Zed Seselja

Senator Zed Seselja
Senator for the Australian Capital Territory
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 September 2013
Leader of the Opposition of the Australian Capital Territory Elections: 2008
In office 13 December 2007 – 11 February 2013
Preceded by	Bill Stefaniak
Succeeded by	Jeremy Hanson
Member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly for Molonglo
In office 16 October 2004 – 6 November 2012
Member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly for Brindabella
In office 6 November 2012 – 11 June 2013
Succeeded by	Nicole Lawder
Personal details
Born	Zdenko Seselja (1977-03-27) 27 March 1977 Woden Valley, Canberra, ACT, Australia
Political party	Liberal Party
Spouse(s)	Roslyn "Ros" Seselja
Children	5 (Michael, Tommy, William, Olivia, and Grace)
Alma mater	Australian National University, University of Canberra
Religion	Roman Catholic

Zdenko Matthew "Zed" Seselja (born 27 March 1977) is an Australian Liberal Party politician. He was elected to the Australian Senate as a representative of the Australian Capital Territory for a three-year term which commenced on 7 September 2013.^[1][2] He was previously a member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly from 2004 to 2013. He was the territory's 12th Opposition Leader, serving in that position from December 2007 to January 2013.^[3] Seselja is of Croatian descent.

Early life and education

Seselja was born in Canberra Hospital, then called the Woden Valley Hospital, to father Ljudevit Seselja and mother Katica, both immigrant parents from Croatia (back when it was part of Yugoslavia).^[4][5] Katica arrived by herself in Australia on Christmas Day 1970, and five months later she married Ljudevit, who arrived approximately three years before the marriage date.^[5] Both parents had two jobs each, the second of them for both as cleaners.^[5] Seselja recounted that when he was a child, he had been occasionally called "black" due to his relatively swarthy complexion when compared to non-Croatian Australians, particularly Anglo-Celtic Australians.^[5]

He attended local schools like St Mary MacKillop College in the Tuggeranong Valley.^[4] He then graduated from the Australian National University twice, first in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and again in 1999 with a Bachelor of Laws degree.^[6] He also received a Graduate Certificate in Public Administration in 2000 from the University of Canberra and a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Australian National University in 2002, the same year in which he was admitted as a legal practitioner.^[6]

While attending university, he worked at Woolworths Supermarkets from 1995 to 1998; MacKillop Catholic College (now St Mary MacKillop College) in 1998 as a cleaner; the Australian Fisheries Management Authority from 1998 to 1999 as a legal assistant; and the Commonwealth Department of Transport and Regional Services from 2000 to 2004 as a policy officer, lawyer, and then a senior lawyer.^[6]

Territory politics

At the 2008 election, Seselja received a quota of 1.49 and was elected first in the seven member Molonglo electorate.

There was a decrease in the vote for both major parties, with a swing to the Greens. Labor won 7 seats, the Liberals won 6 seats, while the Greens won 4 seats, giving them the balance of power. Negotiations ensued between the Greens and both major parties over the formation of a government.^[7][8] After almost two weeks of deliberations, the Greens chose to support a minority Labor government, thereby consigning Seselja’s party to the opposition benches.^[9]

At the 2012 election, Seselja moved to the five member Brindabella electorate where he received a quota of 1.8.^[10]

Federal politics

On 4 February 2013, Seselja stated that he would be challenging sitting Senator Gary Humphries (who is himself a former ACT Liberal leader) for Liberal Party pre-selection for the Senate in the Australian federal election, 2013. He said that he would stand down from leadership of the party in the Legislative Assembly as of Monday 11 February.^[11] On 23 February 2013, he won his pre-selection bid, and thus became one of the two official Liberal Party Senate candidates for the ACT.^[12]

Seselja was elected to the Australian Senate as Senator for the Australian Capital Territory in the Australian federal election, 2013.^[13]

Political views

Seselja's political views have been characterised as conservative rather than moderate, and aligned with the views of federal Liberal party leader Tony Abbott.^[14][15]

Personal life

Seselja is a Roman Catholic who attends church services in the Corpus Christi parish in Gowrie.^[16][17] He is married to Roslyn "Ros" Seselja; together, they have five children (the first four listed with their respective ages as of June 2013): Michael, 13; Tommy, 11; William, 7; Olivia, 5; and Grace, who was born on 2 September 2013.^[18][19]

In the community, Seselja is currently a supporter of both Karinya House and the Create Foundation, a member of the Australian Republican Movement (presumably making him a supporter of Australia becoming a republic) and the Australian Red Cross, a volunteer for St. Vincent de Paul, an ambassador for Focus ACT since 2008, and a KeepWatch Ambassador with the Royal Lifesaving Society (also since 2008); he was formerly a mentor for Menslink from 2001 to 2004.^[6]

References

External links

• Canberra Liberals
• Zed Seselja on Twitter