The Honourable
Jason Wood
MP
Assistant Minister for Customs, Community Safety and Multicultural Affairs
In office
29 May 2019 – 23 May 2022
Prime MinisterScott Morrison
Preceded byNew title
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Member of the Australian Parliament
for La Trobe
Assumed office
7 September 2013
Preceded byLaura Smyth
In office
9 October 2004 – 21 August 2010
Preceded byBob Charles
Succeeded byLaura Smyth
Personal details
Born
Jason Peter Wood

(1968-05-24) 24 May 1968
Sutherland, New South Wales, Australia
Political partyLiberal
SpouseJudy Cheung
Children1
ResidenceMount Dandenong
ProfessionPolice officer
Websitejasonwood.com.au

Jason Peter Wood (born 24 May 1968) is an Australian politician and former police officer. He is a member of the Liberal Party and served as the Assistant Minister for Customs, Community Safety and Multicultural Affairs in the Morrison government from May 2019 until May 2022, following the appointment of the Albanese ministry. He represents the Division of La Trobe in Victoria, which he has held since 2013 and previously from 2004 to 2010.

Early life

Wood was born on 24 May 1968 in Sutherland, New South Wales.[1] He grew up in Ferny Creek, Victoria, attending Ferny Creek Primary School and Ferntree Gully Technical School.[2] His final year of secondary education was completed at Boronia Secondary College. He specialised in outdoor education and briefly worked as a school camp coordinator.[3]

Wood joined the Victoria Police in 1988 and from 1990 was a detective in the organised crime squad. He completed a graduate diploma in innovative service management and a Master of Applied Science at RMIT University.[1] He was involved in investigating gangland figure Alphonse Gangitano.[4] In 2003 Wood became a senior sergeant in the counter-terrorism coordination unit.[1] The Age reported in 2004 that he was "believed to be youngest senior sergeant in the force and has received various commendations".[4]

Political career

Wood joined the Liberal Party in 2000.[2] He stood unsuccessfully in the Division of Holt for the Liberal Party at the 2001 federal election.[5] From 2002 to 2003 he was the vice-president of the party's Boronia/Dandenong Ranges branch.[1]

Wood was elected to the House of Representatives at the 2004 federal election, retaining the Division of La Trobe for the Liberals following the retirement of Bob Charles.[1] From December 2004 he served on the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Environment and Heritage as well as the Joint Statutory Committee for the Australian Crime Commission.[1]

In a speech he made in parliament in 2009, Wood said he had often campaigned on environmental issues, had formerly supported an emissions trading scheme, and had been a member of Greenpeace for longer than he had been a member of the Liberal Party.[6] Nonetheless, Wood has consistently voted against greater environmental protections and actions to reduce carbon emissions, such as the Paris Climate Agreement.[7]

He was defeated by Australian Labor Party candidate Laura Smyth at the 2010 election, but regained La Trobe at the 2013 election.[1]

In 2013, he was appointed chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration. During the 2016–2019 parliamentary term, Wood campaigned on law and order issues, particularly in relation to "African gangs", which made up one percent of reported crimes at the time.[8] He later said he had "no regrets" about the campaign and rejected claims that the Liberals campaign had racist undertones.[9]

After winning re-election in 2019, Wood was appointed as Assistant Minister for Customs, Community Safety and Multicultural Affairs in the Morrison government[1] and held this position until that government’s defeat in May 2022.

In 2023, Wood campaigned for the "No" vote in the 2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum.[10]

Wood is a member of the Centrist faction of the Liberal Party,[11] after previously being aligned with the centre-right faction of the Liberal Party during the Morrison government years.[12] He lives with his family in Mount Dandenong, approximately 11kms outside his electorate, in the Division of Casey.[13][14]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Hon Jason Wood MP". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Maiden speech". Hansard. Parliament of Australia. 17 November 2004. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  3. ↑ "Jason Wood". Liberal Party of Australia. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  4. 1 2 "Officer says his name smeared". The Age. 10 June 2004. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  5. ↑ "Legislative Election of 10 November 2001: Victoria". Psephos: Adam Carr's Election Archive. 2001.
  6. ↑ "House of Representatives 4 June 2009 Consideration in Detail Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Bill 2009" (PDF). Jason Wood MP. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 October 2009. Retrieved 18 September 2019.
  7. ↑ "Find out how Jason Wood votes on issues that matter to you". 3 August 2022.
  8. ↑ "African gangs not being used as election issue, Liberal MP Jason Wood says". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 22 July 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  9. ↑ "Jason Wood proud of campaign against 'African gangs'".
  10. ↑ "South MPS split on Voice". 16 April 2023.
  11. ↑ Massola, James (8 April 2023). "How Morrison's shattering defeat gave Dutton a seismic shift in factional power". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  12. ↑ Massola, James (20 March 2021). "Who's who in the Liberals' left, right and centre factions?". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  13. ↑ https://www.theaustralian.com.au/web-stories/free/the-australian/meet-the-mps-who-dont-live-in-their-electorate
  14. ↑ "The private interests of Jason Wood MP".
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