David Julian Fawcett (born 23 October 1963) is an Australian

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 ...

politician who has been a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

for

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

since 2011. Fawcett served in the

Morrison Government The Morrison government was the federal executive government of Australia, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison of the Liberal Party of Australia, between 2018 and 2022. The Morrison government commenced on 24 August 2018, when it was sworn ...

as Assistant Minister for Defence from 2018 to 2019. Fawcett was previously elected to

federal parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the governor-gen ...

, serving for one term as member for the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

seat of

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

, elected at the 2004 election.

Early life

Fawcett was born on 23 October 1963 in

Narrabri Narrabri ( ) is a locality and seat of Narrabri Shire local government area in the North West Slopes, New South Wales, Australia on the Namoi River, northwest of Sydney. It sits on the junction of the Kamilaroi Highway and the Newell Highway. At ...

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 ...

. His family is originally from

Kapunda Kapunda is a town on the Light River and near the Barossa Valley in South Australia. It was established after a discovery in 1842 of significant copper deposits. The population was 2,917 at the 2016 Australian census. The southern entrance ...

. He spent part of his childhood in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

where his father had been sent under the

Colombo Plan The Colombo Plan is a regional intergovernmental organization that began operations on 1 July 1951. The organization was conceived at an international conference, The Commonwealth Conference on Foreign Affairs held in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri L ...

. He returned to Australia in 1975 to attend

Prince Alfred College , motto_translation = Do Brave Deeds and Endure , established = 1869 , type = Independent, single-sex, day & boarding , headmaster = David Roberts , chaplain = Reverend ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

Military service

Fawcett graduated from the

Royal Military College Duntroon lit: Learning promotes strength , established = , type = Military college , chancellor = , head_label = Commandant , head = Brigadier Ana Duncan , principal = , city = Campbell , state ...

with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in 1985. He joined the Australian Army Aviation Corps and qualified as a pilot, flying fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. He qualified as a

test pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testing ...

through the

Empire Test Pilots' School The Empire Test Pilots' School (ETPS) is a British training school for test pilots and flight test engineers of fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft at MoD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, England. It was established in 1943, the first of its type. T ...

in 1993 and was a senior flying instructor at the

Oakey Army Aviation Centre Oakey Army Aviation Centre is situated approximately from the town centre of Oakey in Queensland, Australia. It provides a training establishment for Australian Army Aviation, and also hosts the Republic of Singapore Air Force's "Cougar" 12 ...

, finishing his full-time military service in 2004. He was posted to

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

Aircraft Research and Development Unit The Royal Australian Air Force's Aircraft Research and Development Unit (ARDU) plans, conducts and analyses the results of ground and flight testing of existing and new Air Force aircraft. ARDU consists of three test and evaluation flights ...

(ARDU) at

Edinburgh, South Australia Edinburgh is an outer northern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of Salisbury. The suburb was created in 1997, on land straddling Penfield and Salisbury, that was compulsorily acquired by the Commonwealth Government in 1940 in ord ...

as an Army helicopter test pilot. He held a number of positions in ARDU and the

Defence Acquisition Organisation The Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group (CASG) is an organisation within the Australian Department of Defence, responsible for acquisition and supply chain management of military equipment and materiel including aircraft, ships, vehicl ...

, culminating in his final appointment as Commanding Officer, responsible for flight test programs for all of the

Australian Defence Force The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of the Commonwealth of Australia and its national interests. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Forc ...

aircraft. He reached the rank of

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

before leaving the ADF to enter politics.

Parliament

Prior to the 2004 election, the seat of

had been dramatically altered in a redistribution. The seat had long been a safe rural Liberal seat stretching from the

Yorke Peninsula The Yorke Peninsula is a peninsula located northwest and west of Adelaide in South Australia, between Spencer Gulf on the west and Gulf St Vincent on the east. The peninsula is separated from Kangaroo Island to the south by Investigator Strai ...

through to the

Riverland The Riverland is a region of South Australia. It covers an area of along the Murray River, River Murray from where it flows into South Australia from New South Wales and Victoria (Australia), Victoria downstream to Blanchetown, South Australia ...

and the state's border, but upon the abolition of the safe metropolitan

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

seat of Bonython, Wakefield was moved to take in the outer northern

suburb of

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

and part of

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

, spanning through to the rural mid-north town of

Clare Clare may refer to: Places Antarctica * Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land Australia * Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley * Clare Valley, South Australia Canada * Clare (electoral district), an electoral district * Cl ...

—roughly a fifth the size of its former incarnation. The Liberals held the old Wakefield with a comfortably safe two-party margin of 14.6 points, but the new Wakefield was notionally a marginal Labor seat with a two-party margin of just 1.3 points. The previous Liberal member,

Neil Andrew John Neil Andrew (born 7 June 1944) is a former Australian politician. He served in the House of Representatives for over 20 years from 1983 to 2004 representing the Division of Wakefield in South Australia for the Liberal Party. He became the ...

, believed this made Wakefield unwinnable and opted not to recontest the seat in 2004. However, Fawcett narrowly defeated the Labor candidate, ex-Bonython MP

Martyn Evans Martyn John Evans (born 27 November 1953 in Birmingham, England), is a former South Australian Australian independent and Australian Labor Party state and federal politician. Evans was educated at The University of Adelaide, and was a State ...

, on a swing of 2.2 points, taking the seat on Family First preferences. Despite an extensive campaign at the 2007 election, Fawcett was defeated by Labor's

Nick Champion Nicholas David Champion (born 27 February 1972) is an Australian politician. He is a member of the South Australian Labor Party and has served in the South Australian House of Assembly since the 2022 South Australian state election, representi ...

, suffering a large swing of 7.2 points. Fawcett was elected as a Liberal Senator in South Australia at the 2010 election and assumed his seat on 1 July 2011. Fawcett is a member of the Centre-Right faction of the Liberal Party.

Personal life

Fawcett is married with two children. He has been involved in leadership positions at Clovercrest Baptist Church in Modbury North, Adelaide and Tyndale Christian School in Salisbury East, Adelaide. He has been a contributing member of the

Society of Experimental Test Pilots The Society of Experimental Test Pilots is an international organization that seeks to promote air safety and contributes to aeronautical advancement by promoting sound aeronautical design and development; interchanging ideas, thoughts and suggest ...

and the Australian Flight Test Society.

Notes

References

External links

Summary of parliamentary voting for Senator David Fawcett on TheyVoteForYou.org.au
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fawcett, David 1963 births Living people Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate Members of the Australian Senate for South Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Wakefield Australian Army officers University of New South Wales alumni Royal Military College, Duntroon graduates People educated at Prince Alfred College Turnbull Government 21st-century Australian politicians Australian Baptists Morrison Government