Verity Mary Barton (born 6 August 1985) is an Australian politician. She was the LNP member of the

Legislative Assembly of Queensland The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembl ...

for Broadwater from 2012 to 2017. She defeated Peta-Kaye Croft at the 2012 state election and was re-elected at the 2015 election, before losing LNP preselection for the 2017 election to former MP

David Crisafulli David Frank Crisafulli (born 14 April 1979) is an Australian politician. He has been a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly since 2017, representing the Gold Coast-based electorate of Broadwater for the Liberal National Party. He was ...

. Barton was educated at

All Hallows' School , motto_translation = God and Duty , city = Brisbane , state = Queensland , postcode = 4000 , country = Australia , coordinates = , type ...

in Brisbane. She went on to further studies in law and politics at Bond University on the Gold Coast and

Northwestern University School of Law Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law is the law school of Northwestern University, a private research university. It is located on the university's Chicago campus. Northwestern Law has been ranked among the top 14, or "T14" law s ...

in Chicago, Illinois. Prior to her election she worked in the retail industry and also served as a media consultant for Senator

George Brandis George Henry Brandis (born 22 June 1957) is a former Australian politician. He was a Senator for Queensland from 2000 to 2018, representing the Liberal Party, and was a cabinet minister in the Abbott and Turnbull governments. He was later ...

Political career

Barton joined LNP-predecessor the former

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 ...

at 17. She has held various senior local branch positions, including chair of the Broadwater State Electorate Council. She has been a member of the LNP State Council and was a member of the Young LNP Management Committee from 2010 until 2012. Barton is the granddaughter of former member for Kurilpa, Clive Hughes. Aged 26 years, 7 months and 18 days old when first elected, Barton was the youngest woman ever elected to the Queensland Parliament. Throughout the 54th Parliament, Barton was a member of the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee and was appointed as Temporary Chair of Committees, a role which saw her serve as an acting Deputy Speaker in the Parliament. Ms Barton is a strong monarchist having made a speech to parliament in May 2013 in support of the Succession to the Crown Bill 2013 referencing her admiration of the British Royal Family and ending her comments with "God bless Queensland, God bless Australia and God save the Queen." In her maiden speech to Queensland Parliament, Verity Barton stated she was a "proud conservative" and listed

Sir Robert Menzies ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

, Ronald Reagan and

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the ...

as her "key political influences." In the same speech, Ms Barton also made reference to her strong Catholic faith. On 8 January 2015, it was revealed that Barton had her driving licence suspended in both 2012 and 2013 after failing to pay road tolls, and that she had driven while unlicensed. After being reprimanded at LNP headquarters, she issued a statement apologising for her actions and telling her electors that she was still willing to serve them if given the opportunity at the forthcoming election. Queensland Premier Campbell Newman said there was no need to discipline her, despite the 2012 resignation of the then LNP police minister, David Gibson, for driving while his licence was suspended. In May 2017, Barton lost the LNP preselection for the Broadwater to former Newman Government Minister,

. In 2018, Barton relocated to London to take up an appointment as personal assistant to the Australian High Commissioner to the UK,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barton, Verity 1985 births Living people Bond University alumni Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law alumni Australian monarchists Liberal National Party of Queensland politicians Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly People from the Gold Coast, Queensland 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians Women members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly People educated at All Hallows' School