Kevin Francis Conolly (born 31 December 1958), an Australian politician, is a former member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

representing Riverstone for 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 ...

between

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and 2023.

Early years and background

Conolly was educated at

St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill , motto_translation = Strive Strive for better things , established = , type = Independent single-sex secondary day and boarding school , educational_authority = New South Wales Department of Educati ...

and then graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

. He was later awarded a

Diploma of Education The Diploma of Education, often abbreviated to DipEd or GradDipEd, is a postgraduate qualification offered in many Commonwealth countries including Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Overview The diploma can build on the ...

and Graduate Diploma of Religious Education from the

Council for Christian Education in Schools The Council for Christian Education in Schools is an Australian religious organisation which also operates under the name of Access Ministries, as an inter-denominational body providing Christian education and chaplaincy services in state schools i ...

. Conolly subsequently graduated with a Graduate Diploma in Education (Administration) from the

Australian Catholic University Australian Catholic University (ACU) is a public university in Australia. It has seven Australian campuses and also maintains a campus in Rome. History Australian Catholic University was opened on 1 January 1991 following the amalgamatio ...

. He worked for the Catholic Education Office in the Diocese of Parramatta before entering state politics.

Political career

In September 1999, he was elected to the

Hawkesbury City Council The City of Hawkesbury is a local government area of New South Wales, Australia, part of which is at the fringe of the Sydney metropolitan area, about north-west of the Sydney central business district. Hawkesbury City is named after the Ha ...

. From 2001 to 2004 he served as deputy mayor, while still working as a teaching administrator. Conolly contested the 1999 state election, but was unsuccessful in winning the seat of Londonderry for the Liberal Party. In 2007 and again in 2011, Conolly contested the normally safe

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

seat of Riverstone in north-western Sydney. In March 2011, Conolly was elected with a

two-party A two-party system is a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually referr ...

swing of 30.2 points—almost unheard of in Australian politics. He ultimately won the seat with 70.2 per cent of the vote, turning it into a comfortably safe Liberal seat in one stroke. His primary-vote margin was actually enough for him to take the seat without the need for preferences. It was the first time in the seat's 30-year history that the seat was not held by Labor. Before the election, the sitting member,

John Aquilina John Joseph Aquilina (born 12 March 1950, in Malta), a former Australian politician, is a former member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Blacktown between 1981 and 1991 and the electorate of Riversto ...

, who had held the seat since 1991, announced his retirement. Conolly opposes same-sex marriage, declaring in a 2015 statement that "marriage existed before parliaments and government" and that it was a "relationship that reflects the laws of nature". Conolly opposed the Abortion Law Reform Act 2019, describing it as "capital punishment for being unwanted" and "a fascist solution in search of a problem". Along with

Mulgoa Mulgoa is a village, located in the local government area of the City of Penrith, in the region of western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mulgoa is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district. Mu ...

MP Tanya Davies, Conolly threatened to move to the crossbench unless certain amendments were passed, stripping the

of their majority. In August 2022, Conolly announced that he would not be recontesting his seat and that he would retire at the March 2023 New South Wales State Election.

References

External links

* Official Website of Kevin Conolly, MP for Riverstone {{DEFAULTSORT:Conolly, Kevin Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Living people 1958 births City of Hawkesbury Australian schoolteachers Australian Roman Catholics University of New South Wales alumni 21st-century Australian politicians People educated at St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill