{{Short description|Australian politician (1940–2026)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2026}} {{Use Australian English|date=January 2016}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Honourable | name = Ron Boswell | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=AUS|AO|size=100%}} | image = Ron Boswell in the Senate.jpg | office1 = Leader of the National Party in the Senate | leader1 = Tim Fischer<br/>Mark Vaile | term_start1 = 10 April 1990 | term_end1 = 3 December 2007 | predecessor1 = John Stone | successor1 = Nigel Scullion | title2 = Senator for Queensland | term_start2 = 5 March 1983 | term_end2 = 30 June 2014 | predecessor2 = | successor2 = | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1940|12|9}} | birth_place = Perth, Western Australia, Australia | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2026|1|6|1940|12|9}} | death_place = | spouse = {{marriage|Leita Beattie|1966|2021|reason=died}} | party = National Party | relations = | children = | education = St Joseph's College, Gregory Terrace | occupation = {{hlist|Politician|salesman}} | profession = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }}
'''Ronald Leslie Doyle Boswell''' (9 December 1940 – 6 January 2026) was an Australian politician. He was a Senator for Queensland from 1983 to 2014, representing the National Party. He was the party's Senate leader from 1990 to 2007, a record term. He was also a parliamentary secretary in the Howard government from 1999 to 2003. He was Father of the Senate from 2008 until his retirement in 2014.
==Early life== Boswell was born in Perth, Western Australia, on 9 December 1940.<ref name=aph>{{cite web|url=http://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Parliamentarian?MPID=YE4|title=Senator the Hon Ronald Boswell|access-date=17 November 2013}}</ref> In his memoirs he recalled a tumultuous childhood including "two parental separations, frequent changes of school, and an abduction (by his mother, accompanied by her lover) to Melbourne".<ref name=rodan/>
Boswell spent his early years in Perth, attending five schools in six years. He moved to Brisbane after his father was transferred for work reasons,<ref name=rodan>{{cite news|url=https://insidestory.org.au/sealing-the-deal/|title=Sealing the deal|first=Paul|last=Rodan|date=4 April 2024|access-date=12 July 2024|publisher=Inside Story}}</ref> where he attended St Joseph's College, Gregory Terrace.<ref>{{cite news|title=Charges of buying players put schoolboys rugby values to test|url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/charges-of-buying-players-put-schoolboys-rugby-values-to-test/news-story/b057dec424b8d1257d8ddffa0a9ce5e8|url-access=subscription|newspaper=The Australian|date=17 April 2010|access-date=20 March 2024}}</ref>
Boswell left school at the age of 14 and began working as an office boy at an insurance firm.<ref name=rodan/> He later worked as an insurance agent and travelling salesman, including selling paintbrushes.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.9news.com.au/national/veteran-boswell-to-retire-as-qld-senator/43a81784-c3c7-45b1-ac93-3d4d5e2ce259|title=Boswell to retire from Senate in 2014|date=21 September 2012|access-date=12 July 2024|publisher=9 News}}</ref> He first came into contact with Queensland premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen in his role as a manufacturers' agent, lobbying against the deregulation of weekend trading hours.<ref name=rodan/>
==Politics== ===Early involvement=== [[File:Ronald Leslie Doyle Boswell.jpg|thumb|160px|Boswell in the 1990s during the Howard government]] Boswell was convinced to join the National Party by his wife, a long-time member.<ref name=rodan/> He was elected chairman of the party's Wynnum branch in 1974 and to the party's central council in 1976, serving on its management committee and as a metropolitan vice-president.<ref name=aph/> He was also chairman of the party's fishing industry committee.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/116443269|title=Plan to protect tuna zone in Queensland|newspaper=The Canberra Times|date=5 September 1982}}</ref>
===Opposition (1983–1996)=== In 1982, Boswell won preselection for the third position on the National Party's Senate ticket in Queensland, behind incumbent senators Florence Bjelke-Petersen and Stan Collard.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/116468218|title=Senator in line for new term|newspaper=The Canberra Times|date=5 September 1982}}</ref> He was elected to a three-year Senate term at the 1983 federal election, which followed a double dissolution.<ref name=aph/> In the lead-up to the election he hired a publicity officer "to get his name known in provincial Queensland".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/116371441|title=Fraser banks on Queensland for Senate power|newspaper=The Canberra Times|date=2 March 1983}}</ref> He would be re-elected to the Senate on a further six occasions, in 1984, 1987, 1990, 1996, 2001 and 2007.<ref name=aph/>
Prior to the 1984 election, Boswell controversially announced that he would deny supply to the Hawke government if it were re-elected, leading to a public rebuke from National Party leader Ian Sinclair.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/122527647|title=Threat shows split in coalition: PM|newspaper=The Canberra Times|date=11 November 1984}}</ref>
In 1988, Boswell was added to John Howard's shadow ministry, holding the regional development and external territories portfolio under Howard and his successor, Andrew Peacock, until 1990. He returned to the shadow cabinet in 1993 under John Hewson, holding the portfolios of Northern Australia and external territories. He was moved to the consumer affairs portfolio in May 1994 after Alexander Downer became opposition leader.<ref name=aph/> In December 1994 he and five other conservative senators crossed the floor to vote against the ''Human Rights (Sexual Conduct) Act 1994'', which guaranteed sexual privacy. Downer supported the legislation and Boswell consequently resigned from the shadow cabinet.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/127259508|title=Nationals no silent partner in Coalition, says Fisher|newspaper=The Canberra Times|date=10 December 1994}}</ref>
Following a National Party leadership spill after the 1990 election, Boswell was elected as the party's Senate leader, defeating David Brownhill.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/122099259/12973723|title=Now, a fight for the front bench|newspaper=The Canberra Times|date=11 April 1990}}</ref> He would retain the position for a record 17 years, until stepping down after the 2007 election.<ref name=aph/>
===Howard government (1996–2007)=== Boswell was appointed parliamentary secretary to the Minister for Transport and Regional Services in July 1999 but left the position in October 2003.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=%28Id:handbook/allmps/ye4%29;rec=0;|title=Biography for Boswell, the Hon. Ronald Leslie Doyle|publisher=Australian Parliament|access-date=23 August 2010}}</ref> After he was succeeded as leader of the Nationals in the Senate by Nigel Scullion following the 2007 election, Boswell became Scullion's deputy. He was succeeded in that position by Fiona Nash in 2008.<ref name=aph/>
Boswell's bid for re-election at the 2001 election was framed as a head-to-head contest between him and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson for Queensland's sixth Senate seat.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/127259508|title=Boswell v Hanson: Key battle, key seat|newspaper=The Australian Jewish News|date=9 November 2001}}</ref> In his valedictory speech to the Senate in 2014, he stated that he "risked everything to stand up against her aggressive, narrow view of Australia ... defeating Pauline Hanson and One Nation in 2001 has been my greatest political achievement".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.themonthly.com.au/today/paddy-manning/2019/29/2019/1553834872/nationals-disgrace|title=Nationals disgrace|publisher=The Monthly|date=29 March 2019|access-date=12 July 2024|first=Paddy|last=Manning}}</ref> He was an outspoken opponent of other far-right groups such as the League of Rights and the Citizens Electoral Council,<ref name=rodan/> in 1988 denouncing the League of Rights as "racist, anti-semitic and neo-Nazi".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/102083213|title=NP steps up fight on League of Rights|newspaper=The Canberra Times|date=28 April 1988}}</ref>
===Final years (2007–2014)=== Boswell reluctantly announced his support for the merger of the Nationals and Liberals in 2008, seeing the creation of the Liberal National Party of Queensland as "the lesser of two evils" following suggestions that a new standalone conservative party should be created.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.news.com.au/opinion/nats-war-horse-ready-for-one-last-battle/news-story/572b66ae81b55b71766b6b0fbeee0861|title=Nats war horse ready for one last battle|first=Laurie|last=Oakes|date=22 March 2008|access-date=12 July 2024|newspaper=Herald-Sun}}</ref>
In 2011, Boswell was a critic of the then Australian government's carbon emissions trading scheme. He called for the scheme to be abandoned.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ronboswell.com/emissions-trading/3792-obama-leaves-the-ets-table-we-should-too|title=Obama leaves the ETS table – We should too|access-date=24 July 2011|website=ronboswell.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927100008/http://www.ronboswell.com/emissions-trading/3792-obama-leaves-the-ets-table-we-should-too|archive-date=27 September 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> On 17 September 2012, during a Senate debate on a proposed marriage inequality bill, Boswell spoke out against same-sex marriage in Australia stating: "Two mothers or two fathers can't raise a child properly. Who takes the boy to football? Who tells him what's right from wrong? What does he do? Go along with mum, or two mums? How does he go camping or fishing? It won't work, it's defying nature!"<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/gay-marriage-bill-personal-for-senator-20120917-262c8.html|access-date=20 March 2024|title=Gay marriage bill 'personal' for senator|author=Dan Harrison|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=17 September 2012}}</ref>
Boswell announced on 21 September 2012 that he did not intend to seek re-election in 2013 and would retire when his Senate term expired in 2014.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/central-queensland/boswell-to-retire-in-2014/news-story/0729ac2ce7a74a9eced4b631b3d9d663|title=Boswell to Retire in 2014|last=Carrol|first=Adam|newspaper=The Courier-Mail|location=Brisbane|date=22 September 2012|access-date=20 March 2023}}</ref>
==Personal life and death== In 1966, Boswell married Leita Beattie, an educator who worked as a schoolteacher at Moreton Bay College for over 40 years. He was widowed in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Funeral details - Mrs Leita Boswell - Newsroom - MBC OGA Alumni Network |url=https://oga.moretonbaycolleges.qld.edu.au/newsroom/news/Funeral-details---Mrs-Leita-Boswell.dz |access-date=2026-01-07 |website=oga.moretonbaycolleges.qld.edu.au |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.mbc.qld.edu.au/news/vale-mrs-leita-boswell-nee-beattie|title=Vale – Mrs Leita Boswell (nee Beattie)|publisher=Moreton Bay College|access-date=12 July 2024|date=29 November 2021}}</ref>
Boswell published his memoirs, ''Ron Boswell: Not Pretty, But Pretty Effective'', in December 2023.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Ron Boswell|others=with Joanne Newbery|title=Ron Boswell: Not Pretty, But Pretty Effective|date=December 2023|publisher=Connor Court Publishing|isbn=978-1-922815-85-9 }}</ref>
Boswell developed acute respiratory distress syndrome after knee surgery in 2019 and was hospitalised for four months with pneumonia, kidney failure and lung failure.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.couriermail.com.au/health/conditions/former-senator-ron-boswell-champions-lung-research-after-surviving-ards/news-story/491f849c7b7790733d1d0aa2666c4fa2|title=Ex-Senator's health nightmare after routine knee surgery|newspaper=The Courier-Mail|date=15 December 2025|first=Rachel|last=Riley|access-date=28 May 2026}}</ref> He died on 6 January 2026 at the age of 85.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Scott |first=Mackenzie |date=6 January 2026 |title=National Party stalwart and former Queensland senator Ron Boswell dies aged 85 |url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/national-party-stalwart-and-former-queensland-senator-ron-boswell-dies-aged-85/news-story/14d49b940f89bcad2492505ab76d9d49 |url-access=subscription |website=The Australian}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name| 0962834}}
{{s-start}} {{S-par| au}} {{s-bef | before = John Watson}} {{s-ttl | title = Father of the Australian Senate | years = 2008–2014}} {{s-aft | after = John Faulkner}} {{S-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=John Stone }} {{s-ttl|title=Leader of the Nationals in the Senate | years = 1990–2007}} {{s-aft|after=Nigel Scullion }} {{s-bef|before=Nigel Scullion }} {{s-ttl|title=Deputy Leader of the National Party of Australia in the Senate | years=2007–2008}} {{s-aft|after=Fiona Nash }} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boswell, Ron}} Category:1940 births Category:2026 deaths Category:20th-century Australian politicians Category:21st-century Australian politicians Category:Delegates to the Australian Constitutional Convention 1998 Category:Liberal National Party of Queensland members of the Parliament of Australia Category:Members of the Australian Senate for Queensland Category:Members of the Australian Senate Category:National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Category:Officers of the Order of Australia Category:People educated at St Joseph's College, Gregory Terrace Category:Politicians from Perth, Western Australia