Luke Hartsuyker (born 26 October 1959) is a former Australian politician who was a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

from 2001 to 2019, representing the

Division of Cowper The Division of Cowper is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales. Geography Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries i ...

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 ...

for the National Party. He served as a government minister in the Turnbull Government and an assistant minister in the Abbott Government. In August 2018, he announced he would retire from parliament at the 2019 federal election.

Background and career

Hartsuyker was born in

Muswellbrook, New South Wales Muswellbrook ( ) is a town in the Upper Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney and north-west of Newcastle. Geologically, Muswellbrook is situated in the northern parts of the Sydney basin, bordering the New Englan ...

, where he attended a state primary school and state high school. His father, Tom Hartsuyker, immigrated from the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in 1951 and subsequently established a Dutch-themed tourist park in

Coffs Harbour Coffs Harbour is a city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. It is one of the largest urban centres on the North Coast, with a population of 78,759 as per 2021 census. The Gumbaynggirr ...

called The Clog Barn. Hartsuyker was born a

Dutch citizen Dutch nationality law details the conditions by which a person holds Dutch nationality. The primary law governing these requirements is the Dutch Nationality Act, which came into force on 1 January 1985. Regulations apply to the entire Kingdom o ...

by descent, but automatically lost his citizenship in 1995 by failing to meet a provision requiring foreign-born citizens to return to the Netherlands every ten years. Hartsuyker holds a

Bachelor of Commerce A Bachelor of Commerce (abbreviated BComm or BCom; also, ''baccalaureates commercii'') is an undergraduate degree in business, usually awarded in Canada, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ireland, New Zealand, Ghana, South Africa, Myanmar, ...

degree from

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...

, and an Associate Diploma in valuation. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Practising Accountants Australia. He managed his father's business before entering politics. He and his wife, Irene, have two sons.

Politics

In the 2001 federal election Hartsuyker was elected to the

after longstanding Nationals MP

Garry Nehl Garry Barr Nehl, AM (born 19 February 1934) was an Australian politician. Born in Newcastle, New South Wales, he attended Sydney Boys High School from 1946 to 1951. He was a station overseer, newspaper proprietor, and marketing and public rela ...

retired from the seat. Hartsuyker retained the seat in subsequent elections:

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, and

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

. An

electoral redistribution Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral dist ...

changed Cowper's boundaries prior to the 2016 election:

Port Macquarie Port Macquarie is a coastal town in the local government area of Port Macquarie-Hastings. It is located on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. The town is located on the Tasman Sea co ...

was included in Cowper for the first time, while the region north of Coffs Harbour was transferred out of Cowper to the

Division of Page The Division of Page is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. History The division is named after the Right Honourable Sir Earle Page, the second leader of the Country Party of Australia and the Prime Minister o ...

. Former

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Rob Oakeshott Robert James Murray Oakeshott (born 14 December 1969) is a retired Australian politician. He was the independent Member of the House of Representatives for the Division of Lyne in New South Wales from 2008, when he won the 2008 Lyne by-electi ...

, who lives in Port Macquarie (which had been within the

Division of Lyne The Division of Lyne is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. Geography Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed ...

prior to the redistribution), contested the

at the 2016 election. A number of seat-level opinion polls in Cowper found the incumbent Hartsuyker and independent Oakeshott neck-and-neck on the

two-party-preferred vote In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP, ...

. Hartsuyker won re-election, but suffered a swing of 13 percent – the closest that the Nationals had come to losing Cowper in over half a century. The Nationals have held it for all but one term since 1919. While Oakeshott slashed Hartsuyker's two-party margin to 4.5%, Cowper is still a safe National seat in a "traditional" two-party matchup with Labor. On 8 August 2018, Hartsuyker announced he would retire from federal politics at the 2019 federal election.

Ministerial career

Hartsuyker served as the Assistant Minister for Employment and as the Deputy Leader of the House in the Abbott Ministry, between 18 September 2013 and September 2015. He was the Minister for Vocational Education and Skills in the

First Turnbull Ministry The first Turnbull ministry (Liberal–National Coalition) was the 69th ministry of the Government of Australia, led by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. It succeeded the Abbott ministry after a leadership spill that took place on 14 September ...

between September 2015 and February 2016; the Assistant Minister to the

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

between July 2016 and December 2017; and the Assistant Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment in the Second Turnbull Ministry between December 2017 and March 2018.

Positions

Hartsuyker opposes

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

and stated he would not vote for it. A 2011 poll in the Coffs Harbour Advocate, representing those within his electorate, resulted in 78% of respondents in favour of same-sex marriage. After his electorate voted in favour of same-sex marriage in the

Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey The Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey was a national survey designed to gauge support for legalising same-sex marriage in Australia. The survey was held via the postal service between 12 September and 7 November 2017. Unlike voting in e ...

, Hartsuyker did vote in favour of the ''

Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017 The ''Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia, which legalises same-sex marriage in Australia by amending the '' Marriage Act 1961'' to allow marriage between two persons o ...

''.

References

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hartsuyker, Luke 1959 births Living people Abbott Government National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Cowper Government ministers of Australia Turnbull Government 21st-century Australian politicians Australian people of Dutch descent People who lost Dutch citizenship