[1] Richard Court was educated at Hale School and graduated from the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1968.

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.

[4] 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.

However, Court's popularity suffered in his second term as Premier due to scandals, including deals made between the government and the Premier's brother, Ken Court,[5] as well as the finance broking scandal, where many elderly investors lost their savings and an inquiry found the Government ineffective and inefficient in managing the industry.

[17][18][19] Despite this, Court won the ballot 17–13 against Barnett during a four-hour party-room meeting, with Dan Sullivan being elected as his deputy.

[21] Court was now in an untenable position, and was forced to retire from politics the next day, with Barnett taking the leadership in the ensuing party room ballot in which he defeated Rod Sweetman.

The award cited "[his] service to the Western Australian Parliament and to the community, particularly the Indigenous community, and in the areas of child health research and cultural heritage and to economic development through negotiating major resource projects including the export of gas to China furthering the interests of the nation as a whole.

"[25] In November 2016, Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop announced that Court would be appointed as Australian Ambassador to Japan in "early 2017".