Tim Fischer

Australian politician who served as National Party leader for nearly a decade (1990-99). Tim Fischer was educated at Xavier College, Melbourne. He saw military service in Vietnam as a platoon commander and transport officer in the First Royal Australian Regiment in 1967. After a career in New South Wales state politics, where he was a member of the Country Party - later the National Country Party and from 1982 the National Party - in the House of Assembly, Fischer entered the federal parliament in 1984, representing the interests of farmers and country people. He rose through the ranks to become the National Party leader in 1990. Fischer served as deputy prime minister and trade minister in John Howard's Liberal government from 1996 to 1999. He resigned as National Party leader in 1999 and retired from politics in 2001, after which he took on a variety of public service positions. In January 2009, Fischer became the Australian ambassador to the Holy See (the government of the Roman Catholic Church in Vatican City); he held the post until 2012.