Brendan Smyth (politician)

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This article refers to the Australian politician. For the Northern Irish child molester, see Brendan Smyth.

Brendan Smyth (born July 1959) is an Australian politician. He was Leader of the Opposition in the Australian Capital Territory from 2002 to 2006, when he was toppled by Bill Stefaniak. He retains his previous portfolios of Health, Ageing, Business and Tourism at present, though Stefaniak has signalled a major reshuffle in the coming months. He represents the electorate of Brindabella.

Smyth was born in Sydney, but moved to Canberra in May 1969. He worked at the National Library of Australia until 1995, when he ran in a by-election in the federal House of Representatives seat of Canberra, which had been caused by the departure amidst scandal of Cabinet minister Ros Kelly. Although the seat was widely considered to be safe for Kelly's Australian Labor Party, Smyth swept to victory with a massive swing in his favour. Following a redistribution of electoral boundaries, Smyth contested the new federal House of Representatives seat of Namadgi at the Australian legislative election, 1996 but was defeated by Annette Ellis. He subsequently shifted to territory politics, winning election to the Legislative Assembly in 1998.