William George Stefaniak (born 8 January 1952) is an Australian politician and former

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...

Minister. He was the

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

in the

after succeeding in a leadership challenge against then-leader Brendan Smyth on 16 May 2006. He is a former

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

in the

Australian Army Reserve The Australian Army Reserve is a collective name given to the reserve units of the Australian Army. Since the Federation of Australia in 1901, the reserve military force has been known by many names, including the Citizens Forces, the Citizen ...

and a law graduate of the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

. On 13 December 2007, he was replaced as Liberal Leader by

Zed Seselja Zdenko Matthew "Zed" Seselja (born 27 March 1977) is an Australian politician who was a Senator for the Australian Capital Territory from 2013 to 2022, representing the Liberal Party. He was the Minister for International Development and the ...

. Stefaniak contested the 2020 Australian Capital Territory General Election as leader of the

Belco Party The Belco Party is a political party registered for the 2020 Australian Capital Territory general election. It was formally registered on 16 June 2020. It fielded five candidates in the Ginninderra electorate. It was founded by former Liberal Par ...

but was not elected. He was one of the five members for the district of

Ginninderra Ginninderra is the name of the former agricultural lands surrendered to urban development on the western and north-western fringes of Canberra, the capital of Australia. Ginninderra corresponds with the watershed of Ginninderra Creek, which is ...

from 1995 to 2008. Following the end of his term in Parliament, Stefaniak became appeal president of the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Background

Stefaniak grew up in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

and attended

Narrabundah College Narrabundah College is a government college that teaches the last two years of secondary education in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It was the first school in Australia to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB), starting the progr ...

.Canberra Liberals

External links

Belco Party - Bill Stefaniak

Canberra Liberals: Bill Stefaniak (archive)

References

1952 births Living people Liberal Party of Australia members of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly Members of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly Leaders of the Opposition in the Australian Capital Territory Attorneys-General of the Australian Capital Territory Members of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Centenary Medal 21st-century Australian politicians People educated at Narrabundah College {{Australia-Liberal-politician-stub