David Littleproud

The Honourable
David Littleproud
MP
Littleproud in 2018
Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources
Assumed office
20 December 2017
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull
Scott Morrison
Preceded by Malcolm Turnbull
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Maranoa
Assumed office
2 July 2016 (2016-07-02)
Preceded by Bruce Scott
Personal details
Born (1976-09-04) 4 September 1976
Chinchilla, Queensland, Australia
Political party Nationals (LNP)
Father Brian Littleproud

David Kelly Littleproud (born 4 September 1976 in Chinchilla, Queensland, Australia) is an Australian politician who has been a member of the House of Representatives since the 2016 federal election, representing the Division of Maranoa. He is a member of the Liberal National Party of Queensland, and sits with the Nationals in federal parliament.

Littleproud has served as the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources since 20 December 2017 following a rearrangement of the Second Turnbull Ministry.[1] He was viewed as a potential candidate to replace Barnaby Joyce as National Party leader in February 2018.[2]

Background and early career

Littleproud was an agribusinessman before entering politics. His father Brian Littleproud was a National Party member of the Queensland Parliament and state government minister.[3]

Political career

Littleproud was elected to parliament in 2016, succeeding the previous member, retiring Bruce Scott.[3]

Within 18 months, David Littleproud was appointed Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources after a cabinet reshuffle, and was sworn in at Government House in Canberra on December 20, 2017.[4]

Upon taking office Littleproud successfully negotiated with the Senate cross bench for passage of legislation establishing the Regional Investment Corporation. On February 6, 2018 the new laws passed the upper house,[5] breaking a potiltical deadlock that had dragged on months. On May 16, 2018 it was announced that the RIC's headquarters would be set up in Orange, New South Wales furfulling in part, the Nationals commitment to deliver public service jobs to regional areas.[6]

On February 14, 2018 Labor voted with the Greens to disallow a mechanism in the Murray Darling Basin Plan which would have prevented farmers in the Northern Basin giving up 70GL of water which otherwise would have been lost to seepage and evaporation.[7] The disallowance motion triggered a crisis in basin states when New South Wales and Victoria pledged to abandon the Plan as a result. It was widely considered the withdrawal of the two largest states would see the Basin Plan dismantled after it had taken more than a century to strike the agreement.[8] On May 7, 2018, in the lead up to a second disallowance motion that would have blocked 36 environmental water savings projects, David Littleproud struck a deal with Labor that both secured the works in question and the 70GL recovery reduction for Northern Basin farmers which had previously been disallowed. This effectively resurrected the Murray-Darling Basin Plan by reassuring Basin states the Plan would be furfilled as agreed in 2012.[9]

In December 2017, Littleproud was one of only four members of the House of Representatives to vote against the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017 legalising same-sex marriage in Australia.[10] Littleproud had pledged to vote according to the outcome of the Maranoa postal survey held prior to the vote, which was run by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. His electorate of Maranoa recorded a result of 56.1% against changing the definition of marriage.[11]

References

  1. ↑ Turnbull, Malcolm (19 December 2017). "Ministerial Arrangements" (Press release). Government of Australia. Retrieved 3 February 2018. David Littleproud will become Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources. He will bring to the role two decades of experience in agribusiness before he joined parliament.
  2. ↑ McIlroy, Tom (23 February 2018). "Nationals leadership: who could replace Barnaby Joyce?". The Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
  3. 1 2 "Maranoa - Australia Votes". Election 2016. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  4. ↑ "Queensland National MP David Littleproud becomes Australia's new agriculture minister". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  5. ↑ "Regional Investment Corporation to go ahead as Coalition agrees to changes". smh.com.au. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  6. ↑ "Regional Investment Corporation Based in Orange". farmingahead.com.au. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  7. ↑ "Basin Plan Amendments disallowed by Parliament". Murray-Darling Basin Authority]]. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  8. ↑ "Murray Darling Basin Plan under threat following disallowance motion". The Land. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  9. ↑ "Statment on the Murray-Darling Basin Plan". Department of Agriculture and Water Resources. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  10. ↑ "House of Representatives Hansard THURSDAY, 7 DECEMBER 2017". Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  11. ↑ "Same-sex marriage and the defining image that almost wasn't". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
Parliament of Australia
Preceded by
Bruce Scott		 Member for Maranoa
2016–present		 Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Barnaby Joyce		 Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources
2017–present		 Incumbent
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.