Everything about Robert Doyle totally explained
Robert Doyle (born
20 May 1953) is an
Australian former politician. He was Member for Malvern in the
Legislative Assembly of Victoria from
1992 to
2006 and Leader of the Victorian Opposition from
2002 to
2006, representing the
Liberal Party of Australia. On
4 May 2006 Doyle announced his resignation as Leader and from State Parliament. He is now the chairman of
Melbourne Health and a director of management consultancy firm The Nous Group.
Born in
Melbourne, Doyle attended secondary school in
Geelong. He graduated from
Monash University in
1977, and the following year, began work as a teacher, at
Geelong College, his
alma mater. In
1982, he moved back to Melbourne, working as a departmental head at
Lauriston Girls' School. After three years, he again changed schools, becoming a senior administrator and English teacher at
Scotch College.
At the
1992 state election, Doyle succeeded in winning Liberal preselection for the "safe"
electorate of Malvern by defeating Geoff Leigh. The Liberal Party, under
Jeff Kennett, won government, defeating
Joan Kirner. After the election, Doyle was immediately placed on the Crime Prevention Committee, and several other taskforces, particularly in the area of health. In April
1996, Doyle was promoted to the position of Parliamentary Secretary for Human Services.
The Kennett government suffered an unexpected defeat at the
1999 election, and Kennett himself resigned soon afterwards. Kennett's Health Minister,
Denis Napthine, became leader, and Doyle took Napthine's place, becoming the opposition's health spokesman.
By
2002, the Liberal Party, which had been almost unbeatable under Kennett, was flagging in the polls, and was expected to lose the election due later that year. Doyle successfully challenged Napthine for the leadership of the state Liberal Party, claiming that the party was “facing political oblivion” if it stayed under Napthine’s leadership.
He lost the
2002 election by a large margin; the result was in fact the Liberal Party's worst-ever Victorian defeat. The party lost control of the
Legislative Council for only the second time in Victorian parliamentary history, and retained only 17 of the 88 lower house seats. Also, the campaign suffered a large blow when the party's Treasurer,
Robert Dean, was deemed ineligible to stand because he wasn't on the electoral roll.
For some time after the 2002 defeat, Doyle remained Opposition Leader, partly through the sheer shortage of potential alternative candidates for the job. However, following the decisions of Shadow Minister
Victor Perton and Deputy Leader
Phil Honeywood to resign, and the further resignation of Doyle's Chief of Staff Ron Wilson and his Director of Communications
Rob Clancy, debate as to Doyle's future was re-ignited. Even many of Doyle's key supporters - including Upper House MPs
Andrea Coote and
Philip Davis, and
Michael Kroger and
Helen Kroger - eventually recognised that Doyle's leadership was unlikely to attract sufficient electoral support. It was also reported that Doyle's personal approval rating had dropped to 15 per cent. On 4 May 2006, Doyle announced his resignation as Opposition Leader, stating that "I have given my best - it wasn't enough" and that the move would give the party the "best chance of electoral success".
Ted Baillieu succeeded Doyle in the post.
He officially ended his term as a Member of Parliament for the District of Malvern on
25 November 2006. On that day, the Liberals under Baillieu were again severely defeated; and as a result, Doyle publicly criticised several prominent party figures.
On
21 June 2007 the state government announced that it would appoint Doyle as the new chairman of
Melbourne Health, the group that operates the
Royal Melbourne Hospital.
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