David Philip Benedict Smith (born 25 March 1970) is an Australian politician. On 23 May 2018, the

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is the apex court of the Australian legal system. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified in the Constitution of Australia and supplementary legislation. The High Court was establi ...

declared him elected as a Senator for the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...

after

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 labour ...

senator

Katy Gallagher Katherine Ruth Gallagher ( /'gæləhər/ GAL-ə-her; born 18 March 1970) is an Australian politician who has been serving as the Minister for Finance, Minister for Women, Minister for the Public Service and Vice-President of the Executive ...

was found ineligible to have been elected. Before his election, Smith was the ACT director of the Professionals Australia union. He was sworn in to 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 ...

on 18 June 2018. He was elected to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

for the

Division of Bean The Division of Bean is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, electoral division for the Australian House of Representatives in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and Norfolk Island, which was created in 2018 and conteste ...

, ACT, at the 2019 federal election.

Early years and education

Smith was born in

Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

. He completed his schooling at

Marist College Canberra Marist College Canberra is an Independent school, independent Roman Catholicism in Australia, Roman Catholic Primary school, primary and Secondary school, secondary day school for Single-sex education, boys, founded in 1968 by the Marist Brothe ...

, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours from the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

in 1993.

Public service and trade union

Before joining the

, Smith served in various roles including as an advisor in the

Department of Employment and Workplace Relations The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (also called DEWR) is an Australian government department formed on 1 July 2022. History The department was formed by way of an Machinery of government#Australian Government Administrative ...

, as an industrial relations manager for the Australian Federal Police Association, and as a policy advisor in the Australian Capital Territory Chief Minister's Department under

Jon Stanhope Jonathan Donald Stanhope (born 29 April 1951) is a former Australian politician who was Labor Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory from 2001 to 2011. Stanhope represented the Ginninderra electorate in the ACT Legislative Assem ...

. In 2007, he took up the role of Director of the ACT branch of Professionals Australia, a union which primarily focuses on technical workers such as scientists, engineers, architects, IT professionals, pharmacists, and others.

Political career

Corflutes_for_David_Smith_and_other_election_candidates_at_a_polling_station_in_Wanniassa_-_May_2022

Smith has been a member of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

since 1992. He ran for the Senate in 2004, and was the second candidate on the ALP's 2016 Senate ticket. At the 2016 ACT Labor Annual Conference he was elected Senior Vice-president of the ACT Branch of the Australian Labor Party. He says that he was inspired to serve in politics by the judge and attorney general,

Terry Connolly Terence (Terry) Connolly (14 February 1958 – 25 September 2007) was an Australian politician and judge. Early years The son of an Irish bricklayer, Connolly was born in Adelaide and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts (both ...

. On 23 May 2018, the

declared him elected as a Senator for the

after

senator

was found ineligible to have been elected. He was sworn in on 18 June 2018. On 1 September 2018, Smith was preselected to run for the

in the

seat of

Bean A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are traditi ...

. He resigned from the Senate on 11 April 2019, the day the election was called and the Senate prorogued. At the

2019 Australian federal election The 2019 Australian federal election was held on Saturday, 18 May 2019, to elect members of the 46th Parliament of Australia. The election had been called following the dissolution of the 45th Parliament as elected at the 2016 double dissol ...

, Smith was elected as the Member for

with a margin of 13,971 votes. He was returned to Parliament in the

2022 Australian federal election The 2022 Australian federal election was held on Saturday, 21 May 2022, to elect members of the 47th Parliament of Australia. The incumbent Morrison government, Liberal–National Coalition government, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, soug ...

, now to the Government benches, keeping a substantial margin, winning 62.9% in the two-party preferred count. He is the Government Whip in the lower house for the

Albanese government The Albanese government is the current federal executive government of Australia, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of the Labor Party. The Albanese government was sworn in on 23 May 2022 by the Governor-General of Australia, David Hurl ...

. He also serves on the Standing Committee for Selection and co-chairs the Parliamentary Christian Fellowship with Senator

Matt O'Sullivan Matthew Anthony O'Sullivan (born 11 December 1978) is an Australian politician. He has been a Senator for Western Australia since 2019, representing the Liberal Party of Australia. Early life O'Sullivan was born on 11 December 1978 in Mount La ...

Personal life

Having been educated in a

Marist Brothers The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic Church, Catholic religious institute of Religious brother, brothers. In 1817, Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from Fr ...

college, Smith identifies as a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. He is married to Liesl Centenera. Together, they have three children: Marcus, Eamonn, and Stella.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, David 1970 births Living people Members of the Australian Senate for the Australian Capital Territory Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Labor Right politicians Australian trade unionists Australian public servants Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Bean Australian National University alumni People educated at Marist College Canberra Politicians from Canberra Australian MPs 2019–2022 Australian MPs 2022–2025