Gordon Kenneth Rich-Phillips (born 8 July 1974) is a former Australian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. He was a

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 ...

member of the

Victorian Legislative Council The Victorian Legislative Council (VLC) is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria, Australia, the lower house being the Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The Legislative Co ...

between 1999 and 2022, representing the

Eumemmerring Province Eumemmerring Province was an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Council. It existed as a two-member electorate from 1985 to 2006, with members holding alternating eight-year terms. It was a marginal seat throughout its existence, changing p ...

(1999–2006) and the

South Eastern Metropolitan Region South-Eastern Metropolitan Region is one of the eight electoral regions of Victoria, Australia, which elects five members to the Victorian Legislative Council (also referred to as the upper house) by proportional representation. The region was c ...

(2006–2022). First elected at the age of 25, he was the youngest person elected to the Legislative Council. He was Assistant Treasurer, Minister for Technology and Minister for the Aviation Industry from 2010 to 2014, serving in the Baillieu and Napthine governments. He was elected Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party in the Legislative Council in December 2014.

Early life

Rich-Phillips was educated at Eumemmering Secondary College, where he was school dux. He studied aerospace engineering at

RMIT University RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,, section 4(b) is a public research university in Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city ...

and

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...

, and subsequently studied business at

. He worked in economic research and analysis before entering politics, and was aviation manager for the Department of State Development at the time of his election. He also holds a commercial pilot's license, and was actively involved in a number of campaigns with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of Australia. He was elected to the Legislative Council for

at the 1999 state election, succeeding retiring Liberal Ron Wells. He transferred to the new South Eastern Metropolitan Region upon the reorganisation of the Legislative Council in 2002. Rich-Phillips was elected secretary of the parliamentary Liberal Party in 2002, and served as Liberal spokesperson for sport and recreation (2002–2004), Commonwealth Games (2002–2005), and manufacturing and exports (2004–2005). He was promoted to shadow cabinet in December 2005, and served as shadow minister for finance, the Transport Accident Commission and Commonwealth Games (2005–2006), finance (2006–2007 and 2008–2009) information technology (2007–2010), community development (2008–2010), and assistant shadow treasurer, shadow minister for the aviation industry and shadow minister for federal/state relations (2009–2010). Rich-Phillips was appointed Assistant Treasurer, Minister for WorkCover, Minister for the Aviation Industry and Minister for Technology upon the Liberal-National coalition victory at the 2010 state election. On 17 June 2022, Rich-Phillips announced that he would not be recontesting his seat at the

2022 Victorian state election The 2022 Victorian state election was held on Saturday, 26 November 2022 to elect the 60th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Legislative Assembly (lower house) and all 40 seats in the Legislative Council (upper house) were up for el ...

References

External links

Parliamentary voting record of Gordon Rich-Phillips at Victorian Parliament Tracker

Liberal Party biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rich-Phillips, Gordon 1974 births Living people Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria Politicians from Melbourne Members of the Victorian Legislative Council Members of the Victorian Legislative Council for Eumemmerring Province Members of the Victorian Legislative Council for South Eastern Metropolitan Region RMIT University alumni Monash University alumni 21st-century Australian politicians People from Dandenong, Victoria