Richard Sanderson Amery (born 31 March 1951) is an Australian former politician. He was a Labor Party 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 ...

from 1983 to 2015, representing the electorates of Riverstone (1983-1991) and

Mount Druitt Mount Druitt is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Blacktown, and is part of the Greater Western Sydney reg ...

(1991-2015).

Early career

Prior to entering politics, Amery spent several years in the retail industry before becoming a police officer with

New South Wales Police The New South Wales Police Force (NSW Police Force; previously the New South Wales Police Service and New South Wales Police) is the primary law enforcement agency of the state of New South Wales, Australia. Divided into Police Area Commands (P ...

, where he served for 13 years. At the time he resigned to take up his political work he was a senior constable.

Parliamentary career

Amery was the Minister for Agriculture from 1995 to 1997, when he was allocated additional responsibilities as Minister for Land and Water Conservation. He served as minister in both portfolios until 2001, when the Land and Water Conservation was allocated to another minister and Amery took on Corrective Services. Amery returned to the backbench following the 2003 election, as part of a larger reshuffle which also saw the departure of Ministers

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 became Speaker) and Paul Whelan (who retired from Parliament). As the longest-serving member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, Amery is bestowed a colloquial title, ''

Father of the House Father of the House is a title that has been traditionally bestowed, unofficially, on certain members of some legislatures, most notably the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. In some legislatures the title refers to the longest continuously- ...

''. On 8 August 2014 Richard Amery announced that he would leave politics at the next NSW state election in 2015.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amery, Richard 1951 births Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales Labor Right politicians Australian police officers Living people Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Politicians from Sydney 20th-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian politicians