David Southwick

David James Southwick (born 31 March 1968^[2]) is an Australian politician, and has been the member for Caulfield in the Victorian Legislative Assembly since 2010. In December 2014, Southwick was appointed the Shadow Minister for Energy and Resources, Shadow Minister for Innovation, and Shadow Minister for Renewables in the Victorian Coalition's Shadow Cabinet.^[3] He is a member of the Liberal Party of Australia.

Early life

Southwick was born and raised in Caulfield and completed his High School Certificate at Mount Scopus Memorial College. He studied for a Bachelor of Business at Victoria University. In 1991 he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship in recognition of his service on the University Council.

Business career

While at university Southwick started his business career including being founding and serving as managing director of The Body Collection. In this business he employed 50 staff. Southwick has also been the director or managing director of The Market Stars Group, ICE Events Pty Ltd and David James Investments Pty Ltd.

Political career

Southwick was the Liberal candidate for the Division of Melbourne Ports in the 2004 federal election, achieving a swing of almost 2 points against the incumbent MP Michael Danby. in the 2006 state election he was a Liberal candidate for the Southern Metropolitan Region, narrowly missing out on being elected.

He was elected in 2010 as the Member for Caulfield and delivered his first speech on 8 February 2011. He is also Chair of the Parliament's Education and Training Committee and one of the Parliament’s inaugural representatives on the board of the Victorian Responsible Gaming Foundation (VRGF).

In November 2012, it was revealed that Southwick had misleading personal information on his website. He claimed to have been an 'Adjunct Professor' at RMIT, and had a graduate diploma in marketing from Monash University, despite being a few units short. However, both universities stated that Southwick never obtained these qualifications. The information was subsequently removed from the website.^[4][5][6] Southwick responded to these claims by saying that 'Adjunct Professor' was a title used to refer to him while undertaking teaching overseas on behalf of RMIT Graduate School of Business in Hong Kong when he was an Adjunct Lecturer.^[7]

During July 2013, in a first for Victorian members of parliament, Southwick launched David Southwick.TV. The purpose of the website is to provide video updates to Caulfield residents about local events and issues in Victorian politics.^[8] At the time Southwick said "As a fan of technology and emerging new media I have established this website so that local residents can access up to date and engaging video content including what is going on in their own neighbourhood. This content is delivered in a way that the viewer can watch in their own time as if they are part of the action"^[9]

References

External links

• Official website