Jagadish "Jags" Krishnan (born 23 April 1972) is an Indian-born Australian politician and general practitioner. He was elected as a Labor member for Riverton in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly at the 2021 state election.

Before politics

Krishnan was born on 23 April 1972 to Krishnan Bellie and Sarasu Krishnan. He was born and grew up in

Kotagiri Kotagiri or Kothagiri is a taluk and a Panchayat town in The Nilgiris District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the third largest hill station in the Nilgiri hills. Kotagiri is located at . It has an average elevation of . Demographi ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

, India, attending Kotagiri Public School, St Antony's Higher Secondary School in Coonoor and Bharathi Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Coimbatore. He then attended

JSS Medical College Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeshwara Medical College, also known as JSS Medical College (JSSMC) is a medical college based in Mysore, Karnataka, India. The undergraduate and postgraduate programs of the college are recognized by the Medical Counci ...

. He lived in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

from 2005 to 2006, before moving to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Western Australia. He worked as a general practitioner for four years in Byford before starting a company of his own, Perth GP. His company now has over 20 clinics across Perth.

Politics

Krishnan joined the WA Labor Party one year before the 2021 election.

2021 election campaign

Krishnan was the Labor Party's candidate for the

electoral district of Riverton Riverton is a Legislative Assembly electorate in the state of Western Australia. Riverton is named for the southern Perth suburb of Riverton which falls within its borders. History Riverton was created at the 1988 redistribution, replacing th ...

for the

2021 Western Australian state election 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

. Riverton had been held by

Mike Nahan Michael Dennis Nahan (born 2 July 1950) is a former Australian politician who was Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia's Western Australian branch and Leader of the Opposition from the 2017 state election until his resignation in June 201 ...

from the Liberal party since 2008, but he retired at the 2021 election. Krishnan's main opponent was Anthony Spagnolo. The seat was declared a seat to watch at the election by the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

and

The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuousl ...

. Krishnan was criticised during the campaign for handing out a pamphlet claiming that he was a local to the electorate of Riverton, despite living in

Mosman Park Mosman is a suburb on the Lower North Shore region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local governm ...

. He promised to move into the electorate if he won the election. Krishnan was also criticised for how-to-vote cards in the electorate preferencing the No Mandatory Vaccination Party ahead of the Liberal party. Krishnan responded by saying that the preferences on how-to-vote cards are decided by the Labor party and not him personally. On 13 March 2021, Krishnan won the seat of Riverton with a 13.3% swing towards him. In December 2022, he became a parliamentary secretary to Sue Ellery, the minister for finance, commerce, and women's interests.

Personal life

Krishnan is married and has two children. He is a Hindu. He is known by the nickname "Dr Jags" within the local community, and used it on election campaign material. He has interests in cricket and soccer. Krishnan is a member of the Leeming Spartan Cricket Club and also coaches a junior soccer team.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Krishnan, Jags Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Australian general practitioners Medical doctors from Tamil Nadu Indian emigrants to Australia 21st-century Australian politicians 1972 births