Teunis "Tony" Mulder (born 9 May 1955) is an Australian politician and perennial candidate. He was an independent member of the

Tasmanian Legislative Council The Tasmanian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. It is one of the two Chambers of parliament, chambers of the Parliament, the other being the Tasmanian House of Assembly, House of Assembly. Both ho ...

, representing the

electoral division of Rumney The electoral division of Rumney is one of the 15 electoral divisions in the Tasmanian Legislative Council (upper house). The division is located in Southern Tasmania to the east of the division of Pembroke. The electorate is named after Mo ...

from 2011 to 2017. Mulder is currently serving as a councillor on the

Clarence City Council Clarence City Council (or City of Clarence) is a Local government in Australia, local government body in Tasmania, and one of the five municipalities that constitutes the Hobart, Greater Hobart Area. The Clarence local government area has a po ...

since 2018, having previously served as an alderman from 2005 to 2011. He was born in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

in 1955, and his family emigrated to Australia in 1957. He studied political science at the

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College (University of Tasmania), Christ College, one of the unive ...

. Mulder is a former police officer, and was a

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

in the

Tasmania Police Tasmania Police is the primary law enforcement agency of the Australian state of Tasmania. Established in 1899, the force has more than 1,300 officers policing Tasmania's population of 571,200 people. History Colonial history Prior to the forma ...

. He was director of the State Security Unit, the Tasmanian Police counter-terrorism taskforce. Although running as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

candidate, Mulder openly retains links to 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. For example, while the political systems ...

, for whom he ran as a candidate for Franklin in the 2010 state election. Before the 2010 election, the Labor Party lodged a complaint that Mulder may have breached the Electoral Act when he appeared in a television advertisement wearing a police uniform, giving the impression that he was still a serving police officer. He was cleared of breaching the Electoral Act by the Tasmanian Electoral Commission.Mulder cleared by Electoral Commission
936 ABC Hobart, 11 March 2010. Mulder was defeated by Labor candidate

Sarah Lovell Sarah Elizabeth Lovell (born 9 October 1980) is an Australian politician. She has been the Labor member for Rumney in the Tasmanian Legislative Council since the 2017 periodic elections. Lovell was a union organiser for United Voice Un ...

at the 2017 election for Rumney. He unsuccessfully contested the new seat of Prosser at the 2018 periodic election, the lower house seat of Franklin at the 2024 state election, and the legislative council seat of Pembroke in the 2025 periodic election.

References

External links

TonyMulder.com official website
1955 births Living people Members of the Tasmanian Legislative Council Independent members of the Parliament of Tasmania Australian police officers Recipients of the Australian Police Medal University of Tasmania alumni Dutch emigrants to Australia Politicians from Rotterdam Tasmanian local councillors 21st-century Australian politicians {{Australia-Independent-politician-stub