Graham Travis Watt (born 18 August 1976) is an Australian politician. He was a member of the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the states and territories of Australia, state lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the state upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament H ...

from 2010 to 2018, representing the seat of Burwood. He is a member of the

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 ...

Early life

As a child, Watt was a represented his state in athletics. In 2004, he walked a hundred miles in 24 hours, to become an Australian centurion, something achieved by only 48 people on Australian soil, at that time. Watt graduated from

Edith Cowan University Edith Cowan University (ECU) is a public research university in Western Australia. It is named in honour of the first woman to be elected to an Parliaments of the Australian states and territories, Australian parliament, Edith Cowan, and is, , t ...

, obtaining a Bachelor of Business, and majoring in Finance and Economics. Before election to parliament he worked variously as the owner of a mobile phone retail store and a carpet cleaning business.

Political career

Watt ran for the Liberal Party in 2002 and 2006 in the electoral district of Northcote, losing to Mary Delahunty in 2002 and Fiona Richardson in 2006. In 2009 he was preselected as the Liberal candidate for the electorate of Burwood, which he won at the 2010 Victorian election, defeating the sitting Labor member Bob Stensholt. He was re-elected in the 2014 Victorian election with 50.1% of the primary vote and 53.17% of the 2 candidate preferred vote. In 2015, Watt was criticised for being the only member of the Victorian Parliament to not stand to applaud domestic violence campaigner

Rosie Batty Rosemary Anne "Rosie" Batty (born 1962) is an Australian domestic violence campaigner. She became a campaigner in 2014, after her 11-year-old son Luke Batty was murdered by his father, Greg Anderson. As a campaigner, she has spoken publicly ab ...

when she addressed the parliament in an historic joint sitting. Watt was subsequently defeated in the

2018 Victorian state election The 2018 Victorian state election was held on Saturday, 24 November 2018 to elect the 59th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Legislative Assembly (lower house) and all 40 seats in the Legislative Council (upper house) were up for elect ...

. In

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, Watt ran as a Liberal candidate again, this time in Melton, but was unsuccessful.

Personal life

In 2021, Watt married former DLP Member of Parliament Rachel Carling.

References

External links

* http://vic.liberal.org.au/team/GrahamWatt * http://www.grahamwatt.com.au/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Watt, Graham 1976 births Living people Edith Cowan University alumni Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly People from Norseman, Western Australia Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria 21st-century Australian politicians Western Australian politicians