Jim Fouras

Who is Jim Fouras?

Demetrios "Jim" Fouras is a former Australian politician. Born in Greece, he migrated to Queensland, where he was a research chemist and then a marketing economist with the Department of Primary Industries. In 1977, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland as the Labor member for South Brisbane. He held the seat until 1986, when he was defeated for preselection by Anne Warner. He returned to the Assembly in 1989, winning the seat of Ashgrove, which he held until his retirement in 2006. Fouras was Speaker of the Legislative Assembly from 1990 to 1996.

Fouras' tenure as Speaker would have ended earlier in 1995 when he was not renominated by the ALP caucus as its candidate for Speaker, choosing instead Henry Palaszczuk. The party had just been re-elected to government at the 1995 Queensland state election with a one-seat majority.

The dumping of Fouras as Speaker by his ALP colleagues raised the prospect of him being re-elected with the support of the Coalition, as he would have had the numbers to beat Palaszczuk on the floor of Parliament.

Fearing that outcome, the ALP withdrew Palaszczuk's candidacy for Speaker and Fouras was re-elected with the support of his ALP colleagues. Upon his re-election as Speaker, the Coalition claimed that even if the ALP had not reversed its decision on Fouras, he would have been re-elected over Palaszczuk, not just with the support of the Coalition but also some ALP MPs. The claim that some ALP members would have broken the party line to support Fouras has been disputed by the ALP.