Syd Negus

Syd Negus
Senator for Western Australia
In office
1 July 1971 – 18 May 1974
Personal details
Born(1912-03-12)12 March 1912
Leederville, Western Australia
Died1 August 1986(1986-08-01) (aged 74)
Political partyIndependent
Other political
affiliations		Progressive Conservative (1980)
Occupationcarpenter, contractor

Sydney Ambrose Negus (12 March 1912 – 1 August 1986) was an Australian politician who was an independent senator for Western Australia from 1971 until 1974.[1] He was previously a carpenter and building contractor.[2]

Negus was president of the West Australian Sporting Car Club and competed in the Australian Grand Prix on several occasions.[3]

Negus was elected largely on an anti-inheritance tax platform, following the death of his brother, Oscar Negus a judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia, which led to Syd Negus' realisation of the impost of the tax on widows.[4] His campaign established a groundswell of public support and Queensland was the first state to abolish inheritance taxes in 1977; the Commonwealth of Australia and other states followed soon after by abolishing their respective inheritance and gift taxes.[2]

Negus was defeated in the 1974 election.[3] He later contested the 1975 Bass by-election as an independent[5] and, at the 1980 federal election, was a candidate for the far-right, anti-immigration Progressive Conservative Party.[6]

  1. ^ Parliamentary Handbook - Members of the Senate since 1901 Archived 25 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ a b David G. Duff (2005). "The Abolition of Wealth Transfer Taxes: Lessons from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand". University of Toronto Faculty of Law. Retrieved 23 November 2007.
  3. ^ a b Ferrell, John (2010). "NEGUS, Sydney Ambrose (1912–1986)". The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  4. ^ "Review of Western Australian State Taxes 1994". Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law. December 2004. Retrieved 23 November 2007.
  5. ^ Carr, Adam. "1975 Bass by-election". Psephos, Adam Carr's Election Archive. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  6. ^ Carr, Adam. "1980 Senate election: Western Australia". Psephos, Adam Carr's Election Archive. Retrieved 9 January 2023.