Matt Birney

Matt Birney
Leader of the Opposition in Western Australia
In office 9 March 2005 – 24 March 2006
Preceded by	Colin Barnett
Succeeded by	Paul Omodei
Constituency	Kalgoorlie
Personal details
Born	10 June 1969 Sydney, New South Wales
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Liberal Party
Profession	Small Business Proprietor

Matthew John (Matt) Birney (born 10 June 1969) is an Australian politician. He was a Liberal member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 2001 to 2008, serving as Leader of the Opposition from 2005 to 2006.

Birney was born in Sydney but comes from a family long established on the Western Australian goldfields, and has lived in the regional city of Kalgoorlie since childhood. His father, Jack Birney, was a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1975 until his defeat in 1983.

The younger Birney was educated at North Kalgoorlie Primary and Eastern Goldfields Senior High School. He was a small business proprietor and a board member of the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Chamber of Commerce and Industry, before being elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for the seat of Kalgoorlie in February 2001. He is the first Liberal ever to win Kalgoorlie defeating Megan Anwyl, which for many years was held by the Australian Labor Party.

Birney was Shadow Minister for Youth and the Goldfields-Esperance region from 2001 to 2002, Shadow Minister for Police, Goldfields-Esperance and Communication Services from 2002 to 2004 and Shadow Minister for Police, Commerce, Communications and Goldfields-Esperance from 2004 to 2005.

Despite his relative lack of experience, Birney was widely seen as one of the Liberal Party's better performers in Opposition during the 2001 to 2005 parliament. After the Liberal Party under Colin Barnett was defeated at the 2005 elections by the Labor Party government of Geoff Gallop, Barnett resigned and Birney was elected unopposed as party Leader.

After becoming leader, Birney came under consistent criticism from both inside and outside his party. A number of public gaffes, including implying that the Pope had a partner and taking his girlfriend on a tax-payer funded tour of Europe, reduced his effectiveness as Opposition Leader. Within the party he was criticised for his lack of inclusiveness in policy formation. These problems led former deputy leader, Paul Omodei, to challenge Birney for the leadership. The party-room ballot held on 24 March 2006 was won by Omodei. Omodei stated he would consider offering Birney a position on the Liberal front bench, but Birney remained on the back bench thereafter.

Birney's demise as WA Liberal leader was later echoed by that of South Australian Liberal leader Iain Evans a year later in 2007. Both Birney and Evans became their party's leaders following its defeat in the respective state elections only to be dumped a year later in a leadership coup.

On 3 January 2008, Birney announced that he would be quitting politics for the corporate world, and duly retired at the 2008 state election.^[1]

References

1. ^ "Former Lib leader Matt Birney to quit politics". PerthNow (News Limited). 3 January 2008. http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,23001555-948,00.html. Retrieved 2008-01-03. ^{[dead link]}

External links

• Goldfield larrikin's rapid rise up ranks
• A name to look out for rather than recall
• Birney takes stand on schoolyard bullies
• Inaugural speech (PDF)

Political offices
Preceded by Colin Barnett	Leader of the Opposition 2005 – 2006	Succeeded by Paul Omodei
Party political offices
Preceded by Colin Barnett	Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia (WA division) 2005 – 2006	Succeeded by Paul Omodei

Persondata
Name	Birney, Matthew John (Matt)
Alternative names
Short description	Australian politician
Date of birth	10 June 1969
Place of birth	Sydney, New South Wales
Date of death
Place of death