Gary Douglas Hardgrave Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n politician, was the Liberal

Liberal Party of Australia

The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...

 member of the Australian House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

 from March 1996 until 2007, representing the Division of Moreton

Division of Moreton

The Division of Moreton is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. The division was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election. It is named after Moreton Bay. The electorate is a bellwether in elections, having voted for the party winning government at every...

, Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

. He was born in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, and was educated at Griffith University

Griffith University

Griffith University is a public, coeducational, research university located in the southeastern region of the Australian state of Queensland. The university has five satellite campuses located in the Gold Coast, Logan City and in the Brisbane suburbs of Mount Gravatt, Nathan and South Bank. Current...

, Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

. In the 1980s he began his career as a broadcaster, co-hosting the Australian children's television show Wombat. He continued radio and television broadcasting, and worked as a media adviser to Liberal politicians, before entering politics.

Hardgrave initially ran for election to the Queensland state seat of Sunnybank

Electoral district of Sunnybank

The district of Sunnybank is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland.The district is based in the area of southern suburbs of Brisbane previously named as the suburb of Sunnybank before Sunnybank was broken up into smaller suburbs...

 in the 1992 election, but the seat was won by Labor

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

's Stephen Robertson

Stephen Robertson (politician)

Stephen Robertson , Australian politician, is a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly representing the electoral district of Stretton for the Australian Labor Party. He was the Minister for Natural Resources, Mines and Energy and Minister for Trade in the cabinet of Premier Anna Bligh...

. He contested Moreton successfully at the 1996 federal election against Labor incumbent Garrie Gibson

Garrie Gibson

Garrie David Gibson is a retired Australian politician. Born in Brisbane, he was educated at the University of Queensland and the North Brisbane College of Advanced Education before becoming a primary teacher. He was an organiser with the Queensland Teachers Union before his election to the...

, going on to retain the seat in 1998, 2001 and 2004.

Hardgrave served as Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs from 2001 to 2004, Minister for Vocational and Technical Education since October 2004 to early 2007 and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister from 7 October 2003 to 30 January 2007. On 23 January 2007, Hardgrave was axed from the ministry and returned to the backbench.

Hardgrave lost his seat to Graham Perrett

Graham Perrett

Graham Douglas Perrett is an Australian Labor politician, and a member of the Australian House of Representatives in the seat of Moreton...

in the 2007 election.

In January 2011, Gary returned to radio broadcasting with his own talk-back show on 1116 4BC in Brisbane, Qld.