John Wayne Olsen AO (born 7 June 1945) is an Australian politician, diplomat and football commissioner. He was Premier of South Australia between 28 November 1996 and 22 October 2001.
Olsen was twice the parliamentary leader of the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia in the South Australian House of Assembly, from 1982 to 1990 and again from 1996 to 2001. He unsuccessfully led the party to both the 1985 election and 1989 election. After the 1989 election he left South Australian parliament to fill a casual vacancy in the Australian Senate. He returned to the South Australian parliament in 1992, but was defeated for the Liberal party leadership by Dean Brown.
However, in 1996, Olsen successfully challenged Brown for the Liberal leadership, and hence became Premier. He led the party to a narrow victory at the 1997 election, and remained Premier until 2001. He resigned in 2001, after he was found to have misled parliament during the Motorola affair. Olsen is the longest-serving Liberal Party of Australia Premier of South Australia and the fourth-longest-serving Leader of the Opposition.
After politics Olsen worked as a diplomat and political lobbyist. He became the State President of the South Australian Liberal Party in June 2017. He previously held that position from 1976 to 1979. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in January 2007.
More recently, he has been chairman of the Adelaide Football Club and deputy chairman of the Adelaide Oval Stadium Management Authority.
Early life and education
John Wayne Olsen was born on 7 June 1945 in Kadina, South Australia. later completing a certificate in business studies at the University of Adelaide and becoming a fellow of the National Institute of Accountants.
Olsen began his working career in 1962 as a clerk with the Savings Bank of South Australia. He later became managing director of the family business J. R. Olsen & Sons Pty Ltd, a car and machinery dealer. He served as president of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of South Australia from 1974 to 1976. He was the final mayor before the town was merged into the District Council of Kadina.
In 1976, Olsen was elected president of the Liberal Party of Australia (South Australian Division), serving until 1979. Sharp increases in the retail price of electricity, a consequence of the working of the National Electricity Market, contributed to the growing unpopularity of the government.
Olsen steered water management and conservation projects, including the recycling of water from Adelaide's Bolivar Water Treatment Plant to the Northern Adelaide Plains. He also endorsed and facilitated the Barossa Water Project, a water distribution scheme from the River Murray to the Barossa Valley floor, alleviating the Barossa Valley winegrowers' water irrigation problems and boosting annual production by $30 million.
While in office, he negotiated a $850 million "smart-city" redevelopment of Adelaide's northern suburban area (Mawson Lakes) and facilitated the contract negotiations and construction of the Adelaide-Darwin Rail line.
The Olsen government also secured major sporting events including the Tour Down Under cycling event and V8 Supercar Series. The Tour Down Under became an economic plus for South Australia, generating almost 40,000 visitors and $50 million in economic benefit during the annual event in 2015. The V8 Supercar series, later known as Clipsal 500 and then Adelaide 500, attracted in the years leading up to 2016.
Olsen pursued a vigorous program of economic reform through the corporatisation and privatisation of government services which included the single largest public outsourcing project of its kind at the time in the world – the outsourcing of the State's water industry, a contract which included the establishment of a private sector water industry.
Resignation
In 1998, an inquiry was established into the process of bringing the technology company Motorola to South Australia. The first report prepared by former chief magistrate Jim Cramond cleared Olsen of any wrongdoing. A second report prepared by Dean Clayton, QC, found Olsen had misled parliament, and also found that Olsen had made representations to Cramond that were labelled "misleading and inaccurate", "dishonest" and had "no factual basis". Olsen denied any wrongdoing, saying "...I absolutely refute Mr Clayton's assertion. The report clearly indicates there are no criminal activities, no illegal activities." Nonetheless, amid speculation that he would face a leadership challenge, he resigned as Premier on 10 October 2001. He did not stand for re-election in 2002.
Following the Clayton report, the matter was referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Paul Rofe, QC. The Director of Public Prosecutions found no illegal activity and disagreed with some of the findings from the Clayton report. Olsen claimed he was vindicated, noting that two out of three reports had cleared him of any wrongdoing. In 2018 Olsen stated that "I note that the standard I applied to myself at the time seems to have disappeared from modern politics.” Olsen was successful. He had previously served as state president in 1979, before giving up the post to enter parliament. On 7 December 2005, his Liberal Party colleague and fellow South Australian, Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer announced that Olsen would become the new Australian Consul-General in New York.
Olsen started G'Day USA in 2004, a week-long program showcasing the best of Australia. The program expanded to New York in 2007 and has become the largest annual foreign country promotion in the United States. He is a life member of the West Adelaide Football Club with whom he was the number-one ticket holder for 17 years.
Olsen has been deputy chairman of the Adelaide Oval Stadium Management Authority.
On 13 October 2020 Olsen was announced as the chairman of the board of directors of the Adelaide Football Club, one of two Adelaide-based professional Australian rules football clubs participating in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Other roles
Olsen is now president of the Federal Liberal Party, chairman of the Australian American Association,.
Personal life
Olsen married Julie Abbott in 1968, with whom he has two sons and a daughter.