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.

Biography

Thomson is the son of Australian golfer Peter Thomson,^[1] and worked as a solicitor, investment banker and golf course designer before entering politics. He was educated at the University of Melbourne (Arts/Law), Keio University in Tokyo, and later at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington DC.^[2] 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, and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Sydney 2000 Games.^[3] Thomson was the first Member of the House of Representatives to speak fluent Japanese and Chinese.

Thomson retired from the seat of Wentworth in 2001 after losing preselection. Thereafter he worked in Washington DC after passing the New York Bar Exam, then later joined Minter Ellison in Australia as Special Counsel.^[4] He worked in Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, and Beijing before returning to live in Tokyo in early 2011 where he had worked in his twenties. Currently he is registered as a foreign lawyer in Japan and has his own practice in the city of Fukuoka. He also founded Teas of Kyushu, a website and blog to promote and sell tea products grown on the island of Kyushu.

References

External links

• Thomson's law practice in Japan