Lawrence Ministry

The Lawrence Ministry was the 31st Ministry of the Government of Western Australia, and was led by Labor Premier Dr Carmen Lawrence and her deputy Ian Taylor. It succeeded the Dowding Ministry on 18 February 1990, following the resignation of Peter Dowding six days earlier following an open letter signed by a majority of the 47-member Labor caucus. The ministry was in turn succeeded by the Court–Cowan Ministry on 16 February 1993 after the Labor Party lost government at the state election held on 6 February.

Of the former Dowding ministry, 15 of the 17 ministers retained office—Peter Dowding and Julian Grill were not reappointed, and backbenchers Pam Buchanan (Ashburton) and Dr Geoff Gallop (Victoria Park) took their place. Two months later, former Deputy Premier David Parker resigned from both the Ministry and from Parliament.

At a caucus meeting held on 29 January 1991, a spill motion was carried which created three vacancies in the Ministry. On 5 February, Jeff Carr, Gavan Troy and Pam Buchanan were removed as Ministers, whilst Eric Ripper, Dr Judyth Watson and Jim McGinty were sworn in. A major crisis was precipitated when Carr resigned from Parliament, with his seat of Geraldton being won by a Liberal at a by-election, whilst Troy ceased to attend caucus meetings and Buchanan resigned from the party, sitting as an Independent. With the resignation of left-wing MLA Dr Ian Alexander a month later, the Government was forced to depend on independents in the Legislative Assembly to maintain supply—the first time Western Australia had had minority government since 1905.

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