Gary Francis Punch (born 21 August 1957) is a former Australian politician and government minister. Punch was born in Arncliffe, New South Wales and educated at

Hurstville Hurstville is a suburb in Southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is 16 kilometres south of the Sydney CBD and is part of the St George area. Hurstville is the administrative centre of the local government area of the Georges Riv ...

Boys High School and subsequently obtained a commerce degree. He was an industrial relations and personnel manager before entering parliament. He was an alderman of Hurstville Municipal Council from 1977 to 1983 and was elected mayor in 1978, when he was 21, and held that position until he stood for parliament.

Political career

Punch beat former secretary of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms t ...

David Combe Harvey David Mathew Combe (26 April 1943 – 21 September 2019) was National Secretary of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), a political consultant and lobbyist, an Australian Trade Commissioner, a Senior Vice-President International of Southco ...

for Labor

preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presele ...

to the seat of Barton in the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members o ...

and was elected at the 1983 election. He was appointed Minister for the Arts and

Territories A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

in January 1988 in the Third Hawke Ministry. In September 1988, he was appointed Minister for Telecommunications and Aviation Support and held this position until 28 March 1989, when he resigned in opposition to cabinet's decision to build the third runway for Sydney Airport, which adjoined his electorate. He was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the

Minister for Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

in the Second Keating Ministry in March 1993. In March 1994, he was promoted to the outer ministry as

Minister for Defence Science and Personnel In the Government of Australia, the Minister for Defence Personnel is a position which is currently held by Matt Keogh, after the Albanese ministry was sworn in on 1 June 2022, following the 2022 Australian federal election. The ministerial p ...

and held this position until his retirement prior to the 1996 election. Punch gained a law degree while in parliament and in 1996 he was appointed executive director of the Australian Cotton Foundation, the industry body for cotton growing. He was also the Honorary Chairman of

Sydney Olympic FC Sydney Olympic Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club, based in Belmore, Sydney, New South Wales, that plays in the National Premier Leagues NSW. The Club was founded as Pan-Hellenic Soccer Club in 1957 by Greek immigran ...

from 1996 to 1997. In 2000, he began to practise as a lawyer. He was appointed as a director of NRMA Motoring and Services Ltd in 2005.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Punch, Gary Francis Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Barton Members of the Australian House of Representatives 1957 births Living people 20th-century Australian politicians Government ministers of Australia Mayors of Hurstville