Paul Basil O'Halloran (born 17 April 1950) is a former

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n politician.

Early life

O'Halloran grew up on a dairy farm at

Preolenna Preolenna is a locality and small rural community of Waratah-Wynyard, Tasmania. It is located about inland from the town of Wynyard. The 2011 census determined a population of 287 for the state suburb of Lapoinya, which the locality of Preol ...

on the north west coast of Tasmania and later moved to North Motton. Early in life he was a Labor supporter, but his activism in the Franklin Dam dispute lead him to the Greens. Prior to politics, he was a schoolteacher and administrator and later a scientist at the

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College (University of Tasmania), Christ College, one of the unive ...

, where he managed a university agricultural industry project aimed at linking educator providers with industry.

Political career

O'Halloran was a Greens candidate for several state elections before being elected to the

Division of Braddon The Division of Braddon is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in the States and territories of Australia, state of Tasmania. The current MP is Anne Urquhart of the Australian Labor Party, Lab ...

in the

Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Tasmanian Legislative Council, Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House, Hobart, Parliament Hou ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, receiving 7.9% of first preference votes. O'Halloran is the first Greens member for Braddon since Di Hollister lost her seat in 1998. He was not re-elected at the 2014 House of Assembly elections.

References

1950 births Living people Australian Greens members of the Parliament of Tasmania Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly Australian schoolteachers 21st-century Australian politicians {{AustralianGreens-politician-stub