July 11, 2022
A funeral will be held on Friday in Kingaroy for former Member for Barambah, Trevor Perrett, who died in Redcliffe Hospital on Sunday.
Mr Perrett was born on August 2, 1941, in Kingaroy and was raised on his parents’ property, ‘Mount Hope’, at Booie.
He was elected to State Parliament in April 1988 at a by-election triggered by the resignation of the sitting member, former Queensland Premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen.
Mr Perrett stood as a member of the Citizen’s Electoral Council (CEC), defeating the National Party’s preferred candidate, Kingaroy Shire chairman Warren Truss.
(Mr Truss went on to be elected as the National Party’s Member for Wide Bay at the 1990 Federal Election and served as Deputy Prime Minister from 2013-2016).
Just months after his election, Mr Perrett quit the CEC and joined the National Party.
He represented the then-seat of Barambah for 10 years and was a popular local MP, keeping an office in Glendon Street, Kingaroy, in a former arcade opposite the Council chambers.
However, a family crisis exposed by the metropolitan media tainted his later years in office and he was defeated at the 1998 poll by One Nation’s Dorothy “Dolly” Pratt, a local businesswoman.
The National Party suffered a 36 per cent swing against it at this election in a seat which had formerly been considered safe.
(Mrs Pratt later resigned from One Nation and served as an Independent MP for Barambah – later Nanango – until 2012 when the LNP’s Deb Frecklington was elected.)
Trouble again plagued Mr Perrett in his later years when he faced 25 charges relating to alleged incidents prior to his election to State Parliament.
The charges were dismissed last December.
Mr Perrett is survived by his wife Bunmee, brother Glen, son Tony (State MP for Gympie), daughter and their families.
His funeral will be held at Virgo’s Funeral Home Chapel from 11:00am on Friday, followed by interment in the Taabinga Lawn Cemetery.
