Charles Blunt
Charles William Blunt (born 19 January 1951) is a former Australian politician who served as leader of the National Party of Australia from 1989 to 1990.
For other people named Charles Blunt, see Charles Blunt (disambiguation).
Charles Blunt
Early life[edit]
Blunt was born in Sydney and graduated from the University of Sydney with a degree in economics. After working in various positions he was hired as New South Wales State Director of the National Party.
Politics[edit]
At a by-election on 18 February 1984, he was elected to the House of Representatives for the Division of Richmond in northern New South Wales, despite having had no previous connections with the area. He succeeded the former Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the NPA, Doug Anthony, who had resigned his seat.
Blunt was immediately promoted to the opposition front bench, serving as shadow Minister for Social Services. He was returned to parliament at the 1984 and 1987 general elections.
Later life[edit]
After leaving politics Blunt went into business. He led a number of trade and investment missions to the United States and was a regular speaker at international trade and investment outlook conferences. In 1992 he became National Director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia, resigning in 2013. He is also currently chair of a number of publicly listed companies, including Capital Trade and Policy and Palamedia.
In 2014, Blunt appeared in a documentary about the Nationals, "A Country Road: The Nationals" in which he talked about his time as Nationals leader. On the same programme, John Sharp, a Nationals MP at the time of Blunt's leadership, said that in hindsight it was a mistake for Sinclair to be replaced as leader by Blunt.[2]