Russell and Penny Cooper.

THERE’S nothing quite like the “university of the bush” to prepare for the rough and tumble of political life.

Russell “Coop” Cooper, a former member of the Australian National Party whose political career includes a brief 73-day tenure as Premier of Queensland, was a cattle producer before he was drawn into politics in the early 80s.

When in office, Cooper never shied away from a hard job. In fact, he relished a challenge, such as reforming Queensland’s corrupt and inhumane corrective services system, and convincing an unwilling state electorate to accept then-Prime Minister John Howard’s gun laws in the wake of the 1996 Port Arthur massacre.

Russell Cooper launching the Nationals 1989 state election campaign.

He owes his ability to make tough decisions – and stick to them – to life on the land.

“In the bush, you make life or death decisions. People like me can make decisions and make them when they are needed,” he told Beef Central in an interview.

Cooper has just finished his memoir. Titled Coop, The Reluctant Premier, the book follows his political journey from local government to state Premier – a position he says he took begrudgingly to secure the long term prospects of the Queensland National Party at the expense of his own career – and ensuing years in opposition and in power.

The project began as a long-held promise to his family. He often struggled to explain his political decisions to friends and family, he says, and instead promised that he would, one day, write it all down.

He also sees the book as an opportunity to add his voice to the state’s rich history as a local and state politician for nearly two decades, and to set the record straight on a few pertinent matters.

Like any politician, Cooper faced his fair share of drama. He offers his own account of the Memorandum of Understanding incident with Queensland Police Union during the 1996 Mundingburra by-election campaign, for example, and his change of heart on issues such as legalising homosexuality, which featured in his 1989 state election campaign as Premier.

“I realised I was on the wrong track … so I changed my silly views.”

In many ways, the political landscape described in Cooper’s book remains largely unchanged – he also faced scandals, backroom deals and a volatile media presence – but Cooper asserts that things today are different.

For a start, he says voters are more polarised. Growing up on a farm near Texas, near the NSW border in western Queensland, he grew up alongside “old school” Labor voters who he describes as “salt of the earth” types who “stood roughly for the same thing”.

He also says social media has changed the game significantly and given politicians a much bigger platform.

A positive outlook for rural Australia

Overall, Cooper is positive about the future of Australian regions, particularly in Queensland.

“Country towns are doing really well.”

The newly elected Member for Roma at Queensland Parliament in Brisbane in 1983.

Cooper says it’s important that these communities have politicians that represent them.

“The rural and regional Australia must never be allowed to fall behind the city areas, they are the guts of the Australian community.”

In the book, Cooper says he tried hard to be attentive to constituents, unless their demands were unreasonable, such as one farmer who asked him how he would stop kangaroos eating his wheat when he was councillor for the Bendemere Shire Council. In response, Cooper offered to lend the farmer a few bullets.

He says only around 2 per cent of people made these sorts of demands – the other 98 per cent understood the role of their representatives, he says, and how much they could realistically do to help.

Now, he says the “whinging” has subsided even further as farmers and rural communities have worked out there’s “no use blaming the government” and are focused on the job at hand.

“There’s so much more they can do now, they can move into different industries and that’s making them get really strong and resilient.”

He’s also pleased to see an appreciation for rural life in the younger generation

“A lot of the kids will have to move into the provincial towns and cities, but they also have a great love of the land.”

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