At the time Constance was elected in 2003, he was aged 29 years, and he became the youngest member of the Parliament. Constance previously worked as a corporate affairs consultant representing large industry associations and multinationals in the Asia-Pacific region.[11] A former President of the Young Liberals, his family connections in the Bega area stem back to the 1860s when his great-great-grandfather, James Constance, drove a team of bullocks through the Bega Valley.[12]
Constance was appointed Minister for Ageing and Disability Services in 2011 and championed the person-centred reforms which were necessary steps towards the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Under Constance's stewardship, NSW became the first Australian state or territory to agree to the full funding of the scheme with the Commonwealth.
Constance was promoted to Minister for Finance and Services in 2013 after the sacking of Greg Pearce, with the portfolio of Ageing and Disability Services transferred to John Ajaka.[13][14]
Due to the resignation of Barry O'Farrell as Premier,[15] and the subsequent ministerial reshuffle by Mike Baird, the former Treasurer and new Liberal Leader,[9] in April 2014 Constance was appointed as Treasurer;[2][16][17] and his responsibilities expanded to include Industrial Relations less than one month later.[10] Constance handed down his first Budget on 17 June 2014.
Following the 2015 state election, Constance was appointed Minister for Transport and Infrastructure.[6][7] During Constance's tenure as minister, NSW was the first Australian state to legalise ridesharing companies including Uber.[18] Constance was also responsible for the Sydney Metro. He continued to be the Minister for Transport after Gladys Berejiklian became Premier in 2017. Following the 2019 state election, Constance was sworn in as the Minister for Transport and Roads in the second Berejiklian ministry, with effect from 2 April 2019.[19]
On 10 March 2020, Constance announced his resignation from politics and will not contest the next state election, citing that recovery from the bushfires will take priority before announcing an effective date.[20]
Attempts to enter federal politics
On 5 May 2020, he announced that he would resign from the NSW Cabinet and seek Liberal Partypreselection for the 2020 Eden-Monaro by-election.[21] However, within 24 hours he reversed what he called "a hasty decision".[22][23] A contributing factor behind Constance's reconsideration was an abusive text message which he received from then-Deputy Premier of New South Wales, John Barilaro, while Constance was deliberating running for the by-election; Barilaro's message convinced Constance that "politics was stuffed", and he decided not to run.[24] On 8 May, Constance was removed from his role as Leader of the House of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly "as punishment for his spectacular change of heart over quitting state politics".[25]
On 3 October 2021, he announced his intention to quit his state seat to seek Liberal Party preselection for the federal seat of Gilmore at the 2022 federal election[26][27] He announced he would resign on 26 November 2021, triggering a by-election for the seat of Bega.[28] However, he did not officially resign until 30 December 2021.[29] Constance was preselected as the Liberal candidate for Gilmore on 17 January 2022. At the subsequent election, Constance was narrowly defeated by incumbent MP Fiona Phillips of the Australian Labor Party.[30]
After the death of Senator Jim Molan in January 2023, Constance intended to run for the preselection to fill the Senate casual vacancy caused by Molan's death. Constance made a deal with sections of the Right faction whereby he, if elected, would resign after 18 months to run as the party's candidate for the seat of Gilmore at the next federal election for a second time. However, senior party sources found that many were unhappy with the idea of another resignation. He was endorsed by Berejiklian, Senator Marise Payne and her partner, former state Cabinet minister Stuart Ayres (who was the state member for Penrith until 2023).[31] He was ultimately defeated in the final vote to Maria Kovacic, with 243 votes compared to Kovacic's 287[32]
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