Matthew Mason-Cox

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Matthew Ryan Mason-Cox is an Australian politician. He has been a Liberal Party of Australia member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since September 2006. He was appointed to the Legislative Council to fill a casual vacancy caused by the early resignation of moderate MLC Patricia Forsythe, who had previously been defeated in a preselection contest in advance of the 2007 election.

Mason-Cox had operated an optometry business in the rural city of Queanbeyan before entering politics, and held degrees in law and commerce. A long-time member of the Liberal Party of Australia, he decided to contest preselection for a regional seat in the state upper house, the New South Wales Legislative Council in advance of the 2007 election, challenging incumbent Patricia Forsythe, an outspoken moderate MP, and won by a significant margin.

The successful preselection challenge would have seen Mason-Cox enter parliament at the 2007 election, but his career began earlier than expected when Forsythe resigned on September 13, 2006, six months short of the conclusion of her term. [1] Mason-Cox was thus appointed to the resulting casual vacancy, and took his seat in parliament on September 28. [2] He raised the state of infrastructure in the Monaro region and the ongoing battle between New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory over water rights in the Queanbeyan region as early legislative priorities. [3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Norington, Brad and Salusinszky, Imre. "Fallback option opens for Goward". The Australian, May 24, 2006.
  2. ^ "New Lib face in the house". Daily Telegraph, September 29, 2006.
  3. ^ Cronin, Danielle. "Queanbeyan businessman is new MLC". Canberra Times, September 16, 2006.

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