Alistair Ross Harkness (born 7 August 1974,

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

) is a former

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n politician and member of the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presiding ...

for the Labor Party.

Early life

Dr Harkness grew up in

Frankston, Victoria Frankston is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Frankston local government area. Frankston recorded a population of 37,331 at the 2021 census. Due to ...

, where he attended Frankston Heights Primary School. After completing high school at

Mentone Grammar School (by work and with honour) , city = Mentone , state = Victoria , zipcode = 3194 , country = Australia , coordinates = , type = Indepen ...

, he was accepted to study at

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...

. In 1996, he graduated with a Bachelor of Business and a Bachelor of Arts, and received first class honours the following year. He went on to complete a PhD in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

, which he was awarded in 2005. His research on Victorian state politics and policy has been widely published. Prior to entering Parliament, his career included working for

Steve Bracks Stephen Phillip Bracks (born 15 October 1954) is a former Australian politician and was the 44th Premier of Victoria. He first won the electoral district of Williamstown in 1994 for the Labor Party and was party leader and premier from 1999 ...

in his first term as Premier, as a lecturing associate at Monash University teaching in Australian politics, policy making and police studies, and on the galvanizing and paint lines at

BHP BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

Westernport. He supported himself prior to these roles in a variety of occupations, including as a sales assistant at

Big W Big W (stylized as BIG W) is an Australian chain of discount department stores, which was founded in regional New South Wales in 1964. The company is a division of Woolworths Group and as at 2019 operated 176 stores, with around 22,000 employee ...

(

Karingal Karingal is a local area within the suburb of Frankston located in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia. It is in the local government area of the City of Frankston (app. 45 km South East from the Melbourne CBD) History European settlement ...

). Harkness married his wife, Tawny, in 2006, with whom he has one daughter.

Political career

Harkness was elected as the Member for Frankston in the

2002 Victorian state election The 2002 Victorian state election, held on Saturday, 30 November 2002, was for the 55th Parliament of Victoria. It was held to elect the 88 members of Victorian Legislative Assembly and 22 members of the 44-member Legislative Council. The Lab ...

. At just 28 years old, this made him the youngest member in the Victorian Parliament. During his first term, he was a member of the Parliamentary Roads Safety Committee. He was re-elected at the 2006 election and served on the Parliamentary Education Committee. In office, Harkness listed his key areas of interest as road safety, education and the environment. He was defeated in the 2010 election, obtaining 47.93% of the vote after the distribution of preferences.

After politics

He returned to academia in 2011, and was teaching and researching in Criminal Justice in the School of Applied Media and Social Sciences at Monash University. After Monash, he was teaching and researching within the School of Arts at Federation University Australia before joining the University of New England in 2020 Part of his research has focussed on the role and appointment process for police commissioners. In this regard, he has been a vocal critic of the Baillieu Government's conduct in relation to Victoria Police Commissioner Simon Overland.

References

External links

*
Alistair Harkness's criminal justice blog
1974 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Victoria Politicians from Melbourne Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Australian people of New Zealand descent Monash University alumni 21st-century Australian politicians People educated at Mentone Grammar School People from Frankston, Victoria {{Australia-Labor-Victoria-MP-stub