| Tom Wheelwright | |
|---|---|
| Senator for New South Wales | |
| In office 24 May 1995 – 30 June 1996 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 29 April 1953 Huddersfield, England |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Political party | Australian Labor Party |
| Alma mater | University of Sydney |
| Occupation | Economist |
Thomas Clive "Tom" Wheelwright (born 29 April 1953) is a former Australian politician. Born in Huddersfield in Yorkshire, he migrated to Australia and was educated at the University of New South Wales and the Australian Graduate School of Management, after which he became a university tutor, research officer, stockbroker, economist and author. He was a senior adviser to both Prime Minister Paul Keating and Member for Dobell Michael Lee. In 1995, he was appointed to the Australian Senate as a Labor Senator for New South Wales, filling a casual vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator Stephen Loosley. He was defeated at the 1996 election.
He tried unsuccessfully to obtain Labor Party endorsement to stand for the Senate again in 1998, after which he formed his own public affairs consultancy "Politic". He moved to Hong Kong in 2000 to set up a public affairs function across Asia Pacific and India for Lucent Technologies. After a brief stint studying Mandarin Chinese in Beijing in 2003, he reestablished Politic in Hong Kong and consulted to various MNCs on public affairs issues in Asia Pacific.
In 2006 he accepted a new role with Deutsche Post - DHL and moved to Singapore, setting up a public affairs function for the DHL business units in Asia Pacific and India. He was given additional responsibility for Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa for DHL Express in 2009.
Tom Wheelwright married Julia Zhang Wenyan in 2005 and they have one son, Sebastian Yuqi, born in 2008.[1]