Gary Douglas Hardgrave (born 5 January 1960) is a former Australian politician who served in 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 ...

from 1996 to 2007, representing 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 ...

. He was a minister in the Howard Government from 2001 to 2007, and later served as

Administrator of Norfolk Island The administrator of Norfolk Island acts as a representative both of The Crown and of the Government of Australia, as well as carrying out other duties according to the ''Norfolk Island Amendment Act 2015''.Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

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 ...

, and was educated at

Griffith University Griffith University is a public research university in South East Queensland on the east coast of Australia. Formally founded in 1971, Griffith opened its doors in 1975, introducing Australia's first degrees in environmental science and Asian s ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. In the 1970s he began his career as a radio broadcaster, and a TV reporter firstly with the award-winning Australian children's television show ''

Wombat Wombats are short-legged, muscular quadrupedal marsupials that are native to Australia. They are about in length with small, stubby tails and weigh between . All three of the extant species are members of the family Vombatidae. They are adap ...

'' between 1979 and 1982. Between 1982 and 1986 he reported for award-winning Queensland TV programme ''State Affair'', in 1987 for ABC TV's ''

The 7.30 Report ''The 7.30 Report'' is an Australian week-nightly television current affairs program, which was shown on ABC1 and ABC News 24 at from 1986 to 2011. In 2011, it evolved into ''7.30'', a revamped current affairs program. History ''The 7.30 Report ...

'' before returning to BTQ 7 in 1988 as a senior reporter for ''Carroll at Seven''. In 1989 he was the founding news director for SEA-FM Gold Coast and later worked as a media adviser to Liberal politicians, before entering politics.

Politics

Hardgrave initially ran for election to the Queensland state seat of Sunnybank in the 1992 election, but lost. He contested the

Division of Moreton The Division of Moreton is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. History The division was one of the original 65 divisions contested at the first federal election. It is named after Moreton Bay, and originally stretched from south ...

successfully at the 1996 federal election against Labor incumbent

Garrie Gibson Garrie David Gibson (born 17 October 1954) is an Australian retired politician and ex CEO of RSL clubs Australia. Born in Brisbane, he was educated at the University of Queensland and the North Brisbane College of Advanced Education before becom ...

, going on to retain the seat in 1998, 2001 and 2004. Hardgrave served as Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs from 2001 to 2004, Minister for Vocational and Technical Education between October 2004 to early 2007 and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister from 7 October 2003 to 30 January 2007. On 23 January 2007, Hardgrave was axed from the ministry and returned to the backbench. He lost his seat to

Graham Perrett Graham Douglas Perrett (born 5 January 1966) is an Australian politician who has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2007, representing the Queensland seat of Moreton for the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He worked as a schooltea ...

in the 2007 election.

Later activities

In March 2008, Hardgrave returned to media and corporate activities. From January 2011 he hosted talk-back in Brisbane. From 2011 he made regular contributions to ''Sky News Agenda'' and ''Paul Murray Live'' programmes as well as regular appearances on the Nine Network ''Today'' show and ''A Current Affair''. Since leaving Parliament, Hardgrave graduated from the Australian Institute of Company Directors' course and served on a variety of company and community boards including Brisbane Airport Corporation and TAFE Queensland. In January 2014, he left full-time radio but commenced a weekly column in the Queensland ''Sunday Mail'' newspaper before resigning media and corporate activities in June 2014. On the advice of the Abbott Government, Australian

Governor-General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...

Sir

Peter Cosgrove General Sir Peter John Cosgrove, (born 28 July 1947) is a retired senior Australian Army officer who served as the 26th governor-general of Australia, in office from 2014 to 2019. A graduate of the Royal Military College, Duntroon, Cosgrove fo ...

appointed Hardgrave as the 37th Administrator of the Australian External Territory of Norfolk Island. His term commenced on 1 July 2014, and he was Administrator when Norfolk Island lost its self-governing status. He later went on to host a ‘Sky After Dark’ political opinion show on conservative television station Sky News Australia, where he is a regular critic of among other things, Labor Party MPs and action on climate change.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hardgrave, Gary 1960 births Living people Administrators of Norfolk Island Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Moreton Members of the Australian House of Representatives People educated at MacGregor State High School Griffith University alumni Politicians from Sydney 21st-century Australian politicians 20th-century Australian politicians Government ministers of Australia