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About Ray Chappell
- Raymond Francis Chappell (born 11 September 1942) is a former Australian politician.
- He was the National Party member for Northern Tablelands in the New South Wales Parliament from 1987 to 1999, and served as a minister from 1993 to 1995. Chappell was born in Melbourne, Victoria, the son of Eric and Phyllis Chappell.
- He was educated in Armidale in New South Wales at De La Salle College, receiving his Leaving Certificate in 1959.
- He went on to technical college, and was an administration clerk at the University of New England from 1960.
- On 1 February 1964 he married Annette Mary Napier, with whom he would have five children.In 1968, Chappell was elected to Armidale City Council, where he served until 1983.
- He left the university in 1977 to open a small retail business.
- During this period he became active in the National Party, holding positions on the state and federal electorate councils.
- In 1987 he was preselected as the National candidate for the local state seat of Northern Tablelands after the local member, Labor's Bill McCarthy, had died.
- Labor endorsed McCarthy's widow Thelma to contest the by-election, and in a tightly fought campaign Chappell emerged the victor with a small 2.5% margin.A subsequent redistribution delivered Chappell a safer margin, and he was comfortably reelected at the 1988 state election, actually winning enough primary votes to retain the seat without the need for preferences.
- In 1993 he was appointed Minister for Small Business and Regional Development, but he lost that position when Labor won office in 1995.
- In 1999, he was challenged for his seat by Richard Torbay, a popular former mayor of Armidale who was running as an independent.
- In a surprise result, Torbay defeated Chappell convincingly.
- Chappell lost 18 percent of his primary vote from 1995, taking 34.09% to Torbay's 44.15%.
- Ultimately, Torbay won with a two-party-preferred margin of 59.37%.
- After his defeat Chappell retired from politics.
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