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Brendan Smyth
Brendan Smyth
Member of the ACT Legislative Assembly
	In office; 21 February 1998 – 15 July 2016 Serving with Wood/Burch, Hargreaves/Gentleman, Kaine/Pratt/Doszpot/Seselja/Lawder, Osborne/MacDonald/Bresnan/Wall
Constituency	Brindabella
Member of the Australian Parliament for Canberra
	In office; 25 March 1995 – 2 March 1996
Preceded by	Ros Kelly
Succeeded by	Bob McMullan
Personal details
Born	Brendan Michael Smyth; 27 July 1959 (age 65); Sydney, Australia
Political party	Liberal Party
Website	Profile at CanberraLiberals.org

Brendan Michael Smyth (born 27 July 1959) is an Australian former politician, who was a member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Brindabella for the Liberal Party from 1998 until 2016. From 2002 to 2006 Smyth was the ACT Leader of the Opposition and served briefly as the Deputy Chief Minister during 2000 and 2001. He has held the ACT portfolios Urban Services, Business, Tourism and the Arts, and Police and Emergency Services.^[1]

Prior to his election to the ACT Legislative Assembly he served briefly as the Member for Canberra in the Australian House of Representatives, also representing the Liberals.^[1]

Career

Smyth was born in Sydney and moved to Canberra in May 1969. He worked at the National Library of Australia until 1995 when, representing the Liberal Party, he contested the 1995 by-election for the House of Representatives seat of Canberra. Normally a safe Labor seat, its previous member Ros Kelly had left under a cloud, having been forced to resign her ministry a year earlier over the sports rorts affair,^{[citation needed]} and Smyth received a 16.1% swing to claim the seat.^[2]

At the Australian federal election on 2 March 1996, Smyth contested the new federal House of Representatives seat of Namadgi, essentially the southern portion of his old seat, even though it had been drawn with a notional Labor majority of 10.9 percent. He was defeated by Labor's Annette Ellis.^[3]^[4] As of the election in May 2022^[update], he is the last non-Labor member to represent an ACT-based seat.

He subsequently shifted to territory politics, winning election to the Legislative Assembly in the 1998 election representing the Tuggeranong-based multimember electorate of Brindabella.^[5] He was the Opposition Leader for the ACT Liberal Party in the 2004 ACT elections, but lost the election.^[1]

Smyth resigned from the ACT Legislative Assembly on 15 July 2016, to take up a newly created government position as Commissioner for International Engagement for the ACT. The ensuing casual vacancy was filled by conducting a countback of votes at the 2012 ACT election.^[6]^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Brendan Smyth". Member profile. Legislative Assembly for the ACT. 26 November 2013. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
^ Carr, Adam (25 March 1995). "By-elections 1993–1996". Australian Federal By-elections. Psephos. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
^ Carr, Adam. "Divisions of Canberra, Fraser and Namadgi". 1996 Australian Federal Election. Psephos. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
^ Green, Antony (2007). "Canberra (electorate)". Australia Votes 2007: Electorate profiles. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 14 November 2007.
^ Newman, Gerard (1998). "Research Note 37 1997–98: Against The Odds: The 1998 ACT Election". Parliament of Australia: Parliamentary Library. Archived from the original on 13 July 2007. Retrieved 14 November 2007.
^ "MLA Brendan Smyth retires after 18 years". ABC News. 15 July 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
^ "Mr Brendan Smyth MLA resigns - ACT Legislative Assembly casual vacancy announced". Elections ACT. 15 July 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2016.

External links

Canberra Liberals People: Brendan Smyth

Political offices
Preceded by Gary Humphries	Opposition Leader of the Australian Capital Territory 2002–2006	Succeeded by Bill Stefaniak
Preceded by Trevor Kaine	ACT Minister for Urban Services 1998–2001	Succeeded by Bill Wood
Preceded by Kate Carnell	ACT Minister for Business, Tourism and the Arts 2000–2001	Succeeded by Ted Quinlan as Minister for Economic Development, Business and Tourism
Preceded by Bill Stefaniak as Minister Assisting the Attorney-General	ACT Minister for Police and Emergency Services 2000–2001	Succeeded by Ted Quinlan as Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Corrections
Preceded by Gary Humphries	Deputy Chief Minister 2000–2001	Succeeded by Ted Quinlan
Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Ros Kelly	Member for Canberra 1995–1996	Succeeded by Bob McMullan
Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly
Preceded by Louise Littlewood	Member of the Legislative Assembly for Brindabella 1998–2016 Served alongside: Wood/Burch, Hargreaves/Gentleman, Kaine/Pratt/Doszpot/Seselja/Lawder, Osborne/MacDonald/Bresnan/Wall	Succeeded by Val Jeffery
Party political offices
Preceded by Gary Humphries	Leader of the Australian Capital Territory Liberals 2002–2006	Succeeded by Bill Stefaniak