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The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly

The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly

Speaker profile.jpg 

The Honourable Jonathan O'Dea MP was elected Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly on 7 May 2019.

He was first elected as the Member for Davidson in 2007, being re-elected at the subsequent NSW general elections in 2011, 2015 and 2019.

His formal qualifications include Bachelor's Degrees in Arts and Law and Master's Degrees in Law and Business Administration. He is also a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Prior to becoming a member of parliament, Jonathan worked as a lawyer in private and corporate practice, and in senior management roles. He also ran various niche financial services businesses and was a non-executive board director of major health insurance company, HCF.

He has also served on the boards of a number of education and charity organisations including the NSW College of Law and Mercy Foundation, as Deputy Convenor of Australia's Classification Review Board and as a Councillor on North Sydney Council from 1991 to 1995.

When the NSW Liberals & Nationals Government was elected in 2011, Jonathan was appointed Chair of the Legislative Assembly Public Accounts Committee, serving in that role until 2015. He also served as Deputy Chair of the Legislative Assembly Legal Affairs Committee for part of that term.

From April 2015 until January 2017, Jonathan was Parliamentary Secretary for Major Events and Tourism, adding the Trade and Investment portfolio from April 2016. Jonathan most recently served as Parliamentary Secretary to Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Treasurer Dominic Perrottet, from February 2017 until the 2019 election.

Jonathan is a life-long resident of northern Sydney and lives with his wife and four children in Lindfield.

Upon his election as Speaker, he spoke to the House  foreshadowing a number of changes during his speakership to improve and modernise the Parliament.