Doug Anthony grew up in Murwillumbah, a regional town in far north-eastern New South Wales. In 1948, he graduated from UQ’s Gatton College with a Queensland Diploma in Agriculture, after which he returned to Murwillumbah to take up dairy farming.
Politically, Mr Anthony is remembered for his staunch representation of rural and regional interests.
When Britain joined the Common Market in the 1970s, he openly condemned the Commonwealth for abandoning Australian rural exports. With the UK’s admission to the European Union, the ‘special’ trade relationship with the UK – which was founded on the original Imperial Preference for products with Commonwealth countries – ended abruptly, and Australian exports were instead met with tariffs and quotas.
In a statement, current National Party leader and Deputy Prime Minister, Michael McCormack, credited Mr Anthony as the then-Trade Minister with expanding trade with China and Japan, as well as fostering new trade opportunities in South East Asia and the Middle East.
Other key achievements include his introduction of wheat quotas and a wool reserve price scheme, reconstruction of the dairy industry, the Australian Wool Commission, and the upgrading of Australian export abattoirs to US standards to maintain the beef trade.
