David Frank Crisafulli (born 14 April 1979) is an Australian politician. He has been a member of the

Queensland Legislative Assembly 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 Assembly ...

since 2017, representing the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

-based electorate of Broadwater for the Liberal National Party. He was previously member for the

North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its tropical northern part has been ...

-based electorate of Mundingburra from 2012 to 2015, and was initially Minister for Local Government, and then Minister for Local Government, Community Recovery and Resilience during the premiership of

Campbell Newman Campbell Kevin Thomas Newman (born 12 August 1963) is a former Australian politician who served as the 38th Premier of Queensland from 26 March 2012 to 14 February 2015. He served as the member for Ashgrove in the Legislative Assembly of Quee ...

, from 2012 to 2015. Since November 2020, he has been leader of the Liberal National Party and

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

Early life

Born and raised in Ingham, Queensland, Crisafulli graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism degree from

James Cook University James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cairn ...

Townsville Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...

in 2000. In 1998, he returned to his home town of Ingham as a cadet reporter at the ''

Herbert River Express The ''Herbert River Express'' was a newspaper published in Ingham, Queensland, Australia. It is distributed from Cardwell and Kennedy in the north down to Rollingstone and Toomulla in the south. History The newspaper was first published ...

''. In 2000, Crisafulli moved into television, becoming a journalist with ''

WIN News ''WIN News'' is a local television news service in parts of regional Australia, produced by WIN Television. 12 regional bulletins and news update services are presented from WIN's headquarters in Wollongong, and until 2021 included production ...

'' in Townsville, and was made chief of staff of the Townsville newsroom in 2002. During that time, Crisafulli also worked as a correspondent for ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'' and '' Sunday Mail'' newspapers, did weekly work for

DMG Regional Radio DMG may refer to: Organizations Entertainment * Dames Making Games, a Canadian non-profit organization that encourages the participation of women, non-binary, femme and queer people in the creation of video games * Davidson Media Group, an American ...

as a newsreader, and lectured in journalism at James Cook University.

Politics

In 2003, Crisafulli was appointed as a ministerial media advisor to the then Howard Government Minister and Liberal Senator for Queensland,

Ian Macdonald Ian MacCormick (known by the pseudonym Ian MacDonald; 3 October 1948 – 20 August 2003) was a British music critic and author, best known for both ''Revolution in the Head'', his critical history of the Beatles which borrowed techniques from a ...

. In 2004, Crisafulli successfully ran for what was then the 100% Labor Party-controlled

Townsville City Council The City of Townsville is a local government area (LGA) located in North Queensland, Australia. It encompasses the city of Townsville, together with the surrounding rural areas, to the south are the communities of Alligator Creek, Woodstock an ...

, on a conservative platform. In 2008, when the Townsville and

Thuringowa Thuringowa Central is a suburb of Townsville in the City of Townsville, Queensland, Australia. In the Thuringowa Central had a population of 2,023 people. Geography Shaped like an inverted letter "T", Thuringowa Central consists of residen ...

councils were merged, he made a deal with Les Tyrell, the former Thuringowa mayor, to run in partnership for the mayor and deputy mayor positions on the new council. He was elected as deputy mayor, an office he held until his resignation in 2012 to run for a seat in the

Queensland Parliament The Parliament of Queensland is the legislature of Queensland, Australia. As provided under the Constitution of Queensland, the Parliament consists of the Monarch of Australia and the Legislative Assembly. It has been the only unicameral s ...

. During his second term on Council, he became the chairman of the Townsville City Council Planning Committee. In the

2012 Queensland state election The 2012 Queensland state election was held on 24 March 2012 to elect all 89 members of the Legislative Assembly, a unicameral parliament. The Labor Party (ALP), led by Premier Anna Bligh, was defeated by the opposition Liberal National Pa ...

, Crisafulli was elected to 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 ...

in the seat of Mundingburra, as a member of the Liberal National party. He was appointed as the Minister for Local Government in the new

Newman government Campbell Newman led the Liberal National Party of Queensland to its first victory at the 2012 state election. His interim Ministry of three members was sworn in on 26 March 2012, pending his determination of the make-up of his full Ministry. Hi ...

. In February 2013, his role was expanded when he became Minister for Local Government, Community Recovery and Resilience. He re-contested Mundingburra at the

2015 Queensland state election The 2015 Queensland state election was held on 31 January 2015 to elect all 89 members of the unicameral Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The centre-right Liberal National Party (LNP), led by Premier Campbell Newman, attempted to win a s ...

but was defeated by the

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

candidate Coralee O'Rourke. Following his 2015 election loss, Crisafulli and his family relocated to Hope Island on Queensland's

. He subsequently ran a small business giving advice about dealing with government and business development opportunities. In May 2017, he defeated incumbent Broadwater MP

Verity Barton Verity Mary Barton (born 6 August 1985) is an Australian politician. She was the LNP member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland for Broadwater from 2012 to 2017. She defeated Peta-Kaye Croft at the 2012 state election and was re-elect ...

for LNP preselection to contest the 2017 election, and subsequently won the Broadwater seat. In December 2017, after the election of

Deb Frecklington Deborah Kay Frecklington (born 3 September 1971) is an Australian politician who is the member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland for Nanango, having won the seat at the 2012 state election. She was the Leader of the Queensland Opposit ...

as Leader of the Opposition, Crisafulli was appointed as the Shadow Minister for Environment, Science and the Great Barrier Reef, and Shadow Minister for Tourism. On 12 November 2020, Crisafulli became Leader of the Opposition in Queensland, after the Liberal National Party elected him as party leader following the resignation of

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crisafulli, David Australian politicians of Italian descent Liberal National Party of Queensland politicians 1979 births Living people Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly 21st-century Australian politicians