Timothy Colin Smith is an Australian politician, and international athlete, having represented Australia at numerous World Rowing Championships. Since November 2014 he has been a Liberal Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, representing the Legislative Assembly seat of Kew. As a rower he made five state representative appearances for Victoria, rowed for Australia at one U23 and three senior World Rowing Championships and won a bronze medal in the Australian lightweight eight at the 2004 World Rowing Championships.
Early life and education
Tim Smith was born in Melbourne in 1983. Smith's great-grandfather founded Ferguson's Cakes in 1901, which became Ferguson Plarre under his grandfather in 1980. The Ferguson family sold their shares in the business in 2012. He grew up in Camberwell, Victoria and attended Scotch College, Melbourne and Rugby School in England. Smith attended the University of Melbourne and Ormond College where he undertook a Bachelor of Arts in history and politics. During his time as an undergraduate he was a dedicated athlete, rowing from the Melbourne University Boat Club, representing his state of Victoria and gaining selection to the Australian rowing team. At the conclusion of his rowing career he returned to the University of Melbourne where he undertook a Masters of International Politics. As part of this degree he was accepted into the Hansard Research Scholars Programme at the London School of Economics.
Rowing career
Smith was selected to row for Victoria for the youth eights team at the Australian Rowing Championships in 2002–2003. He was selected for the Victorian lightweight four to contest the Penrith Cup at the Interstate Regatta 2002–2004. He placed second in 2002. Smith made his Australian representative debut in 2003 at the World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne in a lightweight quad scull. That quad went on to the 2003 U23 World Rowing Championships in Belgrade where they placed fourth. In 2004 he moved into the Australian senior squad in the lightweight eight. That boat rowed to bronze medal at the 2004 World Rowing Championships in Banyoles, Spain. At the 2005 World Rowing Championships in Gifu, Japan he competed in the lightweight coxless four. At the 2006 World Rowing Championships at Eton, Dorney he competed in the lightweight coxless pair and finished in fourth place. He sustained a significant back injury in the lead up to the 2006 World Championships. Smith retired due to this injury.
Career
Following his sporting career, Smith worked as a political adviser in both Australia and United Kingdom, including Malcolm Turnbull during his time as opposition leader. In 2008 Smith was elected as a councilor of the City of Stonnington and in 2009 was elected as the youngest ever Mayor of Stonnington. In 2012, following his time as mayor, Smith worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers. In early 2013, Smith was promoted to the office of the executive board of PwC Australia. At this time, Smith raised his public profile with regular media appearances, including being a regular contributor ABC TV's The Drum, on the Morning Show on ABC 774. He was also published in a number of national newspapers and magazines.
Parliamentary career
Smith was nominated to stand for the seat of Kew, one of the safest Liberal seats in the state. He was subsequently elected at the 2014 Victorian state election, although he suffered a 5% swing against the Liberals. At the 2018 election he won again, but suffered a second swing against him of over 5%. He has held a number of positions in the Liberal Party's shadow cabinet and in the parliament. This include shadow minister for education and shadow minister for planning & heritage, housing, population and local government.
Response to COVID-19
Smith was vocal in the media during the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the revelation that the source of the virus was possibly a bat in China, Smith called for a cull of bats near the Yarra River in his electorate in a misguided attempt to maintain the safety of his constituents, a move that was called "ridiculous" by one expert. Smith was also briefly prominent in the media for his personal attacks on Premier, Daniel Andrews' response to the pandemic. Smith at various times called Andrews a "schmuck", "loser", "dictator", "chairman", "Lurch" and "looney" on Twitter and in other media, as well as staying he was a “friendless loser”. Smith was asked by the leader of the opposition, Michael O'Brien to tone down the attacks; however, Smith continued his attacks. This failed to assist his public image, with former ABC Melbourne broadcaster Jon Faine stating that the Victorian Liberals have "never been so irrelevent". To try and garner public support, Smith conducted a Twitter poll asking voter's to choose between two derogatory names to be used for Premier Daniel Andrews; "Dictator Dan" or "Chairman Dan". The resulting comments conveyed a general sense of negativity at his behaviour.
Smith's attacks began speculation that he would try to unseat O'Brien for the leadership of the Liberal Party, a claim that Smith denied and that currently appears to have little basis in fact. These ongoing attacks continue Smith's spiral into irrelevance in Victorian politics.
In June 2020, Smith expressed his concern that public demonstrations against the deaths of Indigenous people in custody in Australia would be occurring in Melbourne, potentially in contravention of the latest tranche of health directions. Smith perceived a hypocrisy between, on the one hand, allowing a public demonstration against systemic racism and law enforcement brutality; and on the other hand, refusing to allow 30,000 people into AAMI Park to watch a rugby match. Smith would later refer to the protestors as "hooligans" and stating Premier Andrews was letting them "get on the bongs".
