Alasdair Webster

Alasdair Paine Webster OAM (born 12 February 1934) is a retired Australian politician.

Webster was born in Maitland, New South Wales. He underwent military service in 1953, attended the University of New England, and became a teacher; and later a superintendent at juvenile rehabilitation centres.

In 1984, Webster was elected to the Australian House of Representatives for the seat of Macquarie as a member of the Liberal Party. He held the seat until his defeat in 1993.

He subsequently joined the Call to Australia Party and unsuccessfully contested the Senate for them in 1996. He also contested the New South Wales Legislative Council for the Christian Democratic Party at the 1999 and 2003 state elections.

Webster was a delegate to the 1998 Australian Constitutional Convention, which met to discuss the issue of an Australian republic.^[1]

He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia on Australia Day 2008 for "services to the Parliament of Australia, and to the community through Indigenous, educational and service organisations".^[2]

In 2018, an investigation by 60 Minutes alleged that he had turned a blind eye to a culture of abuse, when he was in charge of Daruk boys' home in the 1970s and 1980s. Webster denied all accusations.^[3]

References