Deepak-Raj Gupta

Deepak-Raj Gupta is an Indian born Australian politician. He has been a Labor member for Yerrabi in the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly since 23 July 2019.[1][2]

Deepak-Raj Gupta

MLA
Member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly
for Yerrabi
Assumed office
23 July 2019
Preceded byMeegan Fitzharris
Personal details
Born1966 (age 53–54)
Agra, India
CitizenshipAustralian
NationalityAustralian
Political partyAustralian Labor Party
Alma materPunjab University, Chandigarh
OccupationPublic servant
ProfessionPolitician

Biography

Gupta was born in the city of Agra in Uttar Pradesh, India, and raised in Chandigarh.[3] He completed his Bachelor of Arts at Punjab University in Chandigarh. In 1989 he emigrated to Australia to complete an information technology diploma at the Holmesglen Institute in Melbourne. Gupta moved to Canberra in 2001. In Canberra, Gupta worked for a private insurance company and briefly became a project manager at the Department of Defence. In 2015, Gupta was involved in an ACT Government delegation to India to promote trade and business between India and Australia. Gupta currently lives in Gungahlin ACT with his wife and two children.

Community Engagement

Gupta was the president of the Australia India Business Council (AIBC) ACT Chapter for 10 years and is now a member of the AIBC National Executive Board of Directors. He has helped organise several popular multicultural programs in the annual National Multicultural Festival as well as starting events such as the 'India in the City' program and the World Curry Festival. Deepak celebrates community engagement and is particularly keen to assist local businesses.

In 2012, Gupta was awarded the ACT Community Advocate award. In 2015, he was awarded the Community Service Excellence Award in Sydney, NSW. The award was in recognition of Gupta's work in promoting multicultural harmony, acceptance, mutual respect and understanding among the ACT's diverse communities.

Political career

Under the Australia Labor Party in 2016, Gupta was the first person of Indian origin to run in an ACT election. Gupta was sworn in in July 2019, he became the first Indian-born person to hold the position of MLA in the Australian Capital Territory. He was also the fist MLA to be sworn in on the Bhagwat Gita, representing his Hindu faith.[4]

Gupta's maiden speech focused on education, health, supporting small business and multiculturalism.[5] During his time in the Assembly, Gupta has pushed forward support for increased water efficiency, providing cost of living support through a strong climate strategy and recognition of Canberra's designer Walter Burley Griffin.[6] In 2019, Gupta joined Chief Minister Andrew Barr on a delegation to India, to discuss education and tourism, and to promote trade relationships between the ACT, New Delhi and Mumbai.

gollark: Maybe "harder" then.
gollark: How is C "higher level"? It's a very low-level language.
gollark: This sort of thing is why I download music.
gollark: Seriously?!
gollark: I vaguely know a few people from Turkey on a few other Discord servers, they complain about it quite often.

References
  1. "Deepak-Raj GUPTA". Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly.
  2. Jervis-Bardy, Dan (22 July 2019). "'Big shoes to fill': Deepak-Raj Gupta to be the ACT's newest parliamentarian". The Canberra Times.
  3. Leigh, Andrew. "Deepak-Raj Gupta - Speech, House of Representatives". Andrew Leigh MP. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  4. "Once washed cars, India born Deepak Raj Gupta takes oath as MLA in Australia with Bhagwad Gita in hand". WION. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  5. "Inaugural speech" (PDF). Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Australian Capital Territory: Legislative Assembly. pp. 2354–2358.
  6. "Deepak pushes for local recognition of the Griffins". CityNews. 18 February 2020. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
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