Jeff Knuth

Jeffrey Alan Knuth (born 9 March 1962) is an Australian politician.

Jeff Knuth
Leader of the Country Party Queensland
In office 5 August 1999 – 2 May 2000 7 February 2004 – 6 September 2008
Deputy	Paddy Embry Frank Hough
Preceded by	Party established
Succeeded by	Party merged; (New Country Party, One Nation Queensland)
Party Whip in the Queensland Legislative Assembly
In office 23 June 1998 – 23 February 1999
Leader	Bill Feldman
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Jack Paff
Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Burdekin
In office 13 June 1998 – 17 February 2001
Preceded by	Mark Stoneman
Succeeded by	Steve Rodgers
Personal details
Born	Jeffrey Alan Knuth (1962-03-09) 9 March 1962 (age 63) Ayr, Queensland, Australia
Political party	One Nation (1997–1999; 2014–2017)
Other political affiliations	National (before 1997) Independent (1999; 2003–2004) Queensland Country (1999–2000) City Country Alliance (2000–2003) New Country (2004–2008) Liberal National (2008–2011) Australian (2011–2014)
Relations	Shane Knuth (brother)
Occupation	Painter and decorator (Self-employed)
Profession	Tradesman interior designer

Biography

Born in Ayr, Queensland, he was a painter and decorator before entering politics. In 1998, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland as a member of Pauline Hanson's One Nation, representing the seat of Burdekin. He was party whip and spokesperson for Public Works and Housing until 23 February 1999, when he resigned from the party to sit as an independent. On 5 August, he formed the Country Party Queensland (initially known as New Country Party QLD) as a splinter group from One Nation, but on 18 February 2000 joined the larger City Country Alliance, led by Bill Feldman.^[1] He was defeated by Labor's Steve Rodgers in 2001, and contested the seat in the 2004 state election as an independent with the support of federal independent MP Bob Katter. While he lost, his preferences were enough to help the Nationals' Rosemary Menkens defeat Rodgers. He later became aligned with the national New Country Party.

His brother, Shane Knuth, won the seat of Charters Towers for the National Party and later joined Katter's Australian Party with Jeff.

He rejoined One Nation in 2014. The following year, he contested the 2015 state election in the seat of Thuringowa as a One Nation candidate. He was unsuccessful in winning the seat, polling fourth with 7.4% of the vote.