Andrew James Constance (born 31 October 1973) is a former Australian politician and was a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

representing Bega for the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

between

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

and December 2021. Constance served as the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Minister for Transport and Roads in the

second Berejiklian ministry The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...

from April 2019 until October 2021. Previously, he served as the

Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Minister for Transport and Infrastructure may refer to: * Minister for Infrastructure and Transport (Australia) The Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government in the Government of Australia is a position ...

from 2 April 2015 until 23 March 2019 in the second Baird and first Berejiklian governments; as the

Treasurer of New South Wales The Treasurer of New South Wales, known from 1856 to 1959 as the Colonial Treasurer of New South Wales, is the minister in the Government of New South Wales responsible for government expenditure and revenue raising and is the head of the Ne ...

and the Minister for Industrial Relations between 2014 and 2015 in the first Baird government; as the Minister for Ageing and Disability Services between 2011 and 2013; and as the Minister for Finance and Services, between 2013 and 2014, in the

O'Farrell O'Farrell is an anglicised form of the Old Irish patronym ''Ó Fearghail''. People with the surname * Barry O'Farrell, Australian politician * Bernadette O'Farrell (1924–1999), Irish actress * Bob O'Farrell, American baseballer * Brett O'Farrel ...

government.

Political career

At the time Constance was elected in 2003, he was aged 29 years, and he became the youngest member of the Parliament. Constance previously worked as a corporate affairs consultant representing large industry associations and multinationals in the Asia-Pacific region. A former President of the Young Liberals, his family connections in the Bega area stem back to the 1860s when his great-great-grandfather, James Constance, drove a team of bullocks through the Bega Valley. Constance was appointed Minister for Ageing and Disability Services in 2011 and championed the person-centred reforms which were necessary steps towards the

National Disability Insurance Scheme The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is a scheme of the Australian Government that funds costs associated with disability. The scheme was legislated in 2013 and went into full operation in 2020. The scheme is administered by the Na ...

(NDIS). Under Constance's stewardship, NSW became the first Australian state or territory to agree to the full funding of the scheme with the Commonwealth. Constance was promoted to Minister for Finance and Services in 2013 after the sacking of Greg Pearce, with the portfolio of Ageing and Disability Services transferred to John Ajaka. Due to the resignation of

Barry O'Farrell Barry Robert O'Farrell (born 24 May 1959) is a former Australian politician who has been Australia's High Commissioner to India and non-resident Ambassador to Bhutan since May 2020. O'Farrell was the 43rd Premier of New South Wales and Minis ...

as Premier, and the subsequent ministerial reshuffle by

Mike Baird Michael Bruce Baird (born 1 April 1968) is an Australian investment banker and former politician who was the 44th Premier of New South Wales, the Minister for Infrastructure, the Minister for Western Sydney, and the Leader of the New South W ...

, the former Treasurer and new Liberal Leader, in April 2014 Constance was appointed as Treasurer; and his responsibilities expanded to include Industrial Relations less than one month later. Constance handed down his first Budget on 17 June 2014. Following the 2015 state election, Constance was appointed Minister for Transport and Infrastructure. During Constance's tenure as minister, NSW was the first Australian state to legalise

ridesharing companies A ridesharing company (also known as a transportation network company, ride-hailing service; the vehicles are called app-taxis or e-taxis) is a company that, via websites and mobile apps, matches passengers with drivers of vehicles for hire th ...

including

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), package ...

. He is also responsible for the

Sydney Metro The Sydney Metro is a fully automated rapid transit system serving the city of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Currently consisting of one line that opened on 26 May 2019, it runs from Tallawong to Chatswood and consists of 13 stations ...

. Following the 2019 state election, Constance was sworn in as the Minister for Transport and Roads in the second Berejiklian ministry, with effect from 2 April 2019. On 10 March 2020, Constance announced his resignation from politics and will not contest the next state election, citing that recovery from the

bushfires A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identif ...

will take priority before announcing an effective date. On 5 May 2020, he announced that he would resign from the NSW Cabinet and seek

preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presele ...

for the 2020 Eden-Monaro by-election. However, within 24 hours he reversed what he called "a hasty decision". On 8 May, Constance was removed from his role as Leader of the House of the

"as punishment for his spectacular change of heart over quitting state politics". On 3 October 2021, he announced his intention to quit his state seat to seek Liberal Party preselection for the federal seat of Gilmore at the 2022 federal election He announced he would resign on 26 November 2021, triggering a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

for the seat of Bega. However, he did not officially resign until 30 December 2021. Constance was preselected as the Liberal candidate for Gilmore on 17 January 2022. At the subsequent election, Constance was narrowly defeated by incumbent MP

Fiona Phillips Fiona Phillips (born 1 January 1961) is an English journalist, broadcaster and television presenter. She is best known for her presenting roles with the ITV Breakfast programme ''GMTV Today''. Early life Phillips was born in Canterbury Hospit ...

of the Australian Labor Party.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Constance, Andrew James 1973 births Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales Living people People educated at Canberra Grammar School Treasurers of New South Wales 21st-century Australian politicians

Political career

See also

References