Luke Hartsuyker ( ; born 28 April 1959) is a former Australian politician who was a member of 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 ...

from 2001 to 2019, representing the

Division of Cowper The Division of Cowper is an Electorates of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales. It stretches along the coast comprising the cities of Port ...

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 ...

for the

National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...

. He served as a government minister in the

Turnbull government The Turnbull government was the federal executive government of Australia led by the 29th prime minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull, from 2015 to 2018. It succeeded the Abbott government, which brought the Coalition to power at the 2013 Au ...

and an assistant minister in the

Abbott government The Abbott government was the federal executive government of Australia led by the 28th Prime Minister Tony Abbott. The government was made up of members of the Liberal–National Coalition. The Leader of The Nationals, Warren Truss, served ...

. In August 2018, he announced he would retire from parliament at the 2019 federal election.

Background and career

Hartsuyker was born in

Muswellbrook Muswellbrook ( ) is a town in the Upper Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney and north-west of Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle. Geologically, Muswellbrook is situated in the northern parts of the Sydney bas ...

, New South Wales, where he attended a state primary school and state high school. His father, Tom Hartsuyker, immigrated from the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in 1951 and subsequently established a Dutch-themed tourist park in

Coffs Harbour Coffs Harbour, locally nicknamed Coffs, is a coastal city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. It is one of the largest urban centres on the North Coast, with a population of 78,759 a ...

called The Clog Barn. Hartsuyker was born a Dutch citizen by descent, but automatically lost his citizenship in 1995 by failing to meet a provision requiring foreign-born citizens to return to the Netherlands every ten years. Hartsuyker holds a

Bachelor of Commerce A Bachelor of Commerce (BCom or B Com) is an undergraduate degree in commerce, accounting, mathematics, economics, and management-related subjects. The degree is mainly offered in Commonwealth nations. Structure Bachelor of Commerce The Bac ...

degree from

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...

, and an Associate Diploma in valuation. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Practising Accountants Australia. He managed his father's business before entering politics. He and his wife, Irene, have two sons.

Politics

In the 2001 federal election Hartsuyker was elected to the

after longstanding Nationals MP Garry Nehl retired from the seat. Hartsuyker retained the seat in subsequent elections:

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, and

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. In 2008, Hartsyuker was named after refusing to leave the Chamber for holding a life-sized cardboard cutout of then-Prime Minister

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian diplomat and former politician who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and June to September 2013. He held office as the Leaders of the Australian Labo ...

, which he passed on to other members of the Opposition frontbench. He was aided by Liberal MP Don Randall, who brought the cutout into the chamber. An

electoral redistribution Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral distr ...

changed Cowper's boundaries prior to the 2016 election:

Port Macquarie Port Macquarie, sometimes shortened to Port Mac and commonly locally nicknamed Port, is a coastal city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane, on the Tasman Sea coast at the mouth of the ...

was included in Cowper for the first time, while the region north of Coffs Harbour was transferred out of Cowper to the

Division of Page The Division of Page is an Electorates of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales. It stretches from Korora, New South Wales, Korora to the Quee ...

. Former

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Rob Oakeshott Robert James Murray Oakeshott (born 14 December 1969) is a retired Australian politician. He was the independent Member of the House of Representatives for the Division of Lyne in New South Wales from 2008, when he won the 2008 Lyne by-electi ...

, who lives in Port Macquarie (which had been within the

Division of Lyne The Division of Lyne is an Electorates of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales. It is on the Tasman Sea coast, stretching from Hawks Nest, Ne ...

prior to the redistribution), contested the

at the 2016 election. A number of seat-level opinion polls in Cowper found the incumbent Hartsuyker and independent Oakeshott neck-and-neck on the

two-party-preferred vote In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP), is the result of an opinion poll or a projection of an election result where preferences are distributed to one of the two major parties, the Labor Party and the Liberal/Nati ...

. Hartsuyker won re-election, but suffered a swing of 13 percent – the closest that the Nationals had come to losing Cowper in over half a century. The Nationals have held it for all but one term since 1919. While Oakeshott slashed Hartsuyker's two-party margin to 4.5%, Cowper is still a safe National seat in a "traditional" two-party matchup with Labor. On 8 August 2018, Hartsuyker announced he would retire from federal politics at the 2019 federal election.

Ministerial career

Hartsuyker served as the Assistant Minister for Employment and as the Deputy Leader of the House in the Abbott Ministry, between 18 September 2013 and September 2015. He was the Minister for Vocational Education and Skills in the First Turnbull Ministry between September 2015 and February 2016; the Assistant Minister to the Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister between July 2016 and December 2017; and the Assistant Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment in the Second Turnbull Ministry between December 2017 and March 2018.

Positions

Hartsuyker opposes

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

and stated he would not vote for it. A 2011 poll in the Coffs Harbour Advocate, representing those within his electorate, resulted in 78% of respondents in favour of same-sex marriage. After his electorate voted in favour of same-sex marriage in the

Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey The Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey was a national survey by the Australian Government designed to gauge support for legalising same-sex marriage in Australia. The survey was held via the Australia Post, postal service between 12 Septe ...

, Hartsuyker did vote in favour of the ''

Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017 The ''Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia, which legalises same-sex marriage in Australia by amending the '' Marriage Act 1961'' to allow marriage between two persons o ...

''.

References

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hartsuyker, Luke 1959 births Living people Abbott government National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Cowper Government ministers of Australia Turnbull government Australian people of Dutch descent People who lost Dutch citizenship People from Muswellbrook University of Newcastle (Australia) alumni Australian MPs 2001–2004 Australian MPs 2004–2007 Australian MPs 2007–2010 Australian MPs 2010–2013 Australian MPs 2013–2016 Australian MPs 2016–2019