Matthew Mason-Cox


Matthew Ryan Mason-Cox, an Australian politician, is a Liberal Party 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 served as 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 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.

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. 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. 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.
Mason-Cox was appointed as the Minister for Fair Trading, in May 2014, but was not appointed to the second Baird ministry following the 2015 state election. He was briefly the leader of the Liberal Party in the Legislative Council during 2014 and 2015 but was not the Government leader in the Council.