Sean Christopher Edwards (born 2 January 1962) is an Australian politician who was a member of the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives (Australia), House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter ...

for

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

from 2011 to 2016, representing the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

Early career

Edwards was an auctioneer, land and estate agent from 1980 to 1996. From 1996 he was a

vigneron A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by winery, wineries or :Wine companies, wine companies, where their work includes: *Cooperating with viticulture, viticulturists *Monitoring the maturity of grape ...

and winemaker in the

Clare Valley The Clare Valley is a valley located in South Australia about north of Adelaide in the Clare and Gilbert Valleys council area. It is the river valley formed by the Hutt River but is also strongly associated with the roughly parallel Hill Riv ...

wine region of South Australia. He and his direct family have significant private vineyard holdings in Clare and the Adelaide Hills, and he is a director of Kirribilly Wines. From 1985 to 1988 Edwards was president of the Blackwood and Districts Young Liberals. He was the vice president of the

Clare Clare may refer to: Places Antarctica * Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land Australia * Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley * Clare Valley, South Australia Canada * Clare (electoral district), an electoral district * Cl ...

branch of the Liberal Party from 2002 to 2004, and president from 2004 to 2008. Edwards was president of the Wakefield Federal Electoral Commission from 2006 to 2008. He was state president of the South Australian division of the Liberal Party and a member of the Liberal Party Federal Executive and Finance Committee from 2007 to 2010. He became a life member of the South Australian Liberal Party State Council in 2010.

Parliamentary career

Edwards was elected to the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

from second position on the South Australian

ticket, which garnered 37.3 percent of the statewide vote at the 2010 election. Edwards took his seat on 1 July 2011. Since joining the senate, Edwards has voted consistently with his party. The Liberal Party conservative faction leader

Nick Minchin Nicholas Hugh Minchin (born 15 April 1953) is a former Australian politician and former Australian Consul-General in New York, USA. He previously served as a Liberal member of the Australian Senate representing South Australia from July 1993 to ...

had openly opposed Edwards' nomination for Liberal preselection on the party's Senate ticket. Edwards is backed by the moderate faction. Edwards had defeated conservative faction candidate Bob Jackson for the state party presidency two years earlier. In August 2011 it was reported in

News Limited News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of the American News Corp. One of Australia's largest media conglomerates, News Corp Australia employs more than 8,000 staff nationwide and approximately 3,0 ...

media that the Department of Finance had sought reimbursement from Edwards over the misuse of three government-funded cars. Edwards' wife later apologised for the event and confirmed that they would reimburse the cost. Media outlets also reported that Edwards was being investigated by the Department of Finance over the employment, in his parliamentary office, of an executive of a company he chaired before entering parliament.

Nuclear power advocacy

Edwards is an advocate for

nuclear power in Australia The prospect of nuclear power in Australia has been a topic of public debate since the 1950s. Australia has one nuclear plant in Lucas Heights, Sydney, but is not used to produce nuclear power, but instead is used to produce medical radioisoto ...

. He believes that economic opportunities exist for his home-state of South Australia in spent nuclear fuel reprocessing and the use of Integral Fast Reactors to generate electricity. During a speech delivered to The Sydney Institute on 7 April 2015, Edwards said that he had worked on a business case for the expansion of nuclear industries in SA for around two years. He told the audience that he had commenced discussions with an unnamed foreign state which expressed in-principle support for covering the capital costs of deploying new nuclear technology. Edwards said that discussions on the matter had advanced to "a ministerial level". He has also attacked the

Australian Greens The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, are a confederation of Green state and territory political parties in Australia. As of the 2022 federal election, the Greens are the third largest political party in Australia by vote and th ...

for maintaining their opposition to nuclear power. In the Australian Parliament, Edwards has voted very strongly in support of uranium export.

Personal life

Edwards represents the fifth generation of his family to have been born in Clare in South Australia's

Mid North The Mid North is a region of South Australia, north of the Adelaide Plains and south of the Far North and the outback. It is generally accepted to extend from Spencer Gulf east to the Barrier Highway, including the coastal plain, the southern ...

. He grew up there with five brothers, with some of whom he later went into business. According to a 2015 autobiography, he has fathered four children.

References

External links

Summary of parliamentary voting for Senator Sean Edwards on TheyVoteForYou.org.au
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Sean 1962 births Living people Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate Australian auctioneers Members of the Australian Senate for South Australia Australian winemakers People from Clare, South Australia 21st-century Australian politicians