James Desmond Purcell (born 7 January 1953) is an Australian politician. He was a Vote 1 Local Jobs 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 ...

, having represented

Western Victoria Region Western Victoria 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 created in ...

from 2014 to 2018.

Early life

Purcell was born and raised in Bessiebelle, in Victoria's Western District, by his parents Bernie and Bonnie Purcell. He grew up on the family farm with his five siblings. Purcell attended Heywood High School and earned his accounting qualification from

Deakin University Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia. Its main campuses are in Melbourne's Burwood suburb, Geelong Waurn Ponds, ...

's Warrnambool campus whereupon he was admitted to the Charter of Professional Accountants.

Career

James Purcell has worked in senior financial positions with many large corporations, including

Amcor Amcor plc is a global packaging company. It develops and produces flexible packaging, rigid containers, specialty cartons, closures and services for food, beverage, pharmaceutical, medical-device, home and personal-care, and other products. The ...

and

GlaxoSmithKline GSK plc, formerly GlaxoSmithKline plc, is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with global headquarters in London, England. Established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. GSK is the ten ...

(10 years in Port Fairy, Melbourne and London). He owns a

Port Fairy Port Fairy (historically known as Belfast) is a coastal town in south-western Victoria, Australia. It lies on the Princes Highway in the Shire of Moyne, west of Warrnambool and west of Melbourne, at the point where the Moyne River enters the S ...

-based accounting firm and self-storage business.

Political career

Local council

Purcell began his political career in local government where he was twice elected to the Moyne Shire Council, in 2008 and 2012. Purcell served as Mayor in 2010 and 2014, stepping down when he was elected to the State Parliament.

Victorian Parliament

At the

2010 Victorian state election The 2010 Victorian state election, held on Saturday, 27 November 2010, was for the 57th Parliament of Victoria. The election was to elect all 88 members of the Legislative Assembly and all 40 members of the Legislative Council. The incumbent ce ...

, Purcell stood as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidate in the District of South-West Coast, where he gained 11.53% of the primary vote but lost to the incumbent Liberal Party candidate,

Denis Napthine Denis Vincent Napthine (born 6 March 1952) is a former Australian politician who was the 47th Premier of Victoria. Napthine was a Liberal Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, representing the electoral district of Portland from ...

. In November 2014, Purcell founded the Vote 1 Local Jobs Party to represent the

in the Victorian Legislative Council. The party was registered in November 2014 and later that month contested the

2014 Victorian election The 2014 Victorian state election, held on Saturday, 29 November 2014, was for the 58th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly and 40 seats in the Victorian Legislative Council were up for election. The incumb ...

with Purcell as party leader. Purcell stood again in the

2014 Victorian state election The 2014 Victorian state election, held on Saturday, 29 November 2014, was for the 58th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly and 40 seats in the Victorian Legislative Council were up for election. The incumb ...

for the Legislative Council and was elected as the sole representative of the Vote 1 Local Jobs Party for the Western Victoria Region. At the 2018 state election he again stood in the Legislative Assembly seat of South-West Coast as an

, but was defeated.

References

External links

Parliamentary voting record of James Purcell at Victorian Parliament Tracker
1953 births Living people Members of the Victorian Legislative Council Mayors of places in Victoria (state) Australian accountants Deakin University alumni 21st-century Australian politicians {{Australia-politician-stub