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The Honourable
Niall Blair
The Honourable Niall Blair
	Blair at the CeBIT VIP Tour Minister for Primary Industries
Minister for Primary Industries
	In office; 2 April 2015 – 2 April 2019
Premier	Mike Baird; Gladys Berejiklian
Preceded by	Katrina Hodgkinson
Succeeded by	Adam Marshall (as Minister for Agriculture)
Minister for Trade and Industry
	In office; 30 January 2017 – 2 April 2019
Premier	Gladys Berejiklian
Preceded by	Stuart Ayres (as Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events)
Succeeded by	John Barilaro (as Minister for Regional New South Wales, Industry and Trade
Minister for Regional Water
	In office; 30 January 2017 – 23 March 2019
Premier	Gladys Berejiklian
Preceded by	himself (as Minister for Lands and Water)
Succeeded by	Melinda Pavey (as Minister for Water, Property and Housing)
Minister for Lands and Water
	In office; 2 April 2015 – 30 January 2017
Premier	Mike Baird
Preceded by	Katrina Hodgkinson
Succeeded by	himself (as Minister for Regional Water); Paul Toole (as Minister for Lands and Forestry)
Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council
	In office; 26 March 2011 – 16 October 2019
Succeeded by	Sam Farraway
Personal details
Born	22 May 1977 (age 47); Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia
Political party	Independent
Other political; affiliations	The Nationals (Until 2020)
Alma mater	University of Western Sydney; University of Newcastle;

Niall Mark Blair (born 22 May 1977) is a former Australian politician and was the former Deputy Leader of the New South Wales Nationals. Blair was a Nationals member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from March 2011 until October 2019, when he retired from politics.^[1]^[2]

He was the New South Wales Minister for Primary Industries from April 2015 until March 2019; the Minister for Trade and Industry and the Minister for Regional Water from January 2017 until March 2019 in the Berejiklian government.^[3]^[4]

Biography

Blair graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science from the University of Western Sydney in 1997. He was a tree management officer with Marrickville Council from 1998 until 1999 and manager of parks and recreation for Leeton Shire from 1999 until 2005. He attained a masters in occupational health and safety from the University of Newcastle in 2005, and subsequently worked as manager of technical training for Integral Energy from 2005 until 2006. He founded a Moss Vale workplace safety consultancy, Admire Workplace Safety, in 2006 and was its CEO until his election to parliament in 2011.^[5]

Blair has been the chairman of the Nationals' Goulburn State Electoral Council since 2008, and was the Vice-Chairman of the Hume Federal Electoral Council from 2009 until 2010. He was preselected in April 2010 as the tenth candidate on the Coalition Legislative Council ticket, and was easily elected in March 2011 as the Coalition swept to a near-record landslide victory.^[2]^[6]^[7]

Following the 2015 state election, Blair was sworn in as the Minister for Primary Industries and the Minister for Lands and Water in the second Baird government.^[3] In January 2017 Blair was sworn in as the Minister for Primary Industries, the Minister for Trade and Industry, and the Minister for Regional Water in the Berejiklian government.^[8]

Blair was re-elected to the Legislative Council at the 2019 state election on 23 March, but the next day announced his resignation from the Cabinet, and from the Legislative Council when a replacement could be found.^[1] After the Nationals confirmed Sam Farraway as a replacement in September, Blair resigned from the Legislative Council on 16 October 2019.^[2]^[9]

Blair did not renew his National Party membership in 2020.^[10]

References

^ ^a ^b Ellicott, John (24 March 2019). "Blair resigns ministry just a day after being re-elected". The Land. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c "The Hon. Niall Mark Blair MLC". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
^ ^a ^b Hasham, Nicole (3 April 2015). "Premier Mike Baird's new NSW cabinet sworn in: Gladys Berejiklian and Gabrielle Upton first female Treasurer and Attorney-General". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
^ Sas, Nick (31 March 2019). "Gladys Berejiklian says Liberal Party has no women problem as re-elected NSW Premier shuffles Cabinet". ABC News. Australia. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
^ "South Highlands Flavour to NSW Nationals Preselection". NSW Nationals. Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
^ "Young Nats chair on preselection ticket". Northern Daily Leader. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
^ Declaration of Poll NSW Electoral Commission. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
^ "Refreshed NSW cabinet sworn in". Sky News. Australia. AAP. 30 January 2017. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
^ "Bathurst's Sam Farraway to replace Niall Blair in NSW Legislative Council". Central Western Daily. 6 September 2019. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
^ "Liberals accept defecting Nationals MP after two others quit the party". Sydney Morning Herald. 21 September 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2021.

Parliament of New South Wales
Political offices
Preceded by Katrina Hodgkinson	Minister for Lands and Water 2015–2017	Succeeded by Himself as Minister for Regional Water
	Minister for Lands and Water 2015–2017	Succeeded by Paul Toole as Minister for Lands and Forestry
	Minister for Primary Industries 2015–2019	Succeeded by Adam Marshall as Minister for Agriculture
Preceded by Himself as Minister for Lands and Water	Minister for Regional Water 2017–2019	Succeeded by Melinda Pavey as Minister for Water, Property and Housing
Preceded by Stuart Ayres as Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events	Minister for Trade and Industry 2017–2019	Succeeded by John Barilaro as Minister for Regional New South Wales, Industry and Trade
Party political offices
Preceded by Adrian Piccoli	Deputy Leader of the Nationals 2016–2019	Succeeded by Paul Toole
Preceded by John Ajaka	Deputy Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council 2017–2019	Succeeded by Sarah Mitchell