Richard Fairfax Court (born 27 September 1947) is a former Australian politician and diplomat. He served as Premier of Western Australia from 1993 to 2001 and as Australian Ambassador to Japan from 2017 to 2020. A member of the Liberal Party, he represented the Perth-area electorate of Nedlands in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1982 to 2001. His father, Sir Charles Court, also served as state premier. Early life Court was born into a political family. His father, Sir Charles Court, was the previous member for Nedlands (1953–1982) and served as Premier from 1974 to 1982. His older brother Barry Court was president of the Pastoralists' and Graziers' Association, married Margaret Court, and became President of the Liberal Party of Western Australia in March 2008. Richard Court was educated at Hale School and graduated from the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1968. He subsequently spent a year as a management trainee at Ford Motor Company in the United States, and on his return to Western Australia, operated a number of businesses including food retailing and the manufacture, wholesale and retail of marine and boating equipment. Political career In March 1982, at a by-election upon the retirement of his father from politics, Court was elected to represent his father's seat of Nedlands, located in Perth's wealthy beachside suburbs, in the state legislature. His time as a government backbencher was short-lived, however, as the opposition Labor Party and its charismatic leader, Brian Burke, won the 1983 state election. Court was elevated to the shadow frontbench in 1984, serving as the opposition spokesman for Resources and Industrial Development, Mines and Aboriginal Affairs. He became deputy leader of the Liberal Party in September 1987, serving under Barry MacKinnon, and became leader in 1992. Court ousted MacKinnon as leader by a vote of 20 to 12. In February 1993, a state election brought the Liberal Party and their coalition partner, the Nationals, to power with a stable majority following revelations from the WA Inc royal commission examining deals made with businessmen such as Alan Bond and Laurie Connell by Labor governments during the 1980s. The Court government was comfortably re-elected in the 1996 WA State election. The Liberals actually won a majority in their own right (29 seats out of 57) for the first time ever, but Court opted to retain the coalition with the Nationals. However, Court's