Syd Negus

Sydney Ambrose "Syd" Negus (12 March 1912 – 1 August 1986) was an Australian politician who was an Independent Senator for Western Australia from 1971 until 1974. He was previously a carpenter and building contractor.

Negus was elected largely on an anti-inheritance tax platform following the death of his brother, Oscar Negus a Justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia and a realisation of the impost of the tax on widows. His campaign established a groundswell of public support and Queensland was the first state to abolish inheritance taxes in 1977; the Commonwealth and other states followed soon after by abolishing their respective inheritance and gift taxes.

He was defeated in the 1974 election. He later contested the 1975 Bass by-election as an independent, and at the 1980 federal election for the far-right, anti-immigration Progressive Conservative Party.

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