Mark Raymond Speakman (born 6 November 1959) is an Australian politician. He has served as the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Attorney General since January 2017 in the

second Berejiklian ministry The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...

since April 2019, and in the first arrangement of the

Perrottet ministry The Second Perrottet ministry or Second Perrottet–Toole ministry is the 99th ministry of the Government of New South Wales, and is led by Dominic Perrottet, the state's 46th Premier. The Liberal– National coalition ministry was formed on ...

. Speakman is a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

representing

Cronulla Cronulla is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Boasting numerous surf beaches and swimming spots, the suburb attracts both tourists and Greater Sydney residents. Cronulla is located 26 kilometres south of the Sydne ...

for the

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since 2011. He has previously served as the Minister for Prevention of Domestic and Sexual Violence in the Berejiklian and Perrottet ministries; and the Minister for the Environment, the Minister for Heritage, and the Assistant Minister for Planning between April 2015 and January 2017 in the second Baird government.

Early years and background

Speakman attended government schools in Caringbah (including Caringbah High School) before studying law and economics at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's ...

and then the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

, where he graduated with a master's degree. A practising lawyer, he was called to the bar in 1991, and was made

senior counsel The title of Senior Counsel or State Counsel (post-nominal letters: SC) is given to a senior lawyer in some countries that were formerly part of the British Empire. "Senior Counsel" is used in current or former Commonwealth countries or jurisdictio ...

in 2004.

Political career

Preselected in November 2010, following announcement that the sitting member Malcolm Kerr would retire, Speakman overcame a challenge from Stephen Mutch, a former member for the federal seat of Cook and former state member of the Legislative Council. For Speakman he finally beaten Mutch in a preselection contest as Speakman had challenged Mutch for the Cook preselection prior to the 1998 federal election. Speakman however withdrew from that contest when former state deputy Liberal leader Bruce Baird became the compromise candidate. At the 2011 state election, Speakman was elected with a swing of 9.4 points and won the seat with 75.5 per cent of the vote on a

two-party-preferred In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP ...

basis. Speakman's main opponent was Stefanie Jones, representing

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

. Premier

O'Farrell O'Farrell is an anglicised form of the Old Irish patronym ''Ó Fearghail''. People with the surname * Barry O'Farrell, Australian politician * Bernadette O'Farrell (1924–1999), Irish actress * Bob O'Farrell, American baseballer * Brett O'Farrel ...

considered immediately elevating Speakman to the ministry following the 2011 election; however he was not appointed to the ministry until April 2015 when, following the 2015 state election, he was appointed as the Minister for the Environment, the Minister for Heritage, and the Assistant Minister for Planning in the second Baird ministry. Following the resignation of Mike Baird as Premier, Gladys Berejiklian was elected as Liberal leader and sworn in as Premier. The

First Berejiklian ministry First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

was subsequently formed with Speakman sworn in as the Attorney General of NSW with effect from 30 January 2017. Following the 2019 state election Speakman was appointed as the Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence in addition to his responsibilities as NSW Attorney General in the second Berejiklian ministry with effect from 2 April 2019; a title subsequently amended as the Minister for Prevention of Domestic and Sexual Violence in May 2021. In the second arrangement of the Perrottet ministry, he retained the portfolio title of Attorney General. In September 2018, Speakman reportedly broke

Victor Dominello Victor Michael Dominello (born 30 July 1967 in Ryde, New South Wales), is an Australian politician who has been the New South Wales Minister for Customer Service in the second Berejiklian ministry since April 2019, and in the Perrottet minis ...

's arm in an office

arm wrestling Arm wrestling (also spelled armwrestling) is a sport with two opponents who face each other with their bent elbows placed on a table and hands firmly gripped, who then attempt to force the opponent's hand down to the table top ("pin" them). The s ...

match.

References

External links

Mark Speakman SC
– Tenth Floor Chambers , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Speakman, Mark Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales Australian Senior Counsel 1959 births Living people Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly University of Sydney alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge 21st-century Australian politicians Attorneys General of New South Wales

Early years and background

Political career

See also

References

External links