Darren Leicester Cheeseman (born 8 June 1976) is an Australian politician. He has been a Labor Party member of the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presidin ...

since November 2018, representing the seat of

South Barwon South Barwon is an Victorian Legislative Assembly electoral districts, electoral district of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. Located in a mixed urban and rura ...

. He previously held the federal seat of Corangamite from

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

.Whalley, Jeff
Ballarat man Darren Cheeseman breaks 70-year hoodoo in Corangamite
26 November 2007, Geelong Advertiser Cheeseman was born in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

, New Zealand. He grew up in

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. Within months of Vi ...

and attended

Mount Clear College Mount Clear College, formerly known as Mount Clear Secondary College and Mount Clear Technical High School, is a public high school in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. It was established after two secondary colleges, Ballarat Boys' Technical School ...

. He later studied for a Bachelor of Applied Science in Geology at the University of Ballarat. He worked for the Association for the Blind, and during that time also served as a councillor for the City of Ballarat. He later worked for the Community and Public Sector Union. In 2006, Cheeseman contested Labor preselection for Corangamite against the Labor candidate at the 2004 election, former Geelong mayor

Peter McMullin Peter McMullin (born 25 April 1952) is an Australian businessman, lawyer and philanthropist. He was the mayor of Geelong in 2006 and deputy lord mayor of Melbourne between 1996 and 1999. McMullin also held the role of president of VECCI between ...

. Having secured preselection, he went on to defeat long-time Liberal incumbent Stewart McArthur with a 6.6% swing. McArthur had held the seat since 1984. Cheeseman attributed his win to opposition to WorkChoices, the Liberal government's industrial relations laws. Cheeseman was only the third Labor member ever to win Corangamite, and the first since 1929. He narrowly held Corangamite at the 2010 election, against Liberal candidate

Sarah Henderson Sarah Moya Henderson (born 4 April 1964)HENDERSON, Sarah (1964–)

, becoming the first Labor member to win a second term in the seat. However, he was defeated by Henderson at the 2013 federal election. Cheeseman sought Labor preselection for Corangamite in 2015, but was defeated by Surf Coast Shire Councillor

Libby Coker Elizabeth Ann Coker (born 11 June 1962) is an Australian politician. She is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has been a member of the House of Representatives since the 2019 federal election, representing the Victorian seat of ...

. In 2018, Cheeseman was elected to the

as the Labor member for

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheeseman, Darren 1976 births Living people New Zealand emigrants to Australia People who lost New Zealand citizenship Naturalised citizens of Australia Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Corangamite People from Ballarat Federation University Australia alumni People from Christchurch Australian trade unionists 21st-century Australian politicians Labor Left politicians