Andrew Thomson (Australian politician)

Andrew Peter Thomson (born 7 January 1961), Australian politician, is a former Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives representing the Division of Wentworth in New South Wales.

Thomson is the son of Australian golfer Peter Thomson, and worked as a solicitor, investment banker and golf course designer before entering politics.^[1] He entered parliament in April 1995 in a Wentworth by-election after Dr John Hewson vacated the seat when he retired from politics after being defeated in a leadership ballot by Alexander Downer.

When the Coalition took government at the 1996 election, Thomson was made Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. On 6 October 1997 he became Minister for Sport and Tourism, although he was replaced by Jackie Kelly a year later.

Thomson lost pre-selection for Wentworth in 2001, and caused a controversy when he embarked on a study tour in the United States several months before his parliamentary term ended, apparently enrolling in post-graduate law studies at Georgetown University. After considerable political fallout over the incident, Thomson declared that he would return to Australia to serve out his term until the election, and that he would pay for the trip himself due to the controversy. He also stated that the trip was related to his work on the government's treaties committee, although the head of the committee, De-Anne Kelly, was unaware of Thomson's trip and its purpose.^[2]

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