Peter Slipper

The Most Reverend and Honourable Peter Slipper
27th Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives
In office 24 November 2011 – 9 October 2012
Deputy	Anna Burke
Preceded by	Harry Jenkins
Succeeded by	Anna Burke
Deputy Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives
In office 28 September 2010 – 24 November 2011
Preceded by	Anna Burke
Succeeded by	Anna Burke
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance and Administration
In office 21 October 1998 – 22 October 2004
Prime Minister	John Howard
Preceded by	New position
Succeeded by	Sharman Stone
Member of the Australian Parliament for Fisher
In office 13 March 1993 – 7 September 2013
Preceded by	Michael Lavarch
Succeeded by	Mal Brough
In office 1 December 1984 – 11 July 1987
Preceded by	Evan Adermann
Succeeded by	Michael Lavarch
Personal details
Born	Peter Neil Slipper (1950-02-14) 14 February 1950 (age 74) Ipswich, Queensland, Australia
Political party	National (1984–1987) Liberal (1993–2011) Independent (2011–2013) Palmer United (2013)
Other political affiliations	Liberal National (state level, 2008–2011)
Spouses	Lyn Hooper ​ ​ (m. 1981; div. 2001)​ Inge-Jane Hall ​ (m. 2006)​ [1]
Relations	Max Hooper (father-in-law)
Alma mater	University of Queensland
Occupation	Bishop, politician, barrister, farmer
Website	peterslippermp.com.au

Peter Neil Slipper (born 14 February 1950) is an Australian former politician and bishop who served as the 27th speaker of the Australian House of Representatives from 2011 to 2012. A member of the Liberal Party of Australia for most of his career, he was the member of parliament (MP) for the division of Fisher from 1984 to 1987 and again from 1993 to 2013. 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)^[2] and an honorary consul for Brazil in Australia.^[3]

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.