tax proposal, noting that he believed "about 40 percent" of Australians opposed the GST altogether. He suggested that he would cross the floor to vote against it if his electorate opposed it, and requested that fruit and vegetables be granted an exemption from the tax. Marek was also resistant to the privatisation of Telstra, stating that he would not support the sale of any more than 49% of it. Along with Kelly and Katter, he broke with his national colleagues and directed preferences to One Nation above Labor at the election. The Sydney Morning Herald suggested during the campaign that Marek had "managed to neutralise much of the One Nation" insurrection" through his renegade policy stances and preference decisions. However, he was resoundingly defeated at the 1998 election by Labor candidate Kirsten Livermore. In 1999, he was the Townsville organiser of the "No" campaign in the 1999 Australian republic referendum. References 1964 births Living people National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Capricornia People from Mount Isa 20th-century Australian politicians