Nicholas Wakeling (born 6 May 1971) is a former Australian politician. He was a

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. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a l ...

member of the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presidin ...

, representing the electorate of

Ferntree Gully Ferntree Gully is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, at the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges, 30 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Knox local government area. Ferntree Gully ...

from 2006 until his defeat at the

2022 Victorian state election The 2022 Victorian state election was held on Saturday, 26 November 2022 to elect the 60th 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 el ...

Early life

Wakeling was born at St Leonards, New South Wales, the eldest of two sons to Bill and Jacqueline Wakeling. Moving to Melbourne as a child, Wakeling attended Rosewood Downs Primary School and completed his VCE at Haileybury College, Melbourne. Wakeling completed a Bachelor of Arts from

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora, Victoria, Bundoora. The university was established in 196 ...

, a Graduate Diploma in Industrial Relations/Human Resource Management from

RMIT RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,, section 4(b) is a public research university in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1887 by Francis Ormond, RMIT began as a night school offering classes in art, scien ...

and a Master's degree in Industrial and Employee Relations from

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university h ...

Professional career

Prior to his entry to Parliament, Wakeling worked as an industrial advisor with the Victorian government's Wageline Department; as an industrial officer with the Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce (VACC); as a human resource advisor at

Nillumbik The Shire of Nillumbik ( ) is a local government area in Victoria, Australia. It contains outer northern suburbs of Melbourne and rural localities beyond the urban area. It has an area of 432 square kilometres and at th2021 census the Shire had ...

Shire Council and as a senior workplace relations advisor for

Adecco The Adecco Group, is a Swiss-French company based in Zurich, Switzerland, and is the world's second largest Human Resources provider and temporary staffing firm, and a Fortune Global 500 company. They directly employ 700,000 people a day, a ...

Political career

Wakeling joined the

in 1989. Since joining, Wakeling has been an active member of the La Trobe University Liberal Club, the Noble Park

Young Liberals (Australia) The Young Liberal Movement of Australia, commonly referred to as the Young Liberals, is the youth movement of the Liberal Party of Australia representing members aged 16 to 31. It is organised as a federation with each state and territory divis ...

and Rowville Senior Party Branch. Wakeling was a councillor at

Knox City Council The City of Knox is a local government area in Victoria, Australia in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. It has an area of and in 2020, Knox had a population of 165,147. This municipality is one of only a handful that survived the widespread mu ...

from 2003–05. In July 2005, Wakeling was preselected as the Liberal candidate for the

electoral district of Ferntree Gully The electoral district of Ferntree Gully was an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. It was created in 2002 as a replacement for the abolished electorate of Knox. The district comprised Ferntree Gully and its neighbouring suburbs ...

. At the November

2006 Victorian state election The 2006 Victorian state election, held on Saturday, 25 November 2006, was for the 56th Parliament of Victoria. Just over 3 million Victorians registered to vote elected 88 members to the Legislative Assembly and, for the first time, 40 membe ...

, Wakeling defeated the incumbent ALP member, Anne Eckstein, by 27 votes. In 2008, Wakeling was promoted to Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition. At the 2010 state election, Wakeling recorded a swing of almost 12% to take the electorate from the Liberal Party's most marginal to safe seat status. From 2010 to 2014, Wakeling served as Parliamentary Secretary for Health. He was appointed

Minister for Higher Education and Skills The Minister for Education is a minister within the Executive Council of Victoria, Australia. Ministers for Education Ministers for Skills and TAFE Ministers for Higher Education Ministers for Education Services Ministers for ...

in March 2014, serving until the defeat of the Coalition government at the 2014 state election. Wakeling supported Matthew Guy’s successful 2021 bid to replace Michael O’Brien as Leader of the Opposition. As of late 2021, Wakeling is the Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations and Trade. Prior to Matthew Guy’s directive to Liberal Party MPs that they were not to address protestors opposing health measures in Victoria, Wakeling was criticised for being one of a number of Liberal Party MPs who attended one of these rallies, which featured a number violent threats against the Premier from members of ‘fringe’ protest groups. Wakeling was defeated at the

by Labor’s Jackson Taylor.

References

External links

Parliamentary voting record of Nick Wakeling at Victorian Parliament Tracker
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wakeling, Nick 1971 births Living people People educated at Haileybury (Melbourne) RMIT University alumni La Trobe University alumni Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly 21st-century Australian politicians Monash University alumni Politicians from Melbourne Ministers for Higher Education (Victoria)