David Shoebridge

David Shoebridge
MLC
Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council
Assumed office
7 September 2010
Personal details
Born Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Nationality Australian
Political party Greens New South Wales
Residence Woollahra, New South Wales
Alma mater University of Sydney
Occupation Barrister/Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council
Website davidshoebridge.org.au

David Martin Shoebridge is an Australian politician and former industrial law barrister. He has been a Greens member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since September 2010.

Early life and career

Shoebridge was born in Sydney. He attended James Ruse Agricultural High School, before receiving a combined Bachelor of Arts (in 1993) and a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) (in 1995) at the University of Sydney. Shoebridge was admitted as a lawyer in 1998, and was admitted to the NSW Bar in 2003. Whilst studying, he supported himself working a number of jobs — including working in a nursing home, and in the cattle yards and as a cellarman with the Royal Agricultural Society.

Shoebridge started his professional career as an associate to Justice Eric Baker of the Family Court of Australia (from March 1996 to March 1998).

Before entering parliament, Shoebridge worked as a lawyer for 13 years, the majority of this time as a barrister with a focus on employment, discrimination and tort law.[1]

Political career

Shoebridge with Waverley Greens campaigning to save the Bondi Pavilion

It was Shoebridge's friendship with the late Dr John Kaye that encouraged him to join the Greens. The two met at a time when Labor reforming worker compensation and workplace safety laws, Shoebridge was working as a legal representative for unions and Kaye was a staffer to Senator Lee Rhiannon.

Kaye persuaded him to join and the two worked closely together as MPs.

Shoebridge was elected to Woollahra Municipal Council in 2004 and reelected in 2008.[2] Of the over eight years as a councillor, he served one term as Deputy Mayor of Woollahra. He was an executive of the Local Government Association from 2008 to 2010 and an executive of the Holdsworth Community Centre in Woollahra from 2004 to 2008.

He was Convenor of the Greens NSW from August 2008 to August 2010. He was the Greens candidate for the state seat of Vaucluse in the 2007 state election.[3]

He became a member of the Legislative Council in September 2010 after Sylvia Hale resigned from the Legislative Council.[4] He was preselected to the first position on the Greens' upper house ticket for the 2011 state election, and was elected (at that election) as a member of the Legislative Council.

Shoebridge is currently a member of NSW Parliament's Standing Committee on Law and Justice and the Legislation Review Committee, and deputy chair of the Portfolio Committee No. 4 – Legal Affairs.[5]

Shoebridge has worked closely with victims of child sexual abuse. In September 2012 at a public meeting in Newcastle,[6] David joined journalist Joanne McCarthy and police whistleblower Peter Fox to call for a Royal Commission into sexual abuse by the Catholic Church and other institutions. A Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was established in January 2013. In August 2017, the Royal Commission released its Criminal Justice Report which detailed 85 recommendations, including 19 recommendations to improve police responses, 12 recommendations to improve special measures and courtroom experiences to help complainants and other witnesses in child sexual abuse prosecutions to give their best evidence, 11 recommendations to improve particular child sexual abuse offences and 8 recommendations to facilitate greater admissibility of tendency and coincidence evidence and more joint trials in child sexual abuse matters. Shoebridge has also introduced legislation in Parliament to overturn the Ellis defence, remove the statute of limitations and reform sentencing procedures related to child sex abuse.

On 2 June 2011, Shoebridge took the record for the longest speech in the NSW Legislative Council - while talking continuously for over five hours and 58 minutes against NSW government legislation that affected public sector wages and conditions.[7][8]

In 2012, Shoebridge advocated against proposed changes to workers' rights - as the NSW government made sweeping changes to the workers compensation system. Accompanied by the first general strike by fire-fighters since 1956, Shoebridge helped secure amendments to the legislation meaning that fire-fighters and paramedics retained the same cover as police officers.[9][10]

Shoebridge campaigned successfully in July 2013 for the abolition of the Game Council NSW by the NSW government. This followed the findings and recommendations of the Dunn Report into the Game Council's governance, called after senior Game Council figures were suspended after allegations of illegal hunting.[11][12]

In November 2013, Shoebridge moved the motion that established a Parliamentary Inquiry into the Bowraville murders. In November 2014 a unanimous report was handed down which made 15 recommendations including that the NSW Police Force reviews its processes, procedures and training programs that relate to Aboriginal people and that the NSW government reviews a relevant section of the Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act 2001. In May 2016, the then NSW Attorney-General sent an application for a retrial to the Court of Criminal Appeal. In November 2017 the Court of Criminal Appeal held four hearings into the case,[13] and decided in 2018 against a retrial.

Shoebridge worked closely with community groups such as the Better Planning Network to force the then O'Farrell government to withdraw its planning reforms in November 2013.

Starting in 2015 Shoebridge campaigned with community groups, residents and councillors across NSW against forced council amalgamations by the NSW Coalition government. Woollahra Council was a leader in the litigation against the NSW government - with the High Court granting it leave to appeal. In February 2017 the campaign had a major success with the Berejiklian government abandoning all pending forced amalgamations in the regions.[14] In July 2017 the government backed down again abandoning all remaining council amalgamations in Sydney.[15]

Shoebridge has campaigned heavily on police accountability. In 2014, as part of a broader campaign to curb the use of police drug dogs, Shoebridge launched Sniff Off.[16] The page has grown to more than 35,000 likes with individuals reporting drug dog locations at train stations, festivals and other public places in NSW. Through freedom of information and questions in Parliament Shoebridge obtained data that indicates drug dogs get it wrong up to 80% of the time.[17]

On 12 April 2018, Shoebridge successfully moved the motion in the NSW parliament to force the government to release its business case for the relocation of the Powerhouse Museum from Ultimo. In so doing, Shoebridge secured the support of MPs from Labor and other parties, as well as one Liberal MP.[18]

On 15 May 2018, Shoebridge spoke at a pro-Palestine peace rally, following the deaths of approximately 60 Palestinians in the bloodiest day of the 2018 Gaza border protests, the same day that US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, were celebrating the controversial opening of the new US Embassy in Jerusalem.

Personal life

Shoebridge is a keen and experienced bushwalker. Whenever possible, Shoebridge spends his weekends hiking with his partner and their two daughters, or with the Greens Bushwalking Club (made up of members and supporters). Shoebridge founded the Greens Bushwalking Club (with the assistance of the National Parks Association).[19] Walks conducted by the Greens Bushwalking Club and led or co-led by Shoebridge include: Manly Dam Circuit; Sydney to Boronia Park (Great North Walk); Little Bay to La Perouse; Boronia Park to North Ryde (Great North Walk); Wollondilly Mermaid pools; Bundeena Jibbon track walk; Albury/Wodonga Nail Can Hill walk; Riverina Grose Vale: Vale of Avoca lookout; Cape Byron walking track; Narrabeen lakes catchment traverse/Moon Rock walk; Fairy Dell Walk, Springwood Blue Mountains National Park; Bundian Way and Boyd Tower to Red Sands Bay; Narrabeen lakes catchment traverse/Moon Rock walk; Cumberland Forest; Roseville to Macquarie Park Great North Walk; Wolli Creek Walk; Karloo Walking Track Royal National Park (Heathcote); Mount Gulaga Tathra; Bouddi Coastal Walk Bouddi National Park; Macquarie Park to Thornleigh (Great North Walk); Malabar Headland, Maroubra; Helensburgh Temple to Scarbrough; Mount Bushwalker, Morton National Park; Iluka Walking Track, Bundjalung National Park; Budgaree Rainforest Walk, Bongil Bongil National Park; Yerong Walking Track, The Rock; Lake Talbot Loop, Bundidgerry walking track, Nerrandera. [20]

References

  1. ↑ , Parliament of New South Wales, Retrieved 2018-04-13.
  2. ↑ "Cooper Ward". New South Wales Electoral Commission. 2008. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
  3. ↑ "Election Results: Vaucluse". ABC Elections. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2 April 2007. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
  4. ↑ "NSW Greens upper house MP Sylvia Hale quits parliament early". The Australian. 31 August 2010. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
  5. ↑ , Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 2018-04-13.
  6. ↑ "EVENT – Public Forum: The Need for a Royal Commission into Sexual Abuse".
  7. ↑ Nicholls, Sean (3 June 2011). "Time freezes as record-breaking MP speaks for nearly six hours". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
  8. ↑ "Govt Announces change to public sector pay cap". NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association. 14 May 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  9. ↑ "Greens help keep emergency workers covered". Echonetdaily. 26 June 2012. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  10. ↑ "NSW Firefighters strike over workers compensation cuts". PM (ABC Radio). Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 21 June 2012. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  11. ↑ "Blow to Game Council as leaders charged over hunt". The Sydney Morning Herald. 7 April 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  12. ↑ "Governance Review of the Game Council of NSW" (PDF). Dunn report (PDF). Game Council New South Wales. 14 June 2012. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  13. ↑ "Bowraville murders' prime suspect propositioned 16yo girl, court told".
  14. ↑ "Berejiklian government stays course on Sydney council mergers but relents on regions".
  15. ↑ "NSW council amalgamations scrapped after Government backflip".
  16. ↑ "Sniff Off".
  17. ↑ "Sniffer dogs get it wrong four out of five times".
  18. ↑ Rachel Eddie, "Rogue MP crosses the floor to expose Powerhouse Museum business case", The New Daily, 12 April 2018. Retrieved 2018-04-13.
  19. ↑
  20. ↑
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