Antony "Tony" Pasin (born 1 October 1977) is an Australian politician. He is a member of the

Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia (LP) is the prominent centre-right political party in Australia. It is considered one of the two major parties in Australian politics, the other being the Australian Labor Party (ALP). The Liberal Party was fo ...

for 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 Barker since the 2013 election.

Early life

Pasin was born in

Mount Gambier, South Australia Mount Gambier is the second most populated city in South Australia, with a population of 25,591 as of the 2021 census. The city is located on the slopes of Mount Gambier (volcano), Mount Gambier, a volcano in the south east of the state, about ...

. His parents were both born in Italy – his mother in San Bartolomeo in Galdo,

Benevento Benevento ( ; , ; ) is a city and (municipality) of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the Sabato (r ...

, and his father in Fontanelle, Veneto. Pasin has degrees in Law and 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 previously served on the Mount Gambier City Council from 2003 to 2010.

Parliament

In 2012, Pasin defeated incumbent Patrick Secker, 164 votes to 78 votes, for Liberal preselection in Barker, long the safest Liberal seat in South Australia. He breezed to victory at the 2013 election.

2016 election

A ReachTEL seat-level opinion poll in the safe Liberal seat of Barker of 869 voters conducted by robocall on 20 June during the 2016 election campaign surprisingly found Nick Xenophon Team candidate James Stacey leading Pasin 52–48 on the two-candidate vote. Seat-level opinion polls in the other two rural Liberal South Australian seats of Mayo and

Grey Grey (more frequent in British English) or gray (more frequent in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma. It is the color of a cloud-covered s ...

revealed Nick Xenophon Team also leading in both. On election night, Stacey slashed Pasin's margin in Barker from a comfortably safe 16.5 points to just 4.7 points. This was the closest that the Coalition has come to losing Barker since

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 � ...

, though Barker remains a comfortably safe Liberal seat in a two-party matchup with Labor. Pasin is a member of the National Right faction of the Liberal Party. Pasin is a powerbroker in the faction and is seen as Senator Alex Antic’s right-hand man. Pasin also has the shadow portfolio of Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport in the Dutton Shadow cabinet.

Controversies

On the 21st of November 2024 Pasin was publicly accused in Parliament of deceitful behaviour, secretly recording a conversation between himself and Minister Catherine King without her knowledge or consent. Pasin was caught by one of King's staff "downloading a film on to a laptop” immediately after the meeting. Pasin denies the claims. Pasin later apologised to the Chamber, claiming “unbeknownst to im�� that a new staffer recorded him around parliament including the Ministerial corridors.

Personal life

Pasin supports the Essendon Bombers in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

References

External links

Parliament of Australia biography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pasin, Tony 1977 births Living people Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Barker Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives People from Mount Gambier, South Australia People of Venetian descent Australian people of Italian descent Australian MPs 2013–2016 Australian MPs 2016–2019 Australian MPs 2019–2022 Australian MPs 2022–2025