Matthew Williams (born 28 April 1973) is a former Australian politician who was a Liberal 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 ...

seat of Hindmarsh in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

from the 2013 election until the 2016 election.

Background

Williams was born in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

and educated at Immanuel College, before graduating with degrees in economics from

Flinders University Flinders University, established as The Flinders University of South Australia is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across a number of locations in South Australia and ...

and law from the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

. After working for the South Australian Government from 1998 to 2000 and the state

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London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

from 2000 to 2002, he held a variety of roles in high-profile law and accounting firms.

Parliament

Williams entered federal parliament at the 2013 election where he won the seat of Hindmarsh with a 1.89 percent margin from a 7.97 percent

two-party-preferred 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/Natio ...

swing, defeating

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 ...

incumbent

Steve Georganas Steven Georganas (; born 13 June 1959) is an Australian politician and is the Australian Labor Party member for the House of Representatives seat of Adelaide in South Australia since the 2019 Australian federal election. Previously, he had been ...

. The only South Australian seat to change hands in 2013, Hindmarsh became the most marginal seat in South Australia and the only marginal seat of the incoming federal government in South Australia. During the 2013 election campaign Williams committed to opposing any changes to the existing evening aircraft flight curfew at

Adelaide Airport Adelaide Airport, also known as Adelaide International Airport, is an International airport, international, Domestic airport, domestic and general aviation airport serving Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. Located approximately 6 km ...

, centrally located in the Hindmarsh electorate. However, in December 2013 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 ...

changed the curfew to allow Cathay Pacific international passenger flights to land outside the established curfew times. In 2015 it was reported that Liberal insiders were considering Williams to be the preselected Liberal candidate for the safe state seat of Morphett if he failed to retain Hindmarsh at the 2016 federal election. When the preselection contest took place in April 2017, there was a dead-heat between Williams and

Stephen Patterson Stephen John Rayden Patterson (born 4 January 1971) is an Australian politician, and a former Australian rules footballer who played with Collingwood in the Australian Football League (AFL), and Norwood in the South Australian National Footba ...

, followed by a random ballot won by Patterson, who went on to successfully challenge the incumbent Liberal member, Duncan McFetridge.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Matt 1973 births Living people Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Hindmarsh Politicians from Adelaide People educated at Immanuel College, Adelaide Australian MPs 2013–2016