Richard Torbay | |
|---|---|
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| Member of theNew South Wales Parliament forNorthern Tablelands | |
| In office 27 March 1999 – 20 March 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Ray Chappell |
| Succeeded by | Adam Marshall |
| 29thSpeaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly | |
| In office 8 May 2007 – 2 May 2011 | |
| Premier | Morris Iemma Nathan Rees Kristina Keneally |
| Preceded by | John Aquilina |
| Succeeded by | Shelley Hancock |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1961-03-26)26 March 1961 (age 64) Belmore, New South Wales, Australia |
| Political party | Independent (state) National (federal, 2012–2013) |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Website | NSW Parliament profile |
George Richard Torbay (born 26 March 1961) is a former Australian politician who was anindependent member of theNew South Wales Legislative Assembly representingNorthern Tablelands from 1999 to 2013. Torbay was the 30thSpeaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, serving from 2007 until 2011, and was the first independent member to be Speaker of the House since 1913. Prior to his election to state parliament, he served asMayor ofArmidale City Council from 1995 to 1998.[1][2]
Born in 1961, Torbay was educated atKingswood High School. He was elected to Armidale City Council in 1991 and was a Councillor 1991–1998. He was the Deputy Mayor 1992–1993, and Mayor 1995–1998. He also established Armidale City Council: Public Relations Committee in 1993 and Youth Council in 1993.
His involvement in local government also extended to being Chairman New England Local Government Group 1997–1998; Chairman NSW Country Mayor's Association 1997–1998 and Member Water Supply and Resources Committee of the Local Government and Shires Association 1996.
He is married with three children.[2]
In 1999, he challenged the formerNationals Minister,Ray Chappell, for the seat of Northern Tablelands, running as an independent candidate. In a surprise result, Torbay defeated Chappell, winning 44.15 per cent of the primary vote to Chappell's 34.09 per cent. He was elected inLabor preferences with atwo-party preferred margin of 59.37 per cent.[3] This continued a longstanding trend of country voters in NSW rejecting the Nationals in favour of locally-based independents.
Torbay was comfortably re-elected at the2003 and2007 general elections, each time taking over 70 percent of the primary and over 80 percent of the two-party vote.
On the first sitting day after the2007 election Torbay accepted an offer byPremierMorris Iemma to becomeSpeaker of theNew South Wales Legislative Assembly, a positionusually filled by a member of the governing party.[4]
Following the election of theO'Farrell–StonerLiberal/Nationalcoalition government at the2011 general election, Torbay was replaced as Speaker by the Liberals'Shelley Hancock.[5] At that election, even though he suffered a swing of over 10 percent against him, amid the massive Coalition wave that swept through the state, he managed to easily retain his seat with a comfortable two-party majority of 19.2 percent. He actually won 63 percent of the primary vote, enough to retain the seat outright.
In August 2012, Torbay was pre-selected as the National Party candidate for the federal seat ofNew England for the2013 election, challenging former fellow state independent and current sitting memberTony Windsor.[6] However, he continued to sit as an independent in the state parliament, and did not join the NSW Nationals party room. Polls consistently showed Torbay well-positioned to reclaim the seat that had been in National hands for 79 years before Windsor won it in 2001. Indeed, most calculations of "traditional" two-party matchups between the Nationals and Labor during Windsor's tenure had shown New England as a comfortably safe Nationals seat.
However, on 19 March 2013, in a surprise move, the Nationals forced Torbay to stand down as the party's candidate in New England and resign his party membership.[7] Later that night, the Nationals referred information about him to theNSW Independent Commission Against Corruption.[8][9] The following morning Torbay also resigned his seat in State Parliament.[10]
It later emerged that the Nationals had received word that Torbay had received illicit donations fromLabor interests to run against National Party candidates in Northern Tablelands. They were also alarmed by his ties to Labor power-brokerEddie Obeid, who at the time was the target of the biggest corruption investigation in NSW history.[11] Reportedly, Torbay also faced questions surrounding his ownership of 20Centrelink buildings dating back toJohn Howard's tenure as Prime Minister.[12]
In 1991, Torbay was the Chief Executive of theUniversity of New England Union having previously started at the university as a kitchen hand in 1980.[13] In 2008, he was elected theChancellor of the University of New England.[14] In 2007, Torbay received anhonorary doctorate from the University of New England.[13]
Richard Torbay, speaker of the NSW Lower House, has been appointed chancellor-elect, taking effect at the end of current chancellor John Cassidy's term on 11 December. Awarded an honorary doctorate in 2007, Torbay has had a long association with UNE. He served the UNE Union for 20 years, becoming its CEO in 1991, and has been a member of the UNE Council since 1996.
| Civic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Mayor of Armidale 1996–2000 | Merged into Armidale Dumaresq Council |
| Parliament of New South Wales | ||
| Preceded by | Member forNorthern Tablelands 1999–2013 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 2007–2011 | Succeeded by |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chancellor of the University of New England 2008–2013 | Succeeded by |