constituency predecessor successor birth_place nationality party birth_date order term_start spouse article_title term_end name
warren-blackwood matt birney troy buswell manjimup , western australia australian independent -lrb- former liberal -rrb- 26 may 1950 leader of the opposition in western australia 24 march 2006 ros omodei paul omodei
 17 january 2008 paul omodei
paul omodei

paul domenic omodei -lrb- born 26 may 1950 -rrb- , australian politician , was the leader of the liberal party and leader of the opposition in western australia from 24 march 2006 until 17 january 2008 .
omodei was born in manjimup , a town in the south west of western australia , and was of italian ancestry .
he attended st joseph 's school in pemberton and worked as a potato farmer and horticulturalist in the area .
in 1977 , he became a councillor on the manjimup shire council , and from 1985 until 1989 , he served as shire president .
at the 1989 election , he won the previously safe labor seat of warren for the liberal party in the western australian legislative assembly .
in 1992 , he became the shadow minister for local government .
when the liberals won power under richard court at the 1993 election , he became minister for local government -- a post he held for both of court 's terms of office -- and water resources .
in 1995 , he moved from water resources to multicultural and ethnic affairs .
in 1996 , he won the enlarged seat of warren-blackwood .
in 1997 , he added the disability services portfolio and in 1999 forest products .
following the defeat of the court government at the 2001 election , omodei held various shadow cabinet posts , including local government , emergency services and regional development .
at the 2005 election , where labor achieved a decisive victory , colin barnett resigned as leader of the party , and matt birney was elected in barnett 's stead , with omodei elected deputy leader .
he was forced to resign in october 2005 after he was convicted of unlawfully shooting his son during a rabbit cull .
his son 's thumb was shot after the gun accidentally went off while being loaded .
an appeal against the conviction was dismissed .
news coverage during the latter part of birney 's time in office centred on an alleged breach of parliamentary disclosure rules and several gaffes .
after a botched attempt to sack shadow attorney-general sue walker , a leadership spill was declared on 24 march 2006 , which omodei narrowly won after deputy leader troy buswell voted for him over birney .
in mid-2007 , with increasingly hostile coverage from the state newspaper of record , the west australian , and the liberal opposition 's failure to make ground on any key issue against the government despite a number of scandals , speculation emerged in the media that omodei would be replaced as leader by his deputy , troy buswell after the federal election on 24 november 2007 .
in december , newspoll recorded omodei 's preferred premier rating as 13 % against premier alan carpenter 's 63 % -- ranking as one of the lowest ever figures for an opposition leader in australia .
although preselected for the winnable second seat for the south west legislative council region , a state conference on 3 may 2008 lowered him to fourth place , and he subsequently announced his resignation from the liberal party .
in his announcement , he stated that in his opinion , buswell was `` not a fit and proper person to lead the party '' .
however , he did not make his resignation official until 19 june .
