Christopher Stewart Patterson (born 8 December 1971), an Australian politician, 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 Camden 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 ...

from

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

to 2019.

Early life and background

Patterson has lived in the Camden area for over 25 years. A former

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 ...

teacher, he later managed the Merino Tavern, and was elected to Camden Council in 2000. He did not seek re-election in 2004; stood again at a by-election in 2005; and became mayor in 2006. Patterson generated significant public profile between 2007 and 2009 as Camden Council rejected an application from the Quranic Society seeking Council's permission to develop land for the construction of a four-day Islamic school within the local government area. The Society took Camden Council to the

New South Wales Land and Environment Court The Land and Environment Court of New South Wales is a court within the Australian court hierarchy established pursuant to the to hear environmental, development, building and planning disputes. The Court’s jurisdiction, confined to the state ...

, and sought to have Council's ruling overturned. The Court rejected the Society's application, amidst race and religion-based arguments. Patterson, as mayor, was the vocal spokesperson defending Council's actions.

Political career

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, Patterson successfully sought Liberal Party pre-selection for Camden and ran against Labor's

Geoff Corrigan Geoffrey Corrigan (born 23 July 1953) is a former Australian politician with the Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in the seat of Camden. Corrigan was elected the member for the Camden in 2003, in a close-run ele ...

, but was defeated. On 21 October 2010, the Liberal Party announced that Patterson was endorsed as the party's candidate for Camden ahead of the 2011 State election. Patterson was elected with a swing of 21.9 points and won the seat with 68.9 per cent of the

two-party A two-party system is a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually referr ...

vote. His main opponent was Corrigan, representing Labor.

References

Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Living people 1971 births 21st-century Australian politicians {{Australia-Liberal-politician-stub