David Robert Harris (born 24 February 1966) is an Australian politician. He has served as the

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Treaty, Gaming and Racing,

Veterans A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in an job, occupation or Craft, field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in the military, armed forces. A topic o ...

Medical Research Medical research (or biomedical research), also known as health research, refers to the process of using scientific methods with the aim to produce knowledge about human diseases, the prevention and treatment of illness, and the promotion of ...

and the Central Coast since April 2023. He has been a Labor Party 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 House ...

since 2015, representing the electorate of

Wyong Wyong () is a town on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately South-South-West of Newcastle and North-North-East of the state capital Sydney. Established in , it is one of the two administrative centres fo ...

. He previously represented the same electorate from 2007 to 2011.

Personal life and early career

Harris is one of three children and grew up in Greenacre in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. His parents later moved to the New South Wales Central Coast. Harris attended

Woy Woy Woy Woy is a coastal town in the Central Coast region of the New South Wales state of Australia. The town is located on the southern reaches of Brisbane Water and near the mouth of Brisbane Water at the Pacific Ocean, it is a popular holiday de ...

South Public School and Woy Woy High School, where became school captain. In 1987, Harris joined the Umina branch of the Labor Party, eventually becoming the president of the

branch, and then secretary of Dobell Federal Electoral Council. Harris gained a Diploma of Teaching and began work in the public school system, starting his career at Griffith Public School in 1987. In the following year, he became the principal of a one-teacher school at Merriwagga, and moved on to teach at Hillston Central School. It was in Hillston that he met his wife Sherelle. Harris and Sherelle have two daughters. Harris later returned to the Central Coast, becoming principal at Dooralong Public School and then deputy principal at Northlakes Public School. Harris was later appointed principal at Gwandalan Public School and then principal of

Kariong Kariong () is a locality of the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia west of Gosford along the Central Coast Highway. It is part of the local government area. History Kariong's first British settler was W.H. Parry in 1901. Th ...

Public School. In 2006, Harris resigned as the principal to pursue a career in politics.

First term in Parliament (2007–2011)

He was elected to the

on 24 March 2007 as the member for

. He was appointed as a member of the Staysafe Committee (Joint Standing Committee on Road Safety) and a member of the Standing Committee on Broadband in Rural and Regional Communities. He was also deputy chair of the committee on the Independent Commission Against Corruption and chair of the Natural Resource Management (Climate Change) Committee. In 2009, he served for three months as Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast under the Rees Government. In January 2010, he was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Minister for the Central Coast under the Keneally Government. In September 2010, he was also appointed as Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Minister for Education and Training. At the 2011 state election, Harris lost the seat of Wyong to his Liberal opponent, local small businessman Darren Webber. It was the first time the seat of Wyong had been held by any party other than Labor. Late in 2011, Harris was appointed as the new principal at Point Clare Public School, to begin in the new year.

Return to Parliament

In 2015, Harris resigned from Point Clare to run for re-election in Wyong. Harris regained the seat from Darren Webber at the 2015 state election. Following this, he was appointed to the Shadow Ministry of Luke Foley as Shadow Minister for the Central Coast, Small Business, Skills and Regional Development. Following the resignation of

Linda Burney Linda Jean Burney (born 25 April 1957) is an Australian Labor Party (ALP) politician who was the member of Parliament (MP) for the division of Barton from 2016 to 2025. She was the minister for Indigenous Australians from 2022 to July 2024. S ...

in 2016, Harris was appointed as Shadow Minister for Aboriginal Affairs. He retained the positions of Shadow Minister for the Central Coast and Regional Development but was succeeded as Shadow Minister for Skills by

Prue Car Prue may refer to: People Given name Prue is a feminine given name, sometimes a short form of Prudence Prudence (, contracted from meaning "seeing ahead, sagacity") is the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason. ...

and Shadow Minister for Small Business by

Jenny Aitchison Jennifer Kathleen Aitchison is an Australian politician who has served as Minister for Roads (New South Wales), Minister for Roads and Minister for Regional Transport in the Minns ministry since 2025. She previously served as Minister for Region ...

. Following the election of

Michael Daley Michael John Daley (born 1 November 1965) is an Australian politician and has been the Attorney-General of New South Wales since 28 March 2023. He was previously the Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of New South Wales from November 20 ...

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

, Harris was also appointed as Shadow Assistant Minister for Education. In 2019, Harris was appointed to the

Shadow Ministry of Jodi McKay The shadow ministry of Jodi McKay was the Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch), Labor opposition from July 2019 to May 2021, opposing the Second Berejiklian ministry, Berejiklian government in the Parliament of New South Wales. It was ...

as Shadow Minister for Regional Transport, the Central Coast and Aboriginal Affairs and Treaty. At the inception of the

Shadow Ministry of Chris Minns The shadow ministry of Chris Minns was the Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch), NSW Labor shadow cabinet from 2021 to 2023. It opposed the Second Berejiklian ministry, Berejiklian and First Perrottet ministry, Perrottet governments in ...

, Harris retained the Central Coast and Aboriginal Affairs and Treaty portfolios and succeeded Aitchison as Shadow Minister for Jobs, Investment and Tourism. Aitchison succeeded Harris as Shadow Minister for Regional Transport. Following the election of the Minns Government at the 2023 state election, Harris was appointed as Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Treaty, Minister for Gaming and Racing, Minister for Veterans, Minister for Medical Research and the Minister for the Central Coast.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, David 1966 births Living people Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales Australian schoolteachers 21st-century Australian politicians People from Woy Woy Ministers for aboriginal affairs and treaty