Mark Stuart Parton (born 24 September 1966) is an Australian politician, and current Speaker of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly. He has been a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly since 2016, representing the electorate of Brindabella. He was a long-running local radio announcer on 2CC before entering politics.

Political views

On 19 April 2023, Parton became one of two ACT Liberals to announce his support for an

Indigenous Voice to Parliament The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, also known as the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, the First Nations Voice or simply the Voice, was a proposed Australian federal advisory body to comprise Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal a ...

, putting him at odds with his party colleague

Jeremy Hanson Jeremy David Hanson, Conspicuous Service Cross (Australia), CSC, Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly, MLA (born 18 February 1967) is a former Australian Army officer and is an Australian politician with the Liberal Party of Austra ...

and federal Liberal leader

Peter Dutton Peter Craig Dutton (born 18 November 1970) is an Australian former politician who served as the Leader of the Opposition (Australia), Leader of the Opposition and the Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party from 2 ...

. He had previously leaned towards a No vote in the

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

though changed his mind after discussions with the

Noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian people who live in the South West, Western Australia, south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton, Western Aus ...

communities in Western Australia. Parton himself has Noongar heritage, but "

oes Oes or owes were metallic O-shaped rings or eyelets sewn on to clothes and furnishing textiles for decorative effect. Made of gold, silver, or copper, they were used on clothing and furnishing fabrics and were smaller than modern sequins. They wer ...

not identify as Aboriginal".

Personal life

Parton was born on 24 September 1966 in

York, Western Australia York is the oldest inland town in Western Australia, situated on the Avon River, east of Perth in the Wheatbelt, on Ballardong Nyoongar land,King, A and Parker, E: York, Western Australia's first inland town, Parker Print, 2003 p.3. and is ...

. He is married, with three children and three step-children. Before entering parliament, he ran a marketing business. He had worked in commercial radio for 30 years, starting at age 17 in 6AM in

Northam, Western Australia Northam is a town in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, situated at the confluence of the Avon and Mortlock Rivers. It is the largest town and regional centre in the Avon Valley region of the Central Wheatbelt. It is located approxim ...

, and working in several different states, with the last 16 years in breakfast programs in

Canberra 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 ...

on 2CC. He has long been aware of having Aboriginal heritage, but in 2022 researched his family history to find the details. Parton has admitted to having a caffeine addiction. Parton is a frequent user of the social media platform

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

, and was briefly ejected from ACT's parliament after releasing a video that was alleged to breach parliamentary filming rules.

References

1966 births Living people Liberal Party of Australia members of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly Members of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly 21st-century Australian politicians People from York, Western Australia {{Australia-Liberal-politician-stub