Matthew Mason-Cox

The Honourable
Matthew Mason-Cox
MLC
Member of Legislative Council
Incumbent
Assumed office
28 September 2006
Preceded by Patricia Forsythe
Minister for Fair Trading
In office
6 May 2014  2 April 2015
Preceded by Stuart Ayres
Succeeded by John Barilaro (as Minister for Small Business)
Personal details
Born Matthew Ryan Mason-Cox
Political party Liberal Party of Australia
Spouse(s) Wendy Mason-Cox
Children 2 sons, 2 daughters
Residence Queanbeyan, New South Wales
Alma mater University of New South Wales
Website www.matthewmason-cox.com.au

Matthew Ryan Mason-Cox, an Australian politician, is a Liberal Party of Australia member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since September 2006. Mason-Cox was the Minister for Fair Trading between May 2014 and April 2015 in the first Baird ministry and was the currently Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia in the Legislative Council during 2014 and 2015.

Personal life

Mason-Cox operated an optometry business in the rural city of Queanbeyan, New South Wales. He later served at senior levels in the Australian Public Service and served as secretary and senior adviser to a number of federal Parliamentary committees including the Defence Sub-Committee and the Family Law Committee inquiry into the Child Support Scheme.

Mason-Cox was also Corporate Counsel to Elders IXL Ltd in Adelaide and trained as a solicitor at Freehills in Sydney. Mason-Cox holds a Bachelor of Laws degree and a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) degree from the University of New South Wales, where he was awarded the University Prize for Banking Law.

Mason-Cox is married to Wendy Mason-Cox and has four children.[1][2]

Political career

In 2006, Mason-Cox stood for Liberal Party preselection for a Southern New South Wales regional ballot position for election the New South Wales Legislative Council prior to the 2007 election, challenging incumbent Patricia Forsythe. Mason-Cox would ordinarily have been formally elected to the Legislative Council at the 2007 election, but Forsythe resigned on 13 September 2006.[3] and Mason-Cox was appointed to the resulting casual vacancy and was sworn in as a Member of the Legislative Council on 28 September 2006.[4] Mason-Cox raised the state of infrastructure in the Monaro region and the ongoing battle between New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory over water rights in the Queanbeyan region as early legislative priorities.[5]

Mason-Cox was appointed as the Minister for Fair Trading, in May 2014;[6] however was demoted and not appointed to the second Baird ministry following the 2015 state election.[7] He was briefly the leader of the Liberal Party in the Legislative Council during 2014 and 2015.

References

  1. Mason-Cox, Matthew (14 November 2006). "Maiden Speech" (PDF). Hansard (PDF). Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  2. Matthew Mason-Cox Biography
  3. Norington, Brad; Salusinszky, Imre (24 May 2006). "Fallback option opens for Goward". The Australian.
  4. "New Lib face in the house". Daily Telegraph. 29 September 2006.
  5. Cronin, Danielle (16 September 2006). "Queanbeyan businessman is new MLC". Canberra Times.
  6. Hasham, Nicole (6 May 2014). "Stuart Ayres shines on first day as Police Minister". The Age. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  7. Gerathy, Sarah (1 April 2014). "NSW Election 2015: Four MPs dumped as Premier Mike Baird's new cabinet takes shape". ABC News (Australia). Retrieved 6 April 2015.

External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Stuart Ayres
Minister for Fair Trading
20142015
Succeeded by
John Barilaro
as Minister for Small Business
Party political offices
Preceded by
Mike Gallacher
Leader of the Liberal Party in the Legislative Council
2014–2015
Succeeded by
John Ajaka