Brendan Smyth
Member of the ACT Legislative Assembly
In office
21 February 1998 – 15 July 2016
ConstituencyBrindabella
Member of the Australian Parliament for Canberra
In office
25 March 1995 – 2 March 1996
Preceded byRos Kelly
Succeeded byBob McMullan
Personal details
Born
Brendan Michael Smyth

(1959-07-27) 27 July 1959 (age 64)
Sydney, Australia
Political partyLiberal Party
WebsiteProfile at CanberraLiberals.org

Brendan Michael Smyth (born 27 July 1959) is an Australian former politician, who was a member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Brindabella for the Liberal Party from 1998 until 2016. From 2002 to 2006 Smyth was the ACT Leader of the Opposition and served briefly as the Deputy Chief Minister during 2000 and 2001. He has held the ACT portfolios Urban Services, Business, Tourism and the Arts, and Police and Emergency Services.[1]

Prior to his election to the ACT Legislative Assembly he served briefly as the Member for Canberra in the Australian House of Representatives, also representing the Liberals.[1]

Career

Smyth was born in Sydney and moved to Canberra in May 1969. He worked at the National Library of Australia until 1995 when, representing the Liberal Party, he contested the 1995 by-election for the House of Representatives seat of Canberra. Normally a safe Labor seat, its previous member Ros Kelly had left under a cloud, having been forced to resign her ministry a year earlier over the sports rorts affair,[citation needed] and Smyth received a 16.1% swing to claim the seat.[2]

At the Australian federal election on 2 March 1996, Smyth contested the new federal House of Representatives seat of Namadgi, essentially the southern portion of his old seat, even though it had been drawn with a notional Labor majority of 10.9 percent. He was defeated by Labor's Annette Ellis.[3][4] As of the election in May 2022, he is the last non-Labor member to represent an ACT-based seat.

He subsequently shifted to territory politics, winning election to the Legislative Assembly in the 1998 election representing the Tuggeranong-based multimember electorate of Brindabella.[5] He was the Opposition Leader for the ACT Liberal Party in the 2004 ACT elections, but lost the election.[1]

Smyth resigned from the ACT Legislative Assembly on 15 July 2016, to take up a newly created government position as Commissioner for International Engagement for the ACT. The ensuing casual vacancy was filled by conducting a countback of votes at the 2012 ACT election.[6][7]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Brendan Smyth". Member profile. Legislative Assembly for the ACT. 26 November 2013. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
  2. ^ Carr, Adam (25 March 1995). "By-elections 1993–1996". Australian Federal By-elections. Psephos. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  3. ^ Carr, Adam. "Divisions of Canberra, Fraser and Namadgi". 1996 Australian Federal Election. Psephos. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  4. ^ Green, Antony (2007). "Canberra (electorate)". Australia Votes 2007: Electorate profiles. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 14 November 2007.
  5. ^ Newman, Gerard (1998). "Research Note 37 1997–98: Against The Odds: The 1998 ACT Election". Parliament of Australia: Parliamentary Library. Archived from the original on 13 July 2007. Retrieved 14 November 2007.
  6. ^ "MLA Brendan Smyth retires after 18 years". ABC News. 15 July 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  7. ^ "Mr Brendan Smyth MLA resigns - ACT Legislative Assembly casual vacancy announced". Elections ACT. 15 July 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2016.

External links

Political offices Preceded byGary Humphries Opposition Leader of the Australian Capital Territory 2002–2006 Succeeded byBill Stefaniak Preceded byTrevor Kaine ACT Minister for Urban Services 1998–2001 Succeeded byBill Wood Preceded byKate Carnell ACT Minister for Business, Tourism and the Arts 2000–2001 Succeeded byTed Quinlanas Minister for Economic Development, Business and Tourism Preceded byBill Stefaniakas Minister Assisting the Attorney-General ACT Minister for Police and Emergency Services 2000–2001 Succeeded byTed Quinlanas Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Corrections Preceded byGary Humphries Deputy Chief Minister 2000–2001 Succeeded byTed Quinlan Parliament of Australia Preceded byRos Kelly Member for Canberra 1995–1996 Succeeded byBob McMullan Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly Preceded byLouise Littlewood Member of the Legislative Assemblyfor Brindabella 1998–2016 Served alongside: Wood/Burch, Hargreaves/Gentleman, Kaine/Pratt/Doszpot/Seselja/Lawder, Osborne/MacDonald/Bresnan/Wall Succeeded byVal Jeffery Party political offices Preceded byGary Humphries Leader of the Australian Capital Territory Liberals 2002–2006 Succeeded byBill Stefaniak


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