Sean L'Estrange

Sean Kimberley L'Estrange (born 19 September 1967^[2]) is an Australian politician. He is the Member for the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Churchlands.

Sean L’Estrange was born in Perth, the capital of Western Australia, he holds a bachelor's degree of Education (majoring in Economics) a Diploma of Teaching, a master's degree of Educational Leadership, a Graduate Diploma of Resource Management, and a Graduate Diploma of Management (majoring in Defence Studies). He is also a graduate of the Australian Defence Force’s Command and Staff College.

Early life

Sean L’Estrange completed his schooling at Aquinas College in Perth. While at Aquinas, he was College Prefect, House Captain, College Swimming Captain, College Cross Country Captain, Army Cadet Under Officer, President of the Young Christian Students, a member of the College Debating Team and he performed in College drama productions. He represented Western Australia at the National All Schools Cross Country Championships in Adelaide in 1982, Brisbane in 1984, and Perth in 1985 and was made the State Team Vice Captain in 1985. At his school graduation he was awarded the College Prize for Leadership and Service.

Politics

Sean L’Estrange joined the Liberal Party of Western Australia in 2002 and was assigned to Hackett branch in the Churchlands electorate. He held positions as President of Hackett Branch 2008-12; President of Curtin Division 2008-09; Member of State Executive 2008-09 and member of State Council 2008-2012.

In March 2013 he contested the Western Australian General Election for the seat of Churchlands against six other candidates and won a two party preferred result of 70.16% against the Labor candidate 29.84%. He served on the Joint Standing Committee on the Corruption and Crime Commission from 22 May 2013 to 18 March 2014. Since 19 March 2014, he has been serving as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. He is also Deputy Chairman of the Joint Standing Committee on Audit and he is a Member of the Parliamentary Liberal Party – Finance, Commerce and Development Committee.

Professional and business background

For seven years before entering parliament Sean L’Estrange established and ran a leadership and performance improvement consulting business. He worked with large resources sector companies, city and regional businesses, and Government departments, helping them in a variety of ways such as writing strategic plans, improving business resilience, and enhancing leadership systems and performance. Throughout his professional and business career he also served Australia as an Infantry Army Officer in both the Army Reserve and on Continuous Full Time Service with the Regular Army. Career highlights included reaching the rank of Colonel; Commanding a Reserve Infantry Regiment which trained and deployed soldiers for the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands; preparing and deploying troops for national security tasks; and himself deploying to Afghanistan as part of the NATO led International Security Assistance Force, where he was the Australian Task Force Commander’s Operations Analyst to Uruzgan province, and posted in direct support of the Australian Battle Group led by the 1st Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment and the 6th Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment. Before his business and Senior Army Officer roles he was a Senior School Economics teacher, Head of an Academic Department, Middle School Leader, and leader of school based youth development programs. He worked in schools such as Christ Church Grammar School, Ursula Frayne and Mandurah Catholic Colleges, and Wesley College.

Honours and awards

Sean L’Estrange has been awarded the following Australian Honours and awards: Returned from Active Service Badge; Army Combat Badge; Australian Active Service Medal with International Coalition Against Terrorism (ICAT) Clasp; Afghanistan Campaign Medal; Australian Defence Force Long Service Medal with 2 x Clasps; Australian Defence Force Medal; North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Medal with International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Clasp.

References