Wallace Clyde Fife (2 October 1929 – 16 November 2017) was an Australian politician and minister in the New South Wales Government and Federal Government.

Early life

Fife was born in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, and was educated at Wagga Wagga Public School, Wagga Wagga and Canberra Grammar School. In 1948 he started working in the federal secretariat of the Liberal Party and in 1949 he joined his family business, Fifes Produce Pty Ltd, in Wagga Wagga. He married Marcia Hargreaves Stanley in May 1952 and they had two daughters and two sons.

Political career

Fife was elected as the member for Wagga Wagga in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1957. He was Minister for Mines from June 1967 to January 1975, Minister for Conservation from March 1971 to June 1972, Minister for Power from June 1972 to January 1975 and Minister for Transport and Minister for Highways from January 1975 until his retirement from the New South Wales Parliament in October 1975. Under his ministership many rural railway stations were closed. The member for the federal seat of Farrer David Fairbairn had announced his resignation and Fife was pre-selected as the Liberal candidate for the next federal election. Fife was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the member for Farrer at the election on 13 December 1975. He was Minister for Business and Consumer Affairs from July 1977 to December 1979, Minister for Education from December 1979 to May 1982 and Minister for Aviation from May 1982 until the defeat of the Fraser government at the March 1983 election. Following an electoral distribution that moved Wagga Wagga into the Division of Hume, he stood for and won that seat at the 1984 election. His role in Opposition included a stint as Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives between May 1989 and April 1990, since Liberal deputy leader Fred Chaney was still a Senator. He retired from parliament prior to the 1993 election. Fife departure came as a result of seat redistribution that the National Party benefitted from and Fife was resentful to Liberal Leader John Hewson for not saving his career Fife and others came to see Hewson's leadership as ineffective and Fife's departure was seen as Hewson not having much influence in the Liberal Party.https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/133338929

Honours