Dean Smith (Australian politician)


Dean Anthony Smith is an Australian politician and Liberal Party member of the Australian Senate since 2012, representing Western Australia.
Smith attended Mirrabooka Primary School and Mirrabooka Senior High School, later attending the University of Western Australia where he graduated with honours in political science. Smith joined the Liberal Party at the age of 17, and later worked as a policy adviser to Premier of Western Australia Richard Court. In 1998, he was a senior advisor to Prime Minister John Howard during the Coalition's 1998 federal election campaign. In 2010, he founded Smith & Duda Consulting, a political lobbying firm, and also served as treasurer of the Liberal Party state branch in Western Australia.
Smith was appointed to the Senate on 2 May 2012 by a joint sitting of the Parliament of Western Australia, to fill a casual vacancy caused by the death of Senator Judith Adams.
Smith was the first openly-LGBTI member of the Parliament of Australia from the Liberal Party, and has supported same-sex marriage in Australia since the 2014 Sydney hostage crisis. Prior to that, he opposed same-sex marriage and voted against it. Smith introduced the Marriage Amendment Bill 2017 to the Senate on 15 November and passed the Senate on 29 November 2017.
Smith was appointed Chief Government Whip in the Senate on 21 January 2019.
Smith is a member of a number of political and community organisations, including Australians for Constitutional Monarchy and the Australian National Flag Association.

Personal life

Smith is the son of a policeman and housewife and is originally from Mirrabooka. He was the first person in his family to attend university. He is an Anglican.