Scott Emerson

The Honourable Scott Emerson MP
Minister for Transport and Main Roads of Queensland
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 April 2012
Premier	Campbell Newman
Preceded by	Annastacia Palaszczuk (Transport) Craig Wallace (Main Roads)
Member of the Queensland Parliament for Indooroopilly
Incumbent
Assumed office 21 March 2009
Preceded by	Ronan Lee
Personal details
Born	(1964-01-15) 15 January 1964 Ipswich, Australia
Political party	Liberal National Party

Scott Anthony Emerson (born 15 January 1964) is an Australian politician. He is the Minister for Transport and Main Roads in the Campbell Newman led Liberal National Party Queensland Government.^[1] In the Legislative Assembly of Queensland he represents the seat of Indooroopilly in Brisbane's inner-west, which he has held since 2009.^[2]

Early life

Emerson was born in Ipswich, Queensland, where his father, an officer in the Royal Australian Air Force, was working at the nearby Amberley Air Force base. Emerson attended schools across Australia and overseas as his family moved with the RAAF. He graduated from high school in Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory. Emerson attended the University of Queensland where he enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts degree, completing studies in law, economics and journalism. He finished his degree in 1985 with majors in law and journalism, and completed an economics degree in 1987. While at university he was a regular contributor to the student newspaper Semper Floreat. He was editor of the newspaper in 1986. He also served as chairman of the Journalism Students Association in 1985.

Early career

Emerson began his media career in 1988 as a cadet journalist with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation at its Toowong studios in Brisbane. In 1991 he moved to Sydney to work as a reporter on ABC Radio’s current affairs programs, AM, PM and The World Today. He returned to Brisbane in 1992 as the senior Queensland reporter for ABC Radio Current Affairs. In 1994 he joined the national newspaper The Australian as its Queensland political reporter. In 1998 he was appointed the paper’s Queensland Bureau Chief^[3] and in 2000 was National Chief of Staff for The Australian during the Sydney Olympics. In 2001 he was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to study political campaigning, including undertaking research at Harvard University and in Washington D.C. In 2004 he left The Australian to become a director and equity partner in Crook Publicity, a Brisbane-based public and media relations firm. In 2009 he resigned from Crook Publicity to contest the seat of Indooroopilly at the Queensland state election for the Liberal National Party of Queensland.

Emerson was co-founder of the St Lucia Community Association and held executive roles on local P&Fs including at Nudgee Junior College and Brisbane Boys College. He was a team manager at Wests Junior Rugby from 2005 to 2007 Emerson was also a volunteer at RSPCA Australia including workingas a qualified dog trainer at weekends.

Emerson is married to Robyn and the couple have a daughter and son. They met while studying at the University of Queensland and married in Brisbane in 1991.

Political career

Emerson was elected to the Queensland Parliament at 21 March 2009 state election, representing the seat of Indooroopilly for the Liberal National Party with a two-party preferred vote of 56 per cent. At the election he defeated Labor’s candidate Sarah Warner and the sitting member Ronan Lee from the Queensland Greens who defected from the Australian Labor Party in 2008.^[3]

At the election Emerson achieved a swing of 8.4 per cent on the two-party preferred vote, more than double the average swing to the LNP, and won by more than 2500 votes.

In his maiden speech he identified community and the environment as key issues.

On 24 March 2012, Emerson was re-elected as the Member for Indooroopilly for the Liberal National Party, contributing to the party's massive total of 78 seats and delivering a new State Government for Queensland under Premier Campbell Newman.^[4]

At the election Emerson achieved a swing of 14% with a first preference vote of 61% and a two-party preferred vote of 70%, the highest of any candidate in the seat of Indooroopilly's history.^[5] Mr Emerson was appointed as the Minister for Transport and Main Roads in the first Campbell Newman Ministry^[6] and was sworn in by the Governor on Tuesday 3 April 2012 at Queensland Government House.

References

External links

• Official website