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Wyatt Roy

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The Honourable
Wyatt Roy
Wyatt Roy in 2016
Assistant Minister for Innovation
In office
21 September 2015 – 19 July 2016
Prime MinisterMalcolm Turnbull
Preceded byNew portfolio
Succeeded byCraig Laundy (as Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science)
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Longman
In office
21 August 2010 – 2 July 2016
Preceded byJon Sullivan
Succeeded bySusan Lamb
Personal details
Born
Wyatt Beau Roy

(1990-05-22) 22 May 1990 (age 34)
Buderim, Queensland, Australia
Political partyLiberal National
Alma materUniversity of Queensland (studies not completed)[1]

Wyatt Beau Roy (born 22 May 1990) is a former Australian parliamentarian. He served as the Assistant Minister for Innovation from September 2015 to the July 2016 federal election. He was a Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP) member of the Australian House of Representatives from August 2010 to July 2016, representing the electorate of Longman.[2] At 20 years of age, he was the youngest person ever to be elected to an Australian parliament. The federal record was previously held by Edwin Corboy, who was 22 when elected in 1918. He also became the youngest Minister in the history of the Commonwealth, being appointed to the ministry at the age of 25.

Personal life

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Roy was raised on a strawberry farm north of Brisbane. He has two older half-brothers and a younger sister.[3] Roy attended Matthew Flinders Anglican College on the Sunshine Coast, and studied at Melbourne's La Trobe University before returning to his home state to study political science and international relations at the University of Queensland, although he did not graduate.[1]

Political career

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Prior to the election, there was speculation that the Liberal National Party did not want Roy endorsed as the candidate for Longman, because of his youth. However, both Liberal leader Tony Abbott and Nationals leader Warren Truss publicly endorsed Roy.[4][5]

Roy's campaign was not without incident. His electoral success may have been helped by a gaffe made by his Labor opponent and incumbent member, Jon Sullivan. In the closing week of the 2010 federal election campaign, Sullivan gained national media attention due to a blunder where he criticised the father of a seven-year-old child with a disability for waiting two years on a Queensland Health waiting list, responding to a question at a candidates' forum with a counter-question.[6] Sullivan apologised to the father at the first available opportunity[7] and dismissed the significance of the gaffe, in the days following his defeat.[8] A week earlier, one of Roy's campaign volunteers was involved in an incident, captured on video. The footage shows a member of Roy's campaign team hitting a Labor supporter in the face while campaigning. The LNP claimed the attack was provoked and brought about by the Labor campaign worker holding a giant L-plate sign next to a poster of Roy.[9]

Roy is a supporter of same-sex marriage in Australia[10] and supported a conscience vote on the issue in parliament.[11]

In 2015, Roy was appointed as Assistant Minister for Innovation, an outer ministry position assisting the Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science.[12]

In the Australian federal election in 2016, Roy lost the seat of Longman to Labor MP Susan Lamb by a margin of 3%, with an 8.45% swing to Labor.[13]

Post political career

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In 2016, he visited a warzone in Iraq where he became caught up in a firefight between Islamic State (IS) and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, earning criticism from among others Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.[14]

Roy later joined Afiniti, a global artificial intelligence company, as its Australian general manager. He is based in Sydney.[15]

See also

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  • Baby of the House, an unofficial title given to the youngest member of a parliamentary house

References

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  1. ^ a b Barrett, Rosanne (24 August 2010). "Youngest MP not all about money". The Australian. Retrieved 2 September 2010.
  2. ^ http://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Parliamentarian?MPID=M2X aph.gov.au Commonwealth of Australia
  3. ^ Maley, Jacqueline (31 August 2013). "No mother's boy". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
  4. ^ Nancarrow, Dan (15 June 2010). "Abbott backs political tyro Wyatt Roy". Brisbane Times. Retrieved 21 August 2010.
  5. ^ Singer, Melissa; Mitchell, Alex (22 August 2010). "About a Roy: Wyatt set to be youngest ever MP". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
  6. ^ Dickinson, Alex (20 August 2010). "MP Jon Sullivan jeered after 'cruel' words to father of disabled child". The Courier-Mail. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
  7. ^ Marshall, Candice (20 August 2010). "Longman MP apologises for disabilities remark". ABC News. Australia. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
  8. ^ Roberts, Glenn (24 August 2010). "Sullivan denies gaffe was to blame". Caboolture Shire Herald. Retrieved 26 August 2010.
  9. ^ Tatnell, Paul (16 August 2010). "Wyatt's gunning to be youngest MP at 20 ... but saves the marginal punch lines". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 26 August 2010.
  10. ^ "Coalition MP Wyatt Roy, 23, supports gay marriage". news.com.au. 24 May 2013. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  11. ^ "Same-sex marriage debate to reignite in Federal Parliament". The Sydney Morning Herald. 19 March 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  12. ^ Viellaris, Renee (21 September 2015). "Queenslanders Steven Ciobo, Stuart Robert, Mal Brough, Peter Dutton, Wyatt Roy and George Brandis named in new ministry". The Courier-Mail. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  13. ^ "Longman, QLD". Tally Room: 2016 Federal Election. Australian Electoral Commission. 28 July 2016. Archived from the original on 12 August 2016.
  14. ^ Dragovic, Denis (3 October 2016). "Wyatt Roy's trip to Iraq was nothing short of irresponsible". The Conversation. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  15. ^ Boyd, Tony (3 February 2017). "Wyatt Roy's grand new adventure in machine learning". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wyatt Roy.
Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Member for Longman
2010–2016 		Succeeded by
Political offices
New ministerial post Assistant Minister for Innovation
2015–2016 		Succeeded byas Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science
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