Steven John Chaytor (born 19 February 1976) is an Australian 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 2005 to 2007, representing the southwest

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 ...

electorate of

Macquarie Fields Macquarie Fields is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Macquarie Fields is located 38 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Campbelltown and ...

. Chaytor was educated at St Gregory's College in Campbelltown and the

University of Technology, Sydney 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 2021 ...

, where he completed degrees in international studies and law. He worked as a solicitor and advisor to former

Prime Minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the Australian Government, federal government of Australia and is also accountable to Parliament of A ...

Gough Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. The longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1967 to 1977, he was notable for being the he ...

, and first entered local politics in 1999, when he was elected to the Campbelltown City Council. Chaytor was widely expected as a favourite to enter federal politics when

Mark Latham Mark William Latham (born 28 February 1961) is an Australian politician and media commentator, currently serving as a member in the New South Wales Legislative Council. He previously served as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and ...

resigned as the member for the safe seat of

Werriwa The Division of Werriwa is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. The name Werriwa derives from a local Aboriginal name for Lake George, which was located in the division when it was established in 1900. The division ...

in 2005. However, after a messy pre-selection battle with Campbelltown Mayor Brenton Banfield over who would run in the resulting by-election, Chaytor lost out to compromise candidate

Chris Hayes Christopher Loffredo Hayes (; born February 28, 1979) is an American political commentator, television news anchor, activist, and author. Hayes hosts ''All In with Chris Hayes'', a weekday news and opinion television show on MSNBC. Hayes also ...

. There was little challenge possible, however, when Chaytor was nominated several months later to replace

Craig Knowles Craig John Knowles (born 27 February 1959) is a former Australian politician and member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1990 to 2005. Early life Knowles' parents were Marie and Stan Knowles, member for Ingleburn from 1981 to ...

in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

for his safe state seat of Macquarie Fields. Though he was challenged by whistleblower nurse

Nola Fraser Nola Therese Fraser ( née Chalhoub) is an Australian small business owner, former Registered Nurse and former Liberal Party and Independent candidate for the New South Wales state seat of Macquarie Fields. Fraser first rose to public prominen ...

, Chaytor survived a strong swing to 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 ...

to win the seat.

Assault conviction

On 20 December 2006, Chaytor was charged with assault over an alleged incident which occurred on 10 December. Chaytor claimed in his defence that he was attempting to prevent his partner from self-harm. The Premier,

Morris Iemma Morris Iemma (; born 21 July 1961) is a former Australian politician who was the 40th Premier of New South Wales. He served from 3 August 2005 to 5 September 2008. From Sydney, Iemma attended the University of Sydney and the University of Techno ...

, sought to suspend Chaytor's membership of the Labor Party. The case was heard on 15 January 2007 at Campbelltown Local Court, and Chaytor was found guilty four days later. NSW Premier

announced shortly after that he was to be expelled from the Labor Party and a new candidate found for the coming March state election. That new candidate was Dr Andrew McDonald, a local paediatrician. Despite the fact that the assault conviction dealt with a personal matter involving Chaytor and that he had been disendorsed by the Labor Party, the ''

Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', kn ...

'' cited the conviction as among the reasons why the Iemma Government should be defeated at the March 2007 election. On 30 July 2007, the conviction was quashed on appeal by the District Court, citing insufficient evidence. The appeal judge found that Chaytor had acted in self-defence and was trying to stop his former partner from committing suicide. The NSW branch of the ALP ultimately decided to reinstate Mr Chaytor's ALP membership in light of the legal decision. Chaytor did not nominate as a candidate for re-election in the 2008 local government elections for Campbelltown City Council.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaytor, Steven Living people Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian solicitors 1976 births University of Technology Sydney Law School alumni Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 21st-century Australian politicians