Nick Wakeling
Encyclopedia
Nick Wakeling is a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly
Victorian Legislative Assembly
The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of Victoria in Australia. Together with the Victorian Legislative Council, the upper house, it sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Melbourne.-History:...

 representing the electoral district of Ferntree Gully
Electoral district of Ferntree Gully
The Electoral district of Ferntree Gully is an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. It was created in 2002 as a replacement for the abolished electorate of Knox....

 for the Liberal Party of Australia
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...

. He was elected in November 2006. Prior to his election, Wakeling was employed as senior workplace relations advisor.

Childhood and education

Wakeling was born at St Leonards, NSW. Wakeling is the eldest of two sons to Bill and Jacqueline Wakeling.

At an early age, Wakeling and his family moved to Melbourne and soon established their new home in Dandenong North. Wakeling attended Rosewood Downs Primary School and completed his HSC at Haileybury College, Melbourne.

In 1991, Wakeling completed a Bachelor of Arts from La Trobe University
La Trobe University
La Trobe University is a multi-campus university in Victoria, Australia. It was established in 1964 by an Act of Parliament to become the third oldest university in the state of Victoria. The main campus of La Trobe is located in the Melbourne suburb of Bundoora; two other major campuses are...

. In 1993, he completed a Graduate Diploma in Industrial Relations/Human Resource Management at RMIT
RMIT University
RMIT University is an Australian public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. It has two branches, referred to as RMIT University in Australia and RMIT International University in Vietnam....

. In 2001, Wakeling completed a Masters in Industrial and Employee Relations from Monash University
Monash University
Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....

. Wakeling was awarded the top graduating student in this Masters Course.

Professional career

Wakeling has worked in a variety of industrial relations positions throughout his career. Over a 15-year period, Wakeling worked as an industrial advisor with the Victorian Government's Wageline Department; as an Industrial Officer with the Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce (VACC); as a Human Resource Advisor with the Nillumbik Shire Council and more recently as a Senior Workplace Relations Advisor with the Adecco
Adecco
Adecco S.A. is a human resources company, based in Glattbrugg near Zurich, Switzerland. Adecco employs 700,000 temporary workers and contractors who are supplied to business clients, and has over 32,000 employees and 5,500 offices in 60 countries and territories around the world...

 Group of Companies.

Political and community activity

Wakeling has been active in a variety of charity and community organisations which has included assisting organisations such as the Royal Children Hospital's Good Friday Appeal
Good Friday Appeal
The Good Friday Appeal is a fundraising activity on behalf of the Royal Children's Hospital, in Melbourne, Australia. In 2010, the appeal raised A$14,462,000....

, Berry Street Moomba Day activities, serving as a District Chairman for the Salvation Army
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....

 Red Shield Appeal as well as a range of other projects, including involvement in local treeplanting activities for over a decade.

Locally, Wakeling served the Knox community as Local Councillor with Knox City Council during the period 2003 - 2005. During this period, Wakeling served as chairman of both the Combined Preschool Committee and the Knox Pride Awards Committee. Wakeling also served as a board member of the Bendigo Bank's Fern Tree Gully and Rowville Community Bank Branches.

Wakeling joined the Liberal Party of Australia
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...

 in 1989. Since joining the party, Wakeling has been an active member of the La Trobe University Liberal Club, which is part of the Australian Liberal Students' Federation
Australian Liberal Students' Federation
The Australian Liberal Stduents' Federation or ALSF is an Australian students political group. The ALSF is the peak national body for over thirty campus Liberal Clubs. While the ALSF carries similar ideology to the Liberal Party of Australia and works closely with the party it is an Independent...

, Noble Park Young Liberals (Australia)
Young Liberals (Australia)
The Young Liberal Movement is the youth division of the Liberal Party of Australia, and membership is open to those between 16 and 30 years of age. Members of Young Liberals have full party-membership, and have the choice of which part they join...

 and Rowville Senior Party Branch. Wakeling has held many party positions and served on a number of electorate and campaign committees.

In July 2005, Wakeling was preselected as the Liberal Candidate for the electoral district of Ferntree Gully
Electoral district of Ferntree Gully
The Electoral district of Ferntree Gully is an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. It was created in 2002 as a replacement for the abolished electorate of Knox....

. At the November Victorian general election, 2006, Wakeling successfully defeated the incumbent ALP member Anne Eckstein by only 27 votes.

In 2008, Wakeling's record of service to his electorate was recognised by Liberal Leader, Ted Baillieu, who promoted Wakeling to Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition.

At the 2010 election, Wakeling recorded a swing of almost 12% to take the electorate from the Liberal Party's most marginal to safe seat status.

Since 2010, Wakeling has served as Parliamentary Secretary for Health.

Personal

Wakeling and his wife Levili live in Rowville. The couple have three children: Thomas (born 2003), Emily (born 2006) and Grace (born 2008).

External links

  • Nick Wakeling's website (http://www.nickwakeling.org.au)
  • Liberal Party of Victoria's website (http://www.vic.liberal.org.au)
  • Parliamentary Biography (http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/handbook/)
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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