Ian Robinson (Australian politician)


Ian Louis Robinson was an Australian politician.
Born in Coraki, New South Wales, he was educated at state schools before becoming a dairy farmer, a journalist and company director. In 1953 he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the Country Party member for Casino, holding the seat until 1963, when he retired to contest the Australian House of Representatives seat of Cowper. Cowper had been won in 1961 by Labor's Frank McGuren, who had defeated the ailing longtime Country Party member and former caretaker Prime Minister Earle Page, who had been too ill to campaign. Robinson defeated McGuren, and became Assistant Minister assisting the Postmaster-General, Alan Hulme, on 20 August 1971. Robinson lost the position when the Coalition was defeated in the 1972 federal election. He held Cowper until 1984, when he transferred to the new seat of Page, which had absorbed much of the urbanised portion of Cowper. He held Page until 1990, when he was defeated by Labor's Harry Woods.
Robinson died on 23 March 2017, aged 91. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in the 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours for "service to the Parliaments of Australia and New South Wales".