Jai Rowell

Jai Travers Rowell (born 2 January 1977),[1] an Australian former politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Wollondilly for the Liberal Party from 2011 to 2018.[2] In April 2014 Rowell was appointed as Minister for Mental Health and Assistant Minister for Health during the Cabinet reshuffle under Premier Mike Baird.[3] Under Gladys Berejiklian as Premier, Rowell was appointed as Special Adviser to the Premier and the NSW Government on Science, Industry and Innovation, a first of its kind. Rowell was the first Liberal Indigenous member of the NSW Legislative Assembly. Rowell has been appointed by Western Sydney University as a Fellow of Law.

Jai Rowell
Minister for Mental Health
In office
23 April 2014 – 2 April 2015
PremierMike Baird
Preceded byKevin Humphries
Succeeded byPru Goward
Assistant Minister for Health
In office
23 April 2014 – 2 April 2015
PremierMike Baird
Preceded byvacant
Succeeded byPru Goward
Member of the New South Wales Parliament
for Wollondilly
In office
26 March 2011 – 17 December 2018
Preceded byPhil Costa
Succeeded byNathaniel Smith
Personal details
Born (1977-01-02) 2 January 1977
NationalityAustralian
Political partyLiberal Party
Spouse(s)Belinda
ResidenceWollondilly Shire, New South Wales
OccupationPolitician

Early career and background

After completing a law degree at the University of Western Sydney he held various parliamentary positions including being an electorate officer and later an adviser in the Howard Government. Rowell has worked in both the state and federal parliaments. In 2004, he was elected as a Councillor and Liberal Leader and served eight and a half years including serving terms on the Local Government Association of NSW. Rowell was the first Liberal Indigenous member of the NSW Legislative Assembly for the Liberal Party and was the first Indigenous Local Councillor elected to Campbelltown City Council.

Rowell grew up in South West Sydney including the Macarthur and Southern Highlands areas.

He is the father of three boys and is married to Belinda.

Political career

On 29 October 2009, Rowell was pre-selected by the Liberal Party as their candidate in Wollondilly for the 2011 state election. During his campaign for election, Angry Anderson actively supported Rowell;[4] who was elected with a swing of 18.6 points and won the seat with 64.7 per cent of the two-party vote.[5] Rowell won every booth in the electorate. His main opponent was the incumbent sitting member and Minister for Water, Phil Costa, representing Labor. In 2015 Rowell recontested the seat and increased his primary vote from 49.9% to 58% and increased his two party preferred vote to 67.3%. Rowell again achieved a win at every single booth.

Rowell was appointed as deputy government whip on 13 August 2013. Mr Rowell was further promoted to government whip on 25 February 2014.[2] Due to the resignation of Barry O'Farrell as Premier,[6] and the subsequent ministerial reshuffle by Mike Baird, the new Liberal Leader,[3] Rowell was appointed as Minister for Mental Health and Assistant Minister for Health and appointed as a member of Cabinet.[2][7][8] Under new Premier Gladys Berejiklian, whom Rowell is close to, Rowell was appointed as Special Adviser to the Premier and the NSW Government on Science, Industry and Innovation, a first of its kind. He was also the Chair of the Legislative Committee on Environment and Planning and Deputy Chair of the Legislative Committee on Law and Safety and Chair of the Committee on Parliamentary Privileges and Ethics.

In February 2018, Rowell announced he would not re-contest the 2019 election, and he resigned as Member for Wollondilly on 17 December 2018.[9]

gollark: ++remind 9h compile dale utterly
gollark: I'll check.
gollark: Probably?
gollark: Maybe I should reduce safety by parallelizing osmarkspythonbuildsystem™.
gollark: C is so* expressive**.

References
  1. Jai Rowell
  2. "Mr Jai Traver Rowell MP (1977 - )". Former Members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  3. Nicholls, Sean (22 April 2014). "Mike Baird's cabinet reshuffle a preparation for next election". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  4. Campbell, David (11 February 2011). "Rose Tattoo's Angry Anderson weighs in for Macarthur Liberals". Macarthur Chronicle Campbelltown. News Limited. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
  5. Green, Antony (5 April 2011). "Wollondilly". NSW Votes 2011. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
  6. "Barry O'Farrell quits as NSW Premier over memory fail". The Australian. 16 April 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  7. "Mike Baird's NSW cabinet". The Sydney Morning Herald. 22 April 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  8. "Wollondilly state Liberal MP Jai Rowell joins Premier Mike Baird's Cabinet". Macarthur Chronicle Wollondilly. 22 April 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  9. "Wollondilly MP Jai Rowell officially steps down". Camden-Narellan Advertiser. 17 December 2018. Retrieved 31 December 2018.

 

New South Wales Legislative Assembly
Preceded by
Phil Costa		 Member for Wollondilly
2011–2018		 Succeeded by
Nathaniel Smith
Political offices
Preceded by
Kevin Humphries
as Minister for Healthy Lifestyles and Mental Health		 Minister for Mental Health
2014–2015		 Succeeded by
Pru Goward
Preceded by
vacant		 Assistant Minister for Health
2014–2015
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