Magnus Cormack

Sir Magnus Cameron Cormack KBE (12 February 1906 – 26 November 1994) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Liberal Party and served multiple terms as a Senator for Victoria (1951–1953, 1962–1978), including as President of the Senate from 1971 to 1974.

Cormack was born in the Scottish Highlands and came to Australia as a child. He grew up in Adelaide and worked as a production manager with Holden for several years, later farming near Apsley, Victoria. During World War II he served in the New Guinea campaign and attained the rank of major. Cormack's first term in the Senate lasted only two years, during which he notably opposed the Menzies Government's attempt to ban the Communist Party. After several unsuccessful candidacies, he was re-elected at the 1961 federal election, becoming known for his committee work and support of John Gorton. Cormack was elected to the Senate presidency in 1971 and retained the position for the first term of the Whitlam government. After leaving politics he served as chairman of radio station 3XY. The proceeds from the sale of the radio licence were subsequently used to establish the Cormack Foundation, an investment vehicle for the Liberal Party.

Early life Cormack was born on 12 February 1906 in Wick, Caithness, Scotland. He was the oldest of five children born to Violet and William Petrie Cormack. His maternal grandfather John Macdonald Cameron was a Liberal Party member of the British House of Commons. Cormack's father, a medical doctor, decided to relocate to Australia for health reasons. A distant cousin was Sir Josiah Symon, a Senator for South Australia, who was also born in Wick. The family arrived in Adelaide in about 1912, and settled on the Eyre Peninsula south of Whyalla. Having begun his formal education in Scotland, Cormack attended a state school in Tumby Bay and then boarded at St Peter's College, Adelaide. From 1926 to 1931, he worked as a production manager with Holden.

During the Great Depression, Cormack went into dairy farming. In later life he observed "I had three dairy farms, and I lost money on every one of them, so I claim to know something about dairying". By 1934, he and his brothers John and William had acquired Koijak, a grazing property near Apsley, Victoria, close to the South Australian border. On 22 November 1935, Cormack married Mary Isabel Macmeikan (known as Mavis) at the registrar's office in Melbourne; she was a divorcee. The couple had four children together.

Early political involvement Cormack was a member of the Young Nationalists before the war, and joined the Liberal Party in 1946. At the 1947 Victorian state election, he managed William McDonald's campaign in the seat of Dundas, helping defeat the long-serving Labor incumbent Bill Slater. Cormack was subsequently recruited to the federal policy committee, at the urging of Robert Menzies and Richard Casey. He was state president of the Victorian Liberals from 1948 to 1949.

Senator At the 1951 election, Cormack was elected to the Senate in fifth place on the Coalition ticket in Victoria. He was one of the few Liberals to oppose the Menzies Government's attempts to ban the Communist Party, telling Menzies that it was "draconian". His first span in the Senate lasted only two years, as he was defeated at the 1953 half-Senate election. Shortly before his term ended, he was one of the senators chosen to represent Australia at the coronation of Elizabeth II. Cormack stood for the Senate at the 1955 election without success, and then the following year was defeated by George Hannan in a ballot to fill the casual vacancy caused by John Spicer's resignation. His losses led journalist Don Whitington to describe him as "the unluckiest man in post-war Australian politics".

After the disappearance of Prime Minister Harold Holt in 1967, Cormack played a role in John Gorton's ascension to the prime ministership. Their association dated back to the 1940s, when Cormack had helped recruit Gorton into the Liberal Party. According to Alan Reid, Liberal MPs "filed in and out of Cormack's room, some from other states, as votes for Gorton were lined up during the leadership struggle". The Liberal Party senators formed Gorton's power base, and Cormack helped keep them on-side during William McMahon's leadership challenges. Reid described him as "a manoeuvrer who preferred to work in the shadows than in strong sunlight".

President of the Senate Following the retirement of Alister McMullin, Cormack was elected President of the Senate on 17 August 1971, defeating Labor's Justin O'Byrne by 31 votes to 26. He had earlier defeated Reg Withers to become the Coalition's nominee for the position, despite Withers having the support of Prime Minister William McMahon. As president, Cormack was known as a defender of parliamentary sovereignty over the executive. He strongly supported the expansion of the committee system, which was a relatively recent innovation, and believed the Senate should function "largely as a committee chamber" rather than simply mirroring the House of Representatives. Fearing it was "degenerating into a propaganda forum", Cormack introduced new conventions for question time, allowing government ministers to terminate questions without notice and refusing to allow questions to be directed to assistant ministers. He also allowed ministers to cut short debate on a bill by simply moving that it be considered "urgent". Cormack played a role in the "Gair Affair" of 1974, which had implications for the Whitlam government's ability to pass legislation through the Senate. He refused to accept Vince Gair's purported resignation letter, instead judging it to be ambiguous and allowing the Senate to debate whether it should be accepted. It was expected that the vote for the presidency would be tied at 30 votes each for Cormack and the Labor nominee Justin O'Byrne, with the result determined by drawing lots. However, at least one Coalition senator voted for O'Byrne, who defeated Cormack by 31 votes to 29.

Later years In August 1974, Cormack and James Webster unsuccessfully challenged the legality of the first joint sitting of parliament. The High Court unanimously ruled that their challenge was invalid. and was a leading opponent of the Fraser government's 1977 referendum proposals; he chaired a campaign urging voters to vote "No" on all four questions. He was particularly critical of the proposal for simultaneous elections for the House and Senate, which was the only question where the "No" vote prevailed; he described it as "a fraud and a deceit" which would eventually lead to the Senate's abolition.

After leaving parliament, Cormack served as the chairman of 3XY, one of Melbourne's most popular music radio stations. The station had strong ties to the Liberal Party, and its articles of association provided that any proceeds from its sale would be transferred to organisations with shared goals. When the station licence was sold for $15 million in 1986, Cormack initially wished to divide the money between the Institute of Public Affairs, the Centre for Independent Studies, and other similar think tanks. However, Liberal Party official John Calvert-Jones convinced him that the money should be used to establish a new entity, which was named the Cormack Foundation. According to The Australian, the foundation's capital had grown to almost $70 million by 2017, and it had disbursed $60 million in dividends to the Liberal Party since its creation.

Cormack died in Melbourne on 26 November 1994, aged 88, after years of ill health. A memorial service was held at Old Parliament House.