Rise and fall of Mr Brooks

When successful businessman Adam Brooks was elected to Parliament at the 2010 State Election the Liberal Party must have thought they were on a winner.

Adam Brooks

WHEN successful businessman Adam Brooks was elected to Parliament at the 2010 State Election the Liberal Party must have thought they were on a winner.

The knockabout bloke and self-made millionaire — universally known on the North-West Coast as “Brooksy” — made his money providing services to the mining and construction industries.

In his first run at politics, Mr Brooks polled the second-highest number of votes for the Liberals in Braddon and took his seat in the House of Assembly.

He was just the sort of local member the Liberals were looking for — an astute businessman with a common touch and good contacts in industry. As a bonus he was a generous donor to the party.

He was wildly popular in Braddon, so much so that the he out-polled all other candidates in the 2014 poll when the Hodgman Government swept to power.

He was promoted to Cabinet in February 2016 after the resignation of Paul Harriss and that’s when things started to go wrong.

The portfolios of mining, racing and building and construction should have been a perfect combination for Mr Brooks.

But he was unable to untangle himself from his business interests and was caught using his mining service company email while he controlled the mining portfolio and resigned from Cabinet.

A damning Integrity Commission report revealed Mr Brooks failed to accurately advise the Premier and deleted emails which exposed his wrongdoing.

Yesterday he resigned from parliament, effective from today, ending a troubled time for both Mr Brooks and the Liberal Party.

NO PAYOUT AS CRACKER NIGHT SAVIOUR STEPS DOWN

The fact is the Brooks saga dragged on too long and should have been handled with more urgency than that demonstrated by the Government.

It was clear from the beginning that Mr Brooks had done the wrong thing and attempts to cover it up ended up being more costly.

Public office is not for everyone and clearly Mr Brooks and a career in politics was not an easy fit.

While many enjoy the national sport of politician bashing, the lot of a local member is not an easy one. They are constantly in the spotlight, the hours are long and unpredictable and they have to give up many aspects of a previous life to be a politician. Many have to sever their ties with businesses and forgo income streams to meet the strict rules of holding office. In the end Mr Brooks could not do that and did not play by those rules.

It’s a shame.

Politics needs successful people with real-life experience. But popularity and business success does not automatically make someone a good politician, as the Adam Brooks experience shows.

His departure is a blow for the Liberals. In pure vote-winning terms, they will be weaker without him.

Joan Rylah is likely to replace him on a recount. She is still a relatively inexperienced politician and her inclusion is not likely to immediately add more talent to the frontbench, which is already struggling under a heavy workload.