfere with his ability to attend Parliamentary sittings and he was present at the debate on same-sex marriage on 15 November, where he seconded the motion raised by Greens member Adam Bandt.
In April 2011 during push for gambling reform initiated by Wilkie, News Limited media reported allegations by a former Duntroon army cadet that in 1983 Wilkie had forced junior cadets to salute to Adolf Hitler on the 50th anniversary of the latter's rise to power. In response, Wilkie said he had been "involved in bastardisation of teenage army cadets" at Duntroon during the 1980s and apologised for this "inappropriate behaviour" but could not recall the specific incident alleged. With regard to the allegation and its publication, he accused pro-Pokies advocates of running a smear campaign against him.
On 21 January 2012 Wilkie announced that he was withdrawing his support for the Labor government after it broke the agreement he had signed with Julia Gillard to implement mandatory pre-commitment for all poker machines by 2014. He stated that he would support the government's alternative plan to trial pre-commitment in the ACT and require that pre-commitment technology be installed in all poker machines built from 2013, but that this fell short of what he had been promised in return for supporting the government. Gillard and Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Jenny Macklin argued that there was not enough support in the House of Representatives for Wilkie's preferred option for it to be passed, and that they had been advised it was technically infeasible to implement mandatory commitment within the time frame he had specified. In making his announcement, Wilkie stated that he would only support motions of no confidence against the government "in the event of serious misconduct" and would "consider budget measures on their merits".
; Abbott-Turnbull Government
Wilkie was reelected in the 2013 federal election, gaining a swing of 15 points to increase his majority to 65 percent.
In October 2014, Wilkie wrote to the International Criminal Court, seeking to prosecute Prime Minister Tony Abbott and the 19 members of his cabinet for crimes against humanity, with particular concerns relating to the treatment of asylum seekers.
; Morrison Government
In February 2020, Wilkie and fellow MP George Christensen travelled to the UK to meet Australian Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Both MPs called for Assange to be released.

Political views

Wilkie made the removal of poker machines his primary campaign issue in the 2010 Tasmanian state election. He strongly opposed to the Gunns pulp mill in the Tamar Valley. Wilkie is a supporter of voluntary euthanasia, provided that there are safeguards in place, he is also in favour of same-sex marriage and access to abortion. He supported a National Broadband Network and opposed the Howard Government's WorkChoices industrial relations reforms.
During Wilkie's maiden speech to federal parliament on 30 September 2010, he called for withdrawal of Australian troops from Afghanistan. He said Australia should be more willing to say "no" more often to the United States. He said that there could be no hope for peace in Afghanistan until foreign troops are withdrawn: "No-one should be fooled by the Australian Government's periodic efforts to tinker around the edges with Australia's commitment to Afghanistan" and that "The reality is that the best plan the Australian Government can come up with so far is simply to continue to support whatever the US Government comes up with and that alone is no plan—it's just reinforcing failure."
Wilkie's comments came amid opposition calls for more support for Australia's troops in Afghanistan. During his speech Wilkie also canvassed his push for legislation to protect whistleblowers, measures to tackle problem gambling and a more humane approach to asylum seekers.
In March 2011 he called Liberal MPs Cory Bernardi and Scott Morrison "a disgrace to high office" calling on Tony Abbott to sack them both and referring to endemic racism in the Liberal party.

Pokies and pre-commitment

Wilkie campaigned heavily against poker machines at the 2010 federal election and immediately began forging ties with independent anti-pokies Senator Nick Xenophon. Wilkie claimed that problem gamblers in Australia lose $5 billion each year on pokies. The Labor government gave two commitments regarding pokies in exchange for Wilkie's support. The first was mandatory "pre-commitment" technology, which required a better to commit how much they were willing to bet before starting. The second commitment was to introduce $1 maximum bet per spin machines that would not require pre-commitment. Wilkie argued these $1 maximum machines would be safer. The Abbott Coalition opposed the plans, with Abbott saying "it is not Liberal Party policy" and it will be "expensive and ineffective". According to polling, Wilkie's proposals were supported by a clear majority of voters across the spectrum. Wilkie and Xenophon argued that "$12 billion a year is lost on the pokies. 100,000 Australians are problem gamblers and an additional 200,000 are significantly at risk of developing a full-blown addiction", and that the legislation is necessary to " those who sometimes lose up to $1200 an hour on the pokies." The Labor government withdrew their promised support for Wilkies's plan when their strength in parliament improved through a change of Speaker.
The plan came under sustained attack from clubs, hotels and other businesses which financially benefit from pokies. Xenophon responded by accusing them of misrepresenting plans and creating hype around the issue. Strategy papers erroneously placed on the Clubs Queensland public website seem to indicate that clubs are deliberately and purposefully exaggerating the impact that the pre-commitment reforms will have on their services. The same papers outlined some strategies that the clubs could use to exploit loopholes in the proposed reform.
The National Rugby League aligned themselves with the campaign in opposing the pre-commitment plans, as did some prominent Australian Football League people. Commentators from the Nine Network gave planned political arguments without disclosure during commentary of a Semi-final NRL game, prompting the Australian Communications and Media Authority to investigate, stating "Channel Nine broadcast political material without adequately identifying it as such during the NRL first preliminary final". One of the accused commentators stated that the remarks were a "directive from up top that it be read by at least somebody". Investigations were predicted to take months. Andrew Demetriou, chief executive officer of the AFL, rejected suggestions that the AFL was joining Clubs Australia in their media campaign despite opposition to the plan by Collingwood president Eddie McGuire. Other high-profile club bosses including Jeff Kennett and David Smorgon, and also stated "The fellow from Clubs Australia, I don't even know his name, but please, stop talking on our behalf, just shut up, that'd be a good help". Activist group GetUp! attempted to counter the anti-pre-commitment campaign by running political commercials during the NRL grand final but all three major commercial television stations refused to air more of them.

Personal life

Wilkie was married to a fellow army officer, Simone Wilkie, from 1991 to 2003.
He married Kate Burton in 2004, with whom he has two daughters. However, they separated in 2012 and divorced the following year, with Wilkie citing stress from the 2010–2013 hung parliament as the main cause of the breakdown.