Dean Anthony Smith (born 15 May 1969) is an Australian politician and

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

member of the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives. The powers, role and composition of the Senate are set out in Chap ...

since 2012, representing

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

Early life

Smith attended Mirrabooka Primary School and

Mirrabooka Senior High School Dianella Secondary College (formerly Mirrabooka Senior High School) is a public co-educational high day school, located in Dianella in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. It teaches years 7 to 12 in the Australian education syste ...

, later attending the University of Western Australia where he graduated with honours in political science.

Politics

Smith joined the Liberal Party at the age of 17, and later worked as a policy adviser to

Premier of Western Australia The premier of Western Australia is the head of government of the state of Western Australia. The role of premier at a state level is similar to the role of the prime minister of Australia at a federal level. The premier leads the executive br ...

Richard Court 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 ...

. In 1998, he was a senior advisor to Prime Minister

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. His eleven-year tenure as prime min ...

during the

Coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

's 1998 federal election campaign. In 2010, he founded Smith & Duda Consulting, a political lobbying firm, and also served as treasurer of the Liberal Party state branch in Western Australia. Smith is factionally unaligned.

Senate

Smith was appointed to the Senate on 2 May 2012 by a joint sitting of the

Parliament of Western Australia The Parliament of Western Australia is the bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia, which constitutes the legislative branch of the state's political system. The parl ...

, to fill a

casual vacancy ''The Casual Vacancy'' is a novel written by British author J. K. Rowling, published worldwide by the Little, Brown Book Group on 27 September 2012. It was Rowling's first publication since the ''Harry Potter'' series, her first novel apart fr ...

caused by the death of Senator Judith Adams. Smith was the first openly-LGBTI member of the Parliament of Australia from the Liberal Party, and has supported

same-sex marriage in Australia Same-sex marriage has been legal in Australia since 9 December 2017. Legislation permitting same-sex marriage, the '' Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017'', became law on 8 December 2017 and came into effect the nex ...

since the

2014 Sydney hostage crisis The Lindt Café siege was a terrorist attack that occurred on 15–16 December 2014 when a lone gunman, Man Haron Monis, held ten customers and eight employees of a Lindt#Lindt chocolate cafés and stores, Lindt Chocolate Café hostage in the ...

. Prior to that, he opposed same-sex marriage and voted against it. Smith introduced the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017 to the Senate on 15 November and passed the Senate on 29 November 2017 following the affirmative result of the national postal survey. Smith was appointed Chief Government Whip in the Senate on 21 January 2019. He served on the "Inquiry into the destruction of 46,000 year old caves at the

Juukan Gorge Juukan Gorge is a gorge in the Hamersley Range in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, about from Tom Price, Western Australia, Tom Price. It was named by the daughter of Puutu Kunti Kurrama man Juukan, also known as Tommy Ashburton, who w ...

in the Pilbara region of Western Australia", which delivered its interim report in December 2020.PDF
He co-authored additional dissenting comments to the Inquiry's final report with George Christensen MP, arguing against the report's recommendation for new Commonwealth heritage legislation because the "duplication of cultural heritage protection laws at a Federal level is not supported by peak iningindustry bodies." Smith is a member of a number of political and community organisations, including

Australians for Constitutional Monarchy Australians for Constitutional Monarchy (ACM) is a group that aims to preserve Australia's constitutional monarchy, with Charles III as King of Australia. The group states that it is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organisation whose role is "To ...

and the Australian National Flag Association.

Personal life

Smith is the son of a policeman and housewife and is originally from Mirrabooka. He was the first person in his family to attend university. He is an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

References

External links

Official website

Summary of parliamentary voting for Senator Dean Smith on TheyVoteForYou.org.au
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Dean 1969 births Living people Australian monarchists Australian political consultants Australian gay politicians LGBTQ conservatism LGBTQ legislators in Australia Australian LGBTQ rights activists Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate for Western Australia Members of the Australian Senate Politicians from Perth, Western Australia Turnbull government University of Western Australia alumni 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian LGBTQ people