Paul Gerard Lynch, an Australian politician. He 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

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

for the Labor Party from 1995 until 2023.

Early career and background

Lynch graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) and a

LLB Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the China, People's Republic ...

and was elected as a

Councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

Liverpool City Council Liverpool City Council is the governing body for the city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. It consists of 90 councillors, three for each of the city's 30 wards. The council is currently controlled by the Labour Party and is led by Mayor ...

in 1987 until his election to NSW Parliament in 1995. During this period he served as Deputy Mayor and served on the Western Suburbs Regional Organisation of Councils. Lynch originally ran for Labor Party preselection for Liverpool in 1989, but was defeated by Peter Anderson. A prominent member of the party's left-wing faction, Lynch gained his revenge on the right-wing Anderson when Anderson failed to cement support amongst his local party members and lost party pre-selection. He is the brother in-law of former federal members of parliament

Laurie Ferguson Laurie Donald Thomas Ferguson (born 7 July 1952) is a former Australian politician who was an Australian Labor Party member of the House of Representatives from March 1990, representing Reid until 2010 and Werriwa until May 2016, both in New ...

and Martin Ferguson.

Parliamentary career

Government

Elected to NSW Parliament in 1995, he was Temporary Chairman of Committees and Chair of the Committee on the Office of the Ombudsman and Police Integrity Commission. Lynch was re-elected on 24 March 2007 and was appointed Minister for Local Government, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Minister Assisting the Minister for Health (Mental Health) in the Iemma ministry. With the appointment of

Nathan Rees Nathan Rees () (born 12 February 1968) is a former Australian politician who served as the 41st Premier of New South Wales and parliamentary leader of the New South Wales division of the Labor Party from September 2008 to December 2009. Rees wa ...

as premier, he became the Minister for Ageing, Minister for Disability Services and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs. In the

Keneally ministry The Keneally ministry is the 92nd ministry of the Government of New South Wales, and was led by the 42nd Premier Kristina Keneally. The ministry was formed following a caucus motion to elect a new Leader of the Australian Labor Party in New Sou ...

, Lynch retained the Aboriginal Affairs portfolio, and took on responsibility for Industrial Relations, Commerce, Energy, and Public Sector Reform.

Opposition

Following the Labor's loss at the 2011 state election, Lynch was appointed to the John Robertson shadow ministry as Shadow Attorney General and Shadow Minister for Justice. He retained these positions in the

shadow Ministry of Luke Foley The Shadow Ministry of Luke Foley was the Labor opposition from December 2014 to November 2018, opposing the Baird and Berejiklian coalition governments in the Parliament of New South Wales. The shadow ministry comprised 'spokespeople' or 'shadow ...

. After the

2015 New South Wales state election A general election for the 56th Parliament of New South Wales (NSW) was held on Saturday 28 March 2015. Members were elected to all 93 seats in the Legislative Assembly using optional preferential voting. Members were also elected to 21 of th ...

, Lynch retained his position as Shadow Attorney General but was succeeded as Shadow Minister for Justice by

Jodi McKay Jodi Leyanne McKay (born 16 August 1969) is a former Australian politician who was the Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of New South Wales from June 2019 until May 2021. She previously served as a member of the New South Wales Legislat ...

. He continued to retain this position in the Shadow ministries of Michael Daley and

but was not appointed to the

Shadow Ministry of Chris Minns The Shadow Ministry of Chris Minns is the Labor opposition since June 2021, opposing the Berejiklian and Perrottet governments in the Parliament of New South Wales. It is led by Chris Minns following his election as leader of the party and NS ...

in 2021. He retired at the

2023 New South Wales state election The 2023 New South Wales state election will be held on 25 March 2023 to elect the 58th Parliament of New South Wales, including all 93 seats in the Legislative Assembly and 21 of the 42 seats in the Legislative Council. The election will be ...

less than two years later.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynch, Paul 20th-century Australian lawyers 20th-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian politicians Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Labor Left politicians Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales Australian solicitors New South Wales local councillors