Stuart Laurence Ayres (born 24 November 1980) is an Australian politician. He has been a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

since 19 June 2010, representing the electorate of Penrith as a member of the

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 ...

. He also served as the Deputy Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party in the Perrottet ministry from October 2021 to August 2022 and was the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Minister for Enterprise, Investment and Trade The Minister for Enterprise, Investment and Trade is a minister in the Government of New South Wales who has responsibilities for sponsoring and supporting enterprise, trade, and international investment in the state of New South Wales, Austra ...

, the

Minister for Tourism and Sport The Minister for Tourism and Sport was a minister in the Government of New South Wales with responsibilities for the administration and support for all sporting bodies and tourism in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The most recent M ...

, and the Minister for Western Sydney from December 2021 to August 2022, until his resignation due to an investigation into his role in the John Barilaro trade commissioner scandal. Ayres has previously served as the Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney and as the Minister for Trade and Industry from October to December 2021; as the Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney in the

second Berejiklian ministry The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ea ...

; as the Minister for Sport from April 2014, as the Minister for WestConnex and as the Minister for Western Sydney from January 2017 until March 2019 in the first Berejiklian ministry; as the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events between 2015 and 2017; as the Minister for Police and Emergency Services during 2014 and 2015; as the Minister Assisting the Premier on Western Sydney between 2013 and 2015; and as the Minister for Fair Trading between 2013 and 2014.

Personal life

Ayres was born to a father serving in the

Australian Defence Force The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of the Commonwealth of Australia and its national interests. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Fo ...

which resulted in his moving to various locations across Australia until settling in Penrith in 1993. Ayres was educated at St Dominic's College in Kingswood. He is the partner of federal Liberal

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...

Marise Payne Marise Ann Payne (born 29 July 1964) is an Australian politician who served in the Morrison Government as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2018 to 2022 and as Minister for Women from 2019 to 2022. She has been a Senator for New South Wales si ...

Early career

Ayres graduated in 1999 with a degree in sports business from the Australian College of Physical Education and worked as a development officer for the Australian Football League before joining the staff of the member for Lindsay, Jackie Kelly, in her capacity as the then Minister for Sport and Tourism and the Minister assisting the Prime Minister for the Sydney

2000 Olympic Games The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

. Ayres was an account executive for

Austereo Austereo was an Australian mass media company based in Melbourne. It was founded in 1980 by Paul Thompson, and operated 16 radio stations in metropolitan and regional Australia under the Today Network and Triple M brands. In 2011, the company' ...

( 2DayFM and

Triple M Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 40 radio stations broadcasting a mainstream rock music format and 5 digital radio stations. The network dates back t ...

radio stations), and returned to the Australian College of Physical Education in 2008, initially as student recruitment manager and then later as director of marketing and business development. Ayres has been heavily involved in the administration of local sport in Western Sydney where he has been a board member of the Penrith Australian Football Club for 10 years and was also the founding secretary of the Penrith Valley Sports Foundation.

New South Wales state political career

Ayres was elected at the Penrith state by-election on 19 June 2010, receiving 66.3% of the two-party-preferred vote. Ayres took the previously safe Labor seat on a 25.7-point swing—the largest swing against a sitting government in New South Wales history. This turned Penrith into a safe Liberal seat at one stroke. Indeed, Ayres' primary-vote margin was enough to win the seat without the need for preferences. Like his partner,

, Ayres is member of the Liberals' Moderate faction, and is a republican. 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 ...

to parliament, he voiced his support for Australia to have an Australian head of state and become a republic. Following his re-election in March 2011, Ayres was elected to the position of deputy government whip in the NSW Legislative Assembly. Since then, he was promoted to Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Transport and appointed as the Premier's Parliamentary Secretary for Western Sydney. In December 2013, Ayres was appointed as the Minister for Fair Trading and as the Minister Assisting the Premier on Western Sydney. Due to the resignation of

Barry O'Farrell Barry Robert O'Farrell (born 24 May 1959) is a former Australian politician who has been Australia's High Commissioner to India and non-resident Ambassador to Bhutan since May 2020. O'Farrell was the 43rd Premier of New South Wales and Minist ...

as Premier, and the subsequent ministerial reshuffle by

Mike Baird Michael Bruce Baird (born 1 April 1968) is an Australian investment banker and former politician who was the 44th Premier of New South Wales, the Minister for Infrastructure, the Minister for Western Sydney, and the Leader of the New South ...

, the new Liberal Leader, in April 2014 in addition to his existing ministerial responsibilities, Ayres was appointed Minister for Sport and Recreation, and appointed as a member of Cabinet. Following the resignation of Mike Gallacher in May 2014, Ayres gained the portfolio of Police and Emergency Services and lost the portfolio of Fair Trading. Following the 2015 state election, Ayres was sworn in as the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events and the Minister for Sport on 2 April 2015 as a member of the second Baird government. In the first Berejiklian ministry, Ayres was appointed as the Minister for Western Sydney, the Minister for WestConnex, and the Minister for Sport, with effect from 30 January 2017. Following the 2019 state election, Ayres was sworn in as the Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney in the second Berejiklian ministry, since 2 April 2019. Upon

Gladys Berejiklian Gladys Berejiklian (born 22 September 1970) is an Australian former politician who served as the 45th premier of New South Wales and the leader of the New South Wales division of the Liberal Party from 2017 to 2021. Berejiklian became a member ...

's resignation on 1 October 2021, Ayres sought the Deputy Leadership of the Liberal Party on a ticket with

Dominic Perrottet Dominic Francis Perrottet ( ; born 21 September 1982) is an Australian politician who is currently serving as the 46th premier of New South Wales and leader of the New South Wales division of the Liberal Party of Australia. He assumed office ...

as the leader. On 5 October 2021, Ayres and Perrottet won the ticket, and were elected as the Deputy Leader and Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party, respectively. On the same day, Ayres was sworn in as the Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney and as the Minister for Trade and Industry. In a subsequent rearrangement of the Perrottet ministry, on 21 December 2021, Ayres was sworn in as the Minister for Enterprise, Investment and Trade, as the Minister for Tourism and Sport, and as the Minister for Western Sydney. Ayres resigned from both Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party and his Ministerial positions on 3 August 2022 due to his involvement in the appointment of former

Deputy Premier A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

John Barilaro to a lucrative U.S. trade role. Ayres stood down as a cabinet member while he was being investigated over a potential breach of the ministerial code of conduct for an intervention he took with Investment NSW's chief executive Amy Brown to add an additional candidate to the shortlist for the position. He was succeeded by Matt Kean as Deputy Leader of the Liberal party at the party room meeting on 9 August.

Former ministerial positions

Notes

References