Doug Lowe


Doug Lowe (Parliament of Tasmania)

Douglas Ackley Lowe (b 1942), politician, was born in Hobart, educated at St Virgil's College and apprenticed as an electrical fitter at the Electrolytic Zinc Works. Standing for the Labor Party, he entered the House of Assembly in 1969, and was elected Deputy Premier in 1975. On Neilson's retirement in 1977, he became Australia's youngest premier, aged 35. A self-styled 'social democrat', his four-year premiership was noted for consensus politics. He was dumped as Premier in 1981 over the Gordon-below-Franklin Dam issue, resigned from the Labor Party and moved to the crossbenches as an Independent. He was elected to the Legislative Council as an Independent in 1986. After 23 years in state parliament, he retired in 1992 to become the first executive officer for the Tasmanian branch of the Australian Medical Association.

Further reading: Tasmanian Parliamentary Library,Biographical Information File; Who's who in Australia, 2003; D Lowe, The price of power, Melbourne, 1984.

Wendy Rimon