Garry Keith Edwards (born 6 September 1950) is a former Australian politician who represented the electoral district of

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

in 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 ...

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 to 2015.

Early career and background

A property conveyancer, Edwards was elected to Council for the

City of Lake Macquarie The City of Lake Macquarie is a local government area in Greater Newcastle and part of the Hunter Region in New South Wales, Australia. It was proclaimed a city from 7 September 1984. The area is situated adjacent to the city of Newcastle and is ...

in 2008 and serves as

Deputy Mayor The deputy mayor (also known as vice mayor, assistant mayor, or mayor ''pro tem'') is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official that is present in many, but not all, local governments. Duties and functions Many elected dep ...

. He is an active member of the Belmont 16 ft Sailing Club and serves as Director of the Club. He is also a patron of

Football Club.

Political career

Edwards won the previously very safe

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 from the incumbent member Robert Coombs at the 2011 state election following a previous attempt for the seat at the 2007 state election. Edwards was elected with a swing of 14.0 points and won the seat with 51.1 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. Following his election, Edwards stated that he was yet to make a decision about whether he will continue to sit both on Council and as a member of parliament. On 14 August 2014, Edwards stood aside from the parliamentary Liberal Party following the ICAC testimony of Newcastle mayor and property developer

Jeff McCloy Jeffrey Raymond 'Jeff' McCloy is an Australian property developer, who was List of mayors and lord mayors of Newcastle, Lord Mayor of Newcastle between 2012 and 2014. Before entering politics, he ran his own construction company, which built Joh ...

, who told the Commission he had donated $1,800 cash-in-hand to Edwards' campaign. It is illegal in New South Wales to receive political donations from property developers. Edwards stood as an independent candidate for the seat Swansea at the 2015 state election. He received 14% of the primary vote and lost the seat to the Labor candidate

Yasmin Catley Yasmin Maree Catley is an Australian politician who was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the member for Electoral district of Swansea, Swansea for the Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch), Labor Party at the 2015 ...

References

Independent members of the Parliament of New South Wales Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 1950 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Australian politicians {{Australia-Liberal-politician-stub