Denis Napthine

The Honourable Denis Napthine MLA
47th Premier of Victoria
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 March 2013
Governor	Alex Chernov
Preceded by	Ted Baillieu
Leader of the Opposition of Victoria
In office 26 October 1999 – 20 August 2002
Deputy	Louise Asher
Preceded by	Jeff Kennett
Succeeded by	Robert Doyle
Victorian Minister for Ports, Regional Cities, Racing and Major Projects
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 December 2010
Premier	Ted Baillieu Himself
Treasurer of Victoria
In office 7 October 1999 – 20 October 1999
Premier	Jeff Kennett
Preceded by	Alan Stockdale
Succeeded by	Steve Bracks
Minister for Youth and Community Services
In office 1996–1999
Premier	Jeff Kennett
Member of the Victorian Parliament for South-West Coast
Incumbent
Assumed office 30 November 2002
Preceded by	New seat
Member of the Victorian Parliament for Portland
In office 1988–2002
Preceded by	Digby Crozier
Succeeded by	Seat abolished
Personal details
Born	Denis Vincent Napthine (1952-03-06) 6 March 1952 Geelong, Victoria, Australia
Citizenship	Australian
Political party	Liberal Party of Australia
Spouse(s)	Peggy
Alma mater	University of Melbourne Deakin University
Profession	Veterinarian
Religion	Roman Catholic
Website	www.denisnapthine.com.au

Denis Vincent Napthine (born 6 March 1952) is an Australian politician for the Liberal Party and the 47th Premier of Victoria. Napthine is a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, representing the electoral district of South-West Coast. Following the resignation of Ted Baillieu, he was elected leader of the Parliamentary Liberal Party on 6 March 2013 and was sworn in as Premier later the same day. He leads a minority government following the resignation of MP Geoff Shaw to the crossbench.

Early life

Napthine was born in 1952 to Len and Theresa Napthine in Geelong, Victoria. He was the third in a family of ten children.^[1][2][3]

Napthine spent his early schools at Winchelsea State School before attending Chanel College, a Catholic boys' school in Lovely Banks near Geelong. After graduating he attended the University of Melbourne, where he studied to be a veterinarian, undertaking a bachelor's and then a master's degree in veterinary science. He later completed a master's degree in business administration from Deakin University.^[1][3]

Political career

Napthine was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1988 as member for the country seat of Portland. He was re-elected in 1992, 1996 and 1999. The electorate of Portland was abolished in the 2002 redivision, and the bulk of its territory became part of the newly created district of South-West Coast, and Naphtine sought reelection there. He barely held onto this seat at the November 2002 election, but was re-elected in November 2006 with an increased margin.^[4]

Kennett Ministry

He was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health in 1992 and then promoted to Minister for Youth and Community Services in 1996 in Jeff Kennett's Liberal government, a position he held from 1996 to 1999.^[4]

Leader of the Opposition

Following the defeat of the Liberal Party at the 1999 election, Kennett resigned as Liberal leader, and Napthine was elected to take his place. Napthine had briefly served as Deputy Liberal Leader, having been elected to the position just shortly before Kennett stood down as Liberal Leader. During his term as Opposition Leader the Liberal-National coalition split, fracturing the opposition parties.

Under Napthine's leadership, the Liberal Party did poorly in the polls and did not make any significant electoral inroads on the ruling Labor government. Shortly before the 2002 state election, Robert Doyle challenged Napthine for the leadership of the Liberal Party. Doyle won the leadership by a narrow margin, but went on to lead the party to its worst electoral defeat ever, in which Napthine nearly lost his seat.

Baillieu Ministry

After the Liberals won the 2010 Victorian election, Napthine was made a member of Ted Baillieu's cabinet. He served as the Minister for Ports, Racing, Regional Cities and Major Projects.^[4][5]

Elevation to Premier of Victoria

On 6 March 2013, his 61st birthday, Napthine was elected Leader of the Victorian Parliamentary Liberal Party in place of Ted Baillieu, who had resigned the leadership.^[6] After the resignation of MP Geoff Shaw from the parliamentary Liberal Party earlier in the day, Napthine leads a minority government.

Like Labor's John Brumby, Napthine is a former Opposition Leader who became Premier of Victoria when his party was already in government. Unlike Brumby, Napthine did not lead his party to an election during his own time as Opposition Leader.

On 28 November 2013, Australian media reported that Napthine had 'secretly assisted balance-of-power independent MP' Geoff Shaw to draft a private member's bill to change the State abortion law.^[7][8][9] In a recorded statement released on 3 December 2013 despite having voted against the abortion law reform bill.^[10] Napthine refuted the allegations and stated his Government had no plans to change abortion laws,^[11] nor would he support any such change, although he refused to rule out allowing debate and a conscience vote on Mr Shaw's bill.

Personal life

Napthine and his wife Peggy have three children. His younger brother, Simon, is a member of the Australian Labor Party and was the unsuccessful ALP candidate for the federal seat of Flinders at the 2004 election.^[12]

One of Napthine's ancestors was convict Joseph Potaski.^[13]

References

External links

• Official website
• Denis Napthine on Facebook

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