Neil Aaron Symes (born 11 December 1988) is an Australian politician who was the member of the

Legislative Assembly of Queensland The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembl ...

for Lytton from 2012 to 2015.Lytton – Queensland Votes 2012
. Australian Broadcasting Corporation.au (4 April 2012). Retrieved 2013-04-02. He was the youngest member of the Queensland Parliament during his term. Symes was educated at the

Anglican Church Grammar School The Anglican Church Grammar School (ACGS), formerly the Church of England Grammar School and commonly referred to as Churchie, is an independent, Anglican, day and boarding school for boys, located in East Brisbane, an inner suburb of Brisbane, ...

and

Griffith University Griffith University is a public research university in South East Queensland on the east coast of Australia. Formally founded in 1971, Griffith opened its doors in 1975, introducing Australia's first degrees in environmental science and Asian s ...

. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in criminology and human services, majoring in child protection and family studies. He has worked at the Acacia Ridge and Districts Community Centre in Brisbane's South-West working as a community engagement officer with the Indigenous and African migrant communities. He also had a pivotal role in organising the multicultural festival, Party on in the Park, in 2009. Before running for Parliament, he was a deli worker at

Woolworths Woolworth, Woolworth's, or Woolworths may refer to: Businesses * F. W. Woolworth Company, the original US-based chain of "five and dime" (5¢ and 10¢) stores * Woolworths Group (United Kingdom), former operator of the Woolworths chain of shops ...

Political career

At 23 years of age, Neil Symes was the youngest candidate for the Liberal National Party at the

2012 Queensland state election The 2012 Queensland state election was held on 24 March 2012 to elect all 89 members of the Legislative Assembly, a unicameral parliament. The Labor Party (ALP), led by Premier Anna Bligh, was defeated by the opposition Liberal National Pa ...

. He was elected with 51.1% of the

two-party-preferred In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP, ...

vote, converting a safe Labor seat with a 12.2-point margin, into a marginal seat with a 1.64-point buffer. The seat had been in Labor hands without interruption for 40 years. In March 2013, Symes created a furore by taking to Facebook to vent his frustrations over a rally that took place in November 2012, which saw the member for Lytton allegedly being threatened by protesters. In an article posted in ''

The Courier-Mail ''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, ...

'', Symes warned he would "get his mates on to you" if any such threats took place again. Symes was defeated by

Joan Pease Joan Ellen Pease (born 15 September 1961) is an Australian politician. She has been the Labor member for Lytton in the Queensland Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament ...

in the

2015 Queensland state election The 2015 Queensland state election was held on 31 January 2015 to elect all 89 members of the unicameral Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The centre-right Liberal National Party (LNP), led by Premier Campbell Newman, attempted to win a s ...

on a swing of over 11 percent, enough to revert Lytton to its traditional status as a safe Labor seat. Following the 2015 election, Symes resigned from the LNP, and on 3 October 2016 announced via his

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

account that he had joined

Pauline Hanson's One Nation Pauline Hanson's One Nation (PHON or ONP), also known as One Nation or One Nation Party, is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia. It is led by Pauline Hanson. One Nat ...

party. He unsuccessfully contested the seat of

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market tow ...

for One Nation at the 2017 state election. He again unsuccessfully contested the seat of

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

for One Nation at the 2020 state election.

References

1988 births Living people Liberal National Party of Queensland politicians Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly People educated at Anglican Church Grammar School 21st-century Australian politicians {{Australia-Liberal-politician-stub