Isobel Mary Redmond (born 8 April 1953) is an Australian former politician who served as the leader of the Opposition in South Australia and the leader of the South Australian Liberal Party from 2009 and 2013. She was the member of parliament (MP) for the electorate of Heysen from 2002 to 2018.
Redmond was born in Engadine and raised in Heathcote, completing her education in 1971. Redmond funded her education on her own while she worked as a clerk in the Crown Solicitor's Office and pursued law studies part time by taking night classes. After traveling around Australia and getting involved with the Australian Labor Party for some time, she relocated to Adelaide Hills in 1978 along with her husband. As a solicitor, she ran her own firm and opened up a private practice in Stirling after winning the lottery in the early 1990s. She had legal practice with regards to native title cases for the Mirning people. Redmond was also active in local councils, including serving as the president of the Rotary Club of Stirling.
In 2002, Redmond won a seat in the South Australian House of Assembly as the Liberal MP for Heysen by taking a majority vote after preferences were distributed and thereby succeeded David Wotton. In 2004, she joined Rob Kerin's shadow cabinet as shadow minister of Housing, Families and Communities, Ageing and Disability. In her capacity as shadow minister for these departments, she actively took part in formulating opposition policy on and participating in debate regarding disability services, care standards and heritage related issues. Following the electoral loss by the Liberal Party in 2006, she occupied important positions in the shadow ministry under both Iain Evans and Martin Hamilton-Smith as shadow Attorney-General and Shadow Minister for Justice, Arts and subsequently for Road Safety. As such, she participated in debates on law reform, rights of victims, criminal law and professional conduct in the legal sector. She also had a hand in debates on internal party leadership as well as introducing Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) reform measures and heritage protection legislation.
Redmond served as Leader of the South Australian Liberal Party from July 2009 to January 2013, following a party-room ballot in which she defeated Vickie Chapman. As leader, she led the Liberal Party at the 2010 South Australian state election and continued in the role of Opposition Leader following the election outcome. During her leadership, she held positions on issues including anti-corruption reform, public sector administration, infrastructure policy, and parliamentary procedures, and was involved in negotiations and debate surrounding the establishment of a state ICAC. She remained leader following an internal leadership challenge in 2012 but resigned in January 2013 due to ongoing internal party tensions, and continued as the member for Heysen until her retirement from parliament at the 2018 state election.
Early life and education Redmond was born on 8 April 1953 in Engadine and grew up in Heathcote near Wollongong. She attended Heathcote High School, completing her secondary education in 1971. Redmond attended public schools and funded her own university studies, later becoming the first member of her family to attend university. In her youth, she owned a terrace house in Newtown, which was later purchased by Frank Sartor. At the age of 18 or 19, she travelled across Australia on a three-week bus trip and visited the Adelaide Hills for the first time, later deciding she wanted to live there. While studying law through night classes with the New South Wales Barristers Admission Board, she worked as a clerk in the Crown Solicitor's Office. In her twenties, Redmond briefly joined the Australian Labor Party but left after attending one meeting.
After relocating to the Adelaide Hills with her husband in 1978, Redmond established a legal practice and later opened her own office in Stirling in the early 1990s after winning A$25,000 on a scratch lottery ticket received from her parents at Christmas. During her legal career, she became involved in a native title claim for the Mirning people despite having no prior experience in the field. The work involved extensive travel across the Nullarbor Plain and engagement with Indigenous communities over several years. Redmond became involved in politics through local government and community advocacy in the Adelaide Hills. During the 1980s, she campaigned against redevelopment proposals for the main street of Aldgate. She served on the Stirling District Council from 1982 to 1987 and later worked as a self-employed solicitor for six years before entering parliament. Simultaneously, she was also the president of the Rotary Club of Stirling from 1999 to 2000.
Political career
Redmond was elected to the parliament of South Australia on 9 February 2002 to the seat of Heysen for the South Australian Liberal Party. Redmond obtained 8,042 votes in the primary voting, which marked a swing of -3.8%, giving her 8,699 votes after the allocation of preferences, or 55.7% of the two-party-preferred vote. She succeeded David Wotton following his retirement.
Kerin shadow ministry (2002–2006) Redmond was appointed as Shadow Minister for Housing and Shadow Minister for Families and Communities in the shadow cabinet of Rob Kerin. This was on 1 April 2004. She also took up the portfolios of Shadow Minister for Ageing and Shadow Minister for Disability on 18 April. On 12 July, Redmond called for an independent inquiry headed by a retired judge or Queen's Counsel concerning a matter at the Strathmont Centre due to concerns over oversight and professional standards within disability care facilities. At the same time, she supported the proposed sale of Beechwood Garden in Stirling but argued for protection of the building's heritage value through legislation. On 18 September, following the Vini Ciccarello affair, Redmond said that improper behavior within the parliament would be taken seriously regardless of the gender of the person involved.
On 16 February 2005, Redmond called for stronger safeguards for vulnerable people in care after a worker dismissed for inappropriate conduct was later employed at another institution. She criticised deficiencies in employment screening procedures within the state's disability sector. On 28 April, Redmond called for a parliamentary inquiry into assault allegations involving Peter Lewis, stating that the member should be publicly identified if the claims were substantiated. During the same year, she introduced the Heritage (Beechwood Garden) Amendment Bill 2005. On 6 March 2006, Redmond completed her tenure as shadow ministers for Housing and Families and Communities, and took up portfolio as Shadow Minister for Justice and Shadow Attorney-General.
Evans and Hamilton-Smith shadow ministries (2006–2009) After the defeat of the Liberal Party in the 2006 South Australian state election, Kerin resigned as leader and was succeeded by Iain Evans. Redmond announced on 24 March that she would contest the party leadership following Hamilton-Smith's decision not to stand, contributing to internal leadership tensions and shadow cabinet resignations. She later criticised the proposed amendments to the DNA laws of South Australia on 7 June. Later that year, on 11 December, she drew criticism from Premier Mike Rann for participating in a rave as research on ecstasy usage with Sandra Kanck. Redmond brought up the issue regarding the lack of compensation provided to the alleged victim of sexual assault on 8 February 2007, calling for more transparency in the decision-making process because the Rann government was failing to sufficiently support victims of crime.
On 12 April 2007, Hamilton-Smith succeeded Evans as the party leader after defeating him in a very tight vote in the party room. It was later Redmond who tabled the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) Bill 2008. She then became the Shadow Minister for the Arts on 26 January. On 13 February, she commented on the government's legislation concerning outlaw motorcycle gangs, which she believed to be overly punitive and politically motivated. Then on 23 May, she delayed her support towards national changes in the legal profession, urging for better protection of victims of fraud in law firm trust accounts. On 6 June, she called for more priority should be given towards compensation to victims of trust account theft rather than other legal reforms including establishing a government-backed guarantee scheme. On 16 December, she expressed concern that high legal costs could discourage members of the Stolen Generations from pursuing compensation claims. On 27 April 2009, she was appointed Shadow Minister for Road Safety.
Leader of the Opposition (2009–2013) From 4 to 8 July 2009, Redmond served briefly as Deputy Leader of the Opposition. After seven years in the House of Assembly, she was elected Leader of the South Australian Liberal Party with Steven Griffiths as deputy. Following the resignation of Hamilton-Smith, she won the contest against Vickie Chapman at a party room meeting on 8 July 2009, winning 13–9 and becoming the first woman to lead a major political party in South Australia. Her appointment came after an era of turmoil within the ranks of the Liberals, characterised by friction between Hamilton-Smith and Chapman, resulting in further changes to the party's leadership. During that time, Redmond was viewed as an anti-politician who did not belong to any political factions. Senator Nick Minchin of the federal Liberal Party was also in favour of Redmond.
Redmond said on 9 July 2009 that the Rann government was not ready for her style of leadership and that she had ignored Labor's criticism about her stance in relation to the anti-bikie laws and law and order policies by referring to her record of voting in parliament. On 20 July, she was appointed Shadow Minister for Multicultural Affairs. On 24 August, Redmond distanced herself from the Liberal Party conference decision which advocated a motion for discussion about nuclear power because she believed that South Australia would not benefit from such a source of energy. Rather, she advocated taxation reform and water security. Four days later, she defended the fundraising practices of her party but supported future political donation caps and argued that reforms would only be possible with equal playing conditions for the large political parties. On 9 November, she confirmed that she was prepared for taser testing after undergoing a medical test and that she believed that tasers were efficient policing tools and that the government should have moved faster in providing police officers with tasers. On 18 November, she declared the Liberal initiative for redevelopment of the Royal Adelaide Hospital instead of a new building project.
On 21 October 2009, Redmond made a public endorsement of the expanded usage of tasers by South Australia Police and declared that she would allow herself to be tased in order to prove that the taser was less dangerous than a gun. In fulfillment of her promise, on 15 December, Redmond participated in the taser demonstration which took place in the Adelaide offices of South Australian Liberal Party. There were a doctor and other people watching as well. Former police constable George Hateley administered a five-second stun cycle from the taser to Redmond's lower back and buttocks. According to Hateley, the taser only made one's muscles rigid without necessarily knocking someone down or making him scream.