Robin Chapple was first elected to the Western Australian Legislative Council on February 10, 2001. He was is the first member of the Greens (WA)(link is external)ever elected for the vast Mining and Pastoral Region. In the State Election of 6 September 2008 Robin was re-elected for the region and has retained the seat in both the 2013 and 2017 elections. He retired from Parliament at the 2021 election.
With a background in engineering, Aboriginal community development, local government, and mining, Robin Chapple is well qualified to represent the vast Mining and Pastoral Region. Chief among his concerns are the controversial Browse LNG development proposed for James Price Point north of Broome, uranium mines planned for the Goldfields, brown coal extraction and fracking projected for the Kimberley, Indigenous health and housing and the occupational health and safety of miners throughout the state.
Robin was born in the United Kingdom and migrated to Australia in 1974. In the 1970s and 1980s he worked in various Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory and for the Water Authority and BHP in Port Hedland. He was a Port Hedland Town Councillor for seven years and chaired the 1988 inaugural North West Games, the largest regional games ever held in Australia. He was co-founder of L.E.A.F. (Local Environment Affinity Force) and took an active role in paper recycling, tree planting and providing comment on developments proposed for the region.
In 1990, Robin campaigned for the election of Jo Vallentine to the Senate and joined the Greens (WA). He was employed as coordinator of the Anti-Nuclear Alliance of Western Australia for a number of years, campaigning against the establishment of a uranium mining industry in WA and the proposed Pangea international nuclear waste dump.
Robin has stood as a Greens candidate more times than any other member. His first campaign was for the House of Representatives in 1990 and he first ran unsuccessfully for the Mining and Pastoral seat in 1993.
In his more than 17 years in Parliament Robin is best remembered for his preparation of a Bill in 2002 to allow voluntary euthanasia in WA. He reintroduced the Bill in 2010, and in 2019 gave the first reading in the Upper House to the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill, which passed Parliament in December 2019.
Robin also spent his entire time in Parliament as a member (and four years as Deputy Chair) of the Joint Standing Committee on Delegated Legislation, during which he was associated with more than 50 reports.