Stephen Mark O'Doherty (born 26 October 1959) is a former

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n politician and former member of 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 life and career

O'Doherty was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and raised in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. He attended

Carlingford High School Carlingford High School is a comprehensive school, comprehensive, co-educational government high school located in Carlingford, New South Wales, Carlingford, Sydney, Australia. The school has approximately 1180 enrollments and has achieved top ...

, a public school in the north-western suburbs of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. He received a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

(Communication) from the

New South Wales Institute of Technology The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Although its origins are said to trace back to the 1830s, the university was founded in its current form in 1988. As of 202 ...

and has a Master of Education (Professional Leadership and Training) from the Christian College of Higher Education. From 1981 until his election to Parliament, he was a broadcaster and journalist in radio and TV. During the 1980s he was the host of the ''Sundown Rundown'' current affairs program on Sydney's

2GB 2GB is a commercial radio station in Sydney, Australia owned by parent company Nine Radio, a division of Nine Entertainment Co., who also own sister station 2UE. 2GB broadcasts on 873 kHz, AM. In 2010, 2GB held 14.7% of the total rad ...

, and was a state and national affairs reporter with

The 7.30 Report ''The 7.30 Report'' is an Australian week-nightly television current affairs program, which was shown on ABC1 and ABC News 24 at from 1986 to 2011. In 2011, it evolved into ''7.30'', a revamped current affairs program. History ''The 7.30 Report ...

and

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

. He is a regular commentator on politics and the media on

702 ABC Sydney ABC Radio Sydney (official call sign: 2BL, formerly 2SB) is an Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ABC radio station in Sydney, Australia. It is the flagship station in the ABC Local Radio network and broadcasts on 702 hertz, kHz on the AM bro ...

and

Sky News Australia Sky News Australia is an Australian news channel owned by News Corp Australia. Originally launched on 19 February 1996, it broadcasts rolling news coverage throughout the day, while its prime time lineup is dedicated to opinion-based programs f ...

Political career

In 1992 O'Doherty was elected as 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 ...

for the seat of

Ku-ring-gai Kuringgai (also spelled Ku-ring-gai, Kuring-gai, Guringai, Kuriggai) (,) is an ethnonym referring to (a) an hypothesis regarding an aggregation of Indigenous Australian peoples occupying the territory between the southern borders of the Gamilar ...

. In 1999 he was re-elected to the seat of Hornsby following a redistribution of electoral boundaries. From 1995, he served as a front bencher in the Liberal Opposition under Peter Collins and

Kerry Chikarovski Kerry Anne Chikarovski (née Bartels; 4 April 1956) is a former Australian politician who served as leader of the Liberal Party in New South Wales and Leader of the Opposition between 1998 and 2002, the first woman to hold the post. Early li ...

, first in the portfolios of Education and Community Services, and then serving as Shadow Treasurer until his resignation in 2002.

Post-politics

In January 2002, O'Doherty left Parliament to become the inaugural Chief Executive Officer of Christian Schools Australia, a national association representing Christian schools. He held this post until the end of 2016, in order to pursue other media interests. He currently is the chair of Hope Media, a not-for-profit Christian radio broadcaster. In March 2017, he returned to regular radio broadcasting on Hope Media's Hope 103.2 channel as host of its ''Open House'' current affairs program.

Personal and community life

O'Doherty is married with two sons. He is an accomplished musician and composer; O'Doherty grew up playing clarinet in the Golden Kangaroos Hornsby Concert Band, a community concert and marching band based in the north of Sydney. He is currently the band's musical director and principal conductor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odoherty, Stephen Mark 1959 births Living people Australian Christians Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales 21st-century Australian politicians