Paul Edward McLeay (born 23 August 1972), a former Australian politician, was a 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 the electorate of Heathcote for the Labor Party between

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

and

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. In 2010, McLeay resigned his position as a Minister on 1 September 2010 after he admitted using a parliamentary computer to visit gambling websites. He was the fifth minister to resign from

Kristina Keneally Kristina Marie Kerscher Keneally (born 19 December 1968) is an American-born Australian politician who was a Labor Senator for New South Wales from February 2018 until April 2022, when she resigned to unsuccessfully contest the House of Represe ...

's Labor government.

Early years and background

McLeay is the son of Janice McLeay, former Commissioner of the NSW Industrial Relations Commission, and

Leo McLeay Leo Boyce McLeay (born 4 October 1945) is a former Australian politician who served as a Labor Party member of the House of Representatives from June 1979 to October 2004. He was Speaker of the House of Representatives 1989–93. During 1992 h ...

, a former Speaker of the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...

between 1989 and 1993. He is married to

Cassandra Wilkinson Cassandra Wilkinson is an Australian author and the president and co-founder of FBi Radio. She is married to former Australian politician Paul McLeay. Writing career Wilkinson is a columnist for the newspaper ''The Australian'' and the author of ...

, author, past president of

FBi Radio FBi (call sign: 2FBI) station is an independent, not-for-profit community radio in Sydney, Australia. FBi places a heavy emphasis on local emerging music: it has a policy that at least 50 per cent of its music content is to be Australian, of wh ...

and senior public servant. They have two children. Prior to entering politics, McLeay held the position of Assistant General Secretary of the NSW Public Service Association.

New South Wales parliamentary career

On entering Parliament, McLeay was appointed parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. In 2009, he was appointed Minister for Ports and Waterways and Minister for the Illawarra. In June 2010, McLeay was appointed Minister for Mineral and Forest Resources. In September 2010, McLeay resigned as a Minister. McLeay was a Director of Engadine District Youth Services and President of the Bundeena volunteer fire brigade.

References

External links

Speeches by Paul McLeay in Hansard
{{DEFAULTSORT:McLeay, Paul Edward Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Living people 1972 births Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales Labor Right politicians 21st-century Australian politicians