Michael James Hart (born 19 June 1960) is an Australian Liberal National politician, who is the member of the

Legislative Assembly of Queensland The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly ...

for Burleigh, having defeated Labor Party member, Christine Smith, at the 2012 state election. He was re-elected at the 2015 state election. Hart was born in

Bega, New South Wales Bega () is a town in the south-east of New South Wales, Australia, in the Bega Valley Shire. It is the economic centre for the Bega Valley. Place name One claim is that place name ''Bega'' is derived from the local Aboriginal ( Thawa language ...

, on 19 June 1960. He is a qualified aircraft maintenance engineer. Before his entry into the Queensland parliament he was the director and CEO of Mastercut Technologies. He is a long-time follower and supporter of Surf Life Saving Queensland, having been president of the Pacific Life Saving Club in his electorate in 2011–2012, and subsequently the patron of the South Coast branch of SLSQ. In 1986, Hart moved to the Queensland Gold Coast with his family, including wife, Sally, and three children: Tim, Hayden and Jessica. In his

maiden speech A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament. Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention th ...

in parliament, he emphasised his belief in

small government Small means of insignificant size. Small may also refer to: Science and technology * SMALL, an ALGOL-like programming language * ''Small'' (journal), a nano-science publication * <small>, an HTML element that defines smaller text Arts and ...

with minimal regulation, stating: "I believe good government needs to ensure the population is secure from interference from the actions of others. If a government just does that one thing, I believe it succeeds." He served on the Infrastructure Planning and Natural Resources parliamentary committee in 2012, and was Deputy Chair of the committee in 2015 and 2016 (June). In May 2016, he was appointed Shadow Minister for Energy, Biofuels and Water Supply. He was the Shadow Minister for Housing and Public Works, Shadow Minister for Energy and Shadow Minister for Innovation and Digital Technology until November 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, Michael Liberal National Party of Queensland politicians 1960 births Living people Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly People from the Gold Coast, Queensland 21st-century Australian politicians