Bruce Neville Notley-Smith (born 17 January 1964), is an Australian politician and former Mayor of the

City of Randwick The City of Randwick is a local government area in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1859, Randwick is the second-oldest local government area in New South Wales, after the City of Sydney. It comprises an ...

, and was a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Coogee for the Liberal Party from 26 March 2011 to 23 March 2019.

Early years and background

Notley-Smith grew up in Coogee, where he attended Coogee Public School, then

Randwick Boys High School Randwick Boys' High School (RBHS) is a high school located in Randwick, Sydney, Australia, between Rainbow Street and Avoca Street. It is a boys' high school operated by the New South Wales Department of Education with students from years 7 to ...

, and Randwick

TAFE Technical and further education or simply TAFE (), is the common name in English-speaking countries in Oceania for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational cours ...

. He commenced working in industrial first aid and as an officer in the NSW Ambulance Service, before running his own contract cleaning business. Notley-Smith's maternal grandfather, Allen Peisley, served 42 years with New South Wales Railways and was elected to Griffith City Council in 1949 representing the Labor Party. Notley-Smith is descended from John Peisley, the Member of the Legislative Assembly for Orange from 1860 to 1862.

Political career

Notley-Smith first entered politics when he unsuccessfully ran as an independent candidate for Randwick City Council in 1995. He was subsequently elected in 2000 representing the East Ward on Randwick Council. Notley-Smith became Deputy Mayor from 2004 to 2005 and then subsequently Mayor of Randwick in 2007, a role which he served in for two years. In 2009, he stood down as Mayor and commenced working in the office of Malcolm Turnbull MP, while remaining the Liberal Councillor for East Ward. In 2008 he declared his intention to run for the state seat of Coogee at the 2011 state election. At the 2011 NSW state election, Notley-Smith was elected and received a swing of 11.4 points in the traditionally strong Labor seat, winning 58.2 per cent of the two-party vote. Notley-Smith's main competitor was the incumbent,

Paul Pearce Paul Ronald Pearce (born 7 February 1956) is an Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Coogee between 2003 and 2011 for the Labor Party. Early life and education Pearce was educated ...

, a former Mayor of Waverley City Council, who had held he seat since 2003. Notley-Smith retained the seat at the 2015 state election, winning 52.9 per cent of the two-party preferred vote. Following the 2019 state election Notley-Smith conceded defeat to Labor's Marjorie O'Neill following a swing of 4.7 per cent of the two-party preferred vote.

Personal life

Notley-Smith and his partner, Paul McCormack, have been in a

same-sex relationship A same-sex relationship is a romantic or sexual relationship between people of the same sex. ''Same-sex marriage'' refers to the institutionalized recognition of such relationships in the form of a marriage; civil unions may exist in countries w ...

since 1990. Notley-Smith was the first openly gay member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, and worked to expunge the criminal records of gay men convicted under historical laws.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Notley-Smith, Bruce 1964 births Living people Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Mayors of Randwick Deputy mayors of places in Australia Gay politicians New South Wales local councillors LGBT mayors of places in Australia 21st-century Australian politicians Australian gay men LGBT legislators in Australia 21st-century Australian LGBT people LGBT conservatism People from the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney)