Stephen Noel Dawson (born 30 July 1975) is an Australian politician who has been a Labor Party member of the Legislative Council of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

since 2013, representing the Mining and Pastoral Region. He is the current Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Innovation and the Digital Economy, Minister for Medical Research, Minister for Volunteering, and Deputy Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council.

Early life

Dawson was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Ireland. As a child, he attended a ''

Gaelscoil A Gaelscoil (; plural: ''Gaelscoileanna'') is an Irish language-medium school in Ireland: the term refers especially to Irish-medium schools outside the Irish-speaking regions or Gaeltacht. Over 50,000 students attend Gaelscoileanna at primary an ...

'' (

Irish Gaelic Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was the ...

immersion school), with English being his second language. Dawson and his family immigrated to Australia in 1989, when he was thirteen, and settled in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, where he attended

Hollywood Senior High School , motto_translation = , established = , type = Public co-educational high day school , principal = , streetaddress = Smyth Road , city = Shenton Park , state = Western Australia , country = Austra ...

.Hon Stephen Dawson, MLC (Member for Mining and Pastoral Region)
Hansard (Legislative Council), 12 June 2013. Retrieved 2 December 2016. He went on to

Edith Cowan University Edith Cowan University (ECU) is a public university in Western Australia. It is named in honour of the first woman to be elected to an Parliaments of the Australian states and territories, Australian parliament, Edith Cowan, and is the only Aust ...

(ECU), graduating with a degree in education. Before entering parliament, Dawson worked for periods as a lobbyist (with

Hawker Britton Hawker Britton is a lobbying and political consulting firm, headquartered in Australia. It is known to have influence with the Australian Labor Party. It has the largest number of clients on thAustralian Government Federal Lobbyist Register and h ...

) and corporate manager (with

Essential Media Communications Essential Media Communications (EMC), also known as EMC Media Communications or Essential Media, Essential Research, or simply Essential, is an Australian public relations and market research company known for its opinion polls, which are often ...

). He also served for a time as chief of staff to

David Templeman David Alan Templeman (born 21 November 1965) is an Australian politician who has been a Labor Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia since 2001, representing the seat of Mandurah. He is Leader of the House and Minist ...

(a minister in the Carpenter government).

Politics

At the 2005 state election, Dawson ran in the unwinnable sixth position on the Labor ticket in Mining and Pastoral Region. In 2009, following the resignation of

Alan Carpenter Alan John Carpenter (born 4 January 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th Premier of Western Australia, from 2006 to 2008. From Albany, Carpenter graduated from the University of Western Australia, and worked as a journ ...

, he unsuccessfully contested the

preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presele ...

process for the Willagee state by-election, losing out to

Peter Tinley Peter Charles Tinley (born 9 July 1962) is an Australian politician and former soldier. Peter has been a Labor Party member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly since November 2009, representing the electorate of Willagee. Early li ...

. At the 2013 state election, Dawson was elected to the Legislative Council as the lead Labor candidate in Mining and Pastoral Region.Hon. Stephen Noel Dawson MLC
Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 2 December 2016. He became the first Irish-born MP in Western Australia since 1950, when Sir

Norbert Keenan Sir Norbert Michael Keenan QC (30 January 1864 – 24 April 1954) was an Australian lawyer and politician who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1905 to 1911 and again from 1930 to 1950. He was the leader of the ...

left office. Dawson's term began in May 2013, and he was immediately elected deputy chairman of committees in the Legislative Council. In September 2013, he was added to

Mark McGowan Mark McGowan (born 13 July 1967) is an Australian politician, the 30th premier of Western Australia, and the leader of the Western Australian branch of the Labor Party. McGowan was born and raised in Newcastle, New South Wales. He attended t ...

's shadow cabinet. After the landslide 2017 state election victory, Dawson was added to cabinet with responsibility for the environment and disability services. On 13 December 2018, Dawson replaced

Bill Johnston Bill or Billy Johnston may refer to: * Bill Johnston (cricketer) (1922–2007), Australian cricketer * Bill Johnston (golfer) (1925–2021), American golfer and golf course architect * Bill Johnston (tennis) William Marquitz "Little Bill" John ...

as Minister for Electoral Affairs as part of a minor cabinet reshuffle. On 14 December 2022, he was named Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Innovation and the Digital Economy, Minister for Medical Research, and Minister for Volunteering.

Personal life

Dawson is openly gay. In December 2013, he and his partner, Dennis Liddelow, became the first same-sex couple to be legally married in Australia. They had a midnight ceremony in Canberra, taking advantage of legislation passed by the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...

(ACT). However, their marriage was annulled six days later (along with all other same-sex marriages), due to the High Court's finding that the ACT legislation was in conflict with the federal ''Marriage Act 1961'' and thus unconstitutional."High Court strikes down ACT's same-sex marriage laws"

news.com.au news.com.au is an Australian website owned by News Corp Australia. It had 9.6 million unique readers in April 2019 and covers national and international news, lifestyle, travel, entertainment, technology, finance, and sport. Staff The organiza ...

, 12 December 2013. Retrieved 2 December 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawson, Stephen 1975 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia Gay politicians Irish emigrants to Australia LGBT legislators in Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council 21st-century Australian politicians