The Honourable Sir Robert Cotton KCMG, AO
Minister for Industry and Commerce
In office 11 November 1975 – 20 December 1977
Prime Minister	Malcolm Fraser
Preceded by	Lionel Bowen (Manufacturing Industry)
Succeeded by	Phillip Lynch
Minister for Science and Consumer Affairs
In office 11 November 1975 – 22 December 1975
Prime Minister	Malcolm Fraser
Preceded by	Clyde Cameron
Succeeded by	James Webster (Science)
Minister for Civil Aviation
In office 12 November 1969 – 2 December 1972
Prime Minister	John Gorton William McMahon
Preceded by	Reg Swartz
Succeeded by	Charles Jones
Senator for New South Wales
In office 4 August 1965 – 13 July 1978
Preceded by	Sir William Spooner
Succeeded by	Chris Puplick
16th Ambassador of Australia to the United States
In office 16 August 1982 – 1 June 1985
Preceded by	Geoffrey J. Price (Chargé d'affaires)
Succeeded by	Rawdon Dalrymple
Personal details
Born	(1915-11-29)29 November 1915 Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia
Died	25 December 2006(2006-12-25) (aged 91) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Political party	Liberal
Occupation	Businessman, pastoralist

Sir Robert Carrington Cotton, KCMG, AO (29 November 1915 – 25 December 2006) was an Australian politician and diplomat. He was a member of the Liberal Party and served as a Senator for New South Wales from 1966 to 1978. He held ministerial office as Minister for Civil Aviation (1969–1972), Science and Consumer Affairs (1975), and Industry and Commerce (1975–1977). He later served as Consul-General in New York (1978–1982) and Ambassador to the United States (1982–1985).

Cotton was born in Broken Hill, New South Wales in 1915. He was educated at St Peter's College, Adelaide and trained as a Royal Australian Air Force pilot in 1942 and 1943, but did not participate in action in World War II as he was seconded to the Department of Supply. Instead Cotton established the timber industry in Oberon, New South Wales as a wartime priority.^[1]

After the war Cotton became a businessman and pastoralist in Oberon. In 1949 and 1950 he was President of Oberon Shire Council.

Cotton was a member of the Liberal Party of Australia from its foundation, and in the 1949 federal election he ran unsuccessfully for the seat of Macquarie against the sitting Australian Labor Party member, Prime Minister Ben Chifley. He again lost to Chifley, now Leader of the Opposition, in 1951.^[2]

From 1957 to 1960 he was New South Wales State President of the Liberal Party.^[2]

Cotton was appointed to the Senate to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Sir William Spooner in August 1965.^[3] The Australian Constitution dictated that a special Senate election had to be held at the same time as the lower house 1966 election, but Cotton was re-elected. He was re-elected in 1967, 1974 and 1975.^[2] He was Minister for Civil Aviation from 1969 to 1972, responsible for the Department of Civil Aviation.^[2] During Cotton's term as Minister, the Department introduced security legislations to exclude non-passengers from international airport departure terminals.^[4] Cotton was Minister for Industry and Commerce from 1975 to 1977.^[5]

Cotton retired from Parliament in 1978. He was Australian Consul-General in New York from 1978 to 1981. He was a director of the Reserve Bank of Australia in 1981 and 1982 and was the Australian Ambassador to the United States from 1982 to 1985, and from 1991 to 1994 he was Chairman of the Australian National Gallery Foundation.^[6]

He died on Christmas Day 2006 in Sydney aged 91 after a long illness. He was survived by his second wife, two daughters and a son, three stepchildren, seven grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and a sister.^[7]

Cotton was knighted (KCMG) in 1978 and was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1993.^[6] He received a Doctorate of Science from the University of Sydney in 1995.^[8]