Jack Snelling
Snelling in 2016
47th Treasurer of South Australia
In office
8 February 2011 – 21 January 2013
PremierMike Rann
Jay Weatherill
Preceded byKevin Foley
Succeeded byJay Weatherill
32nd Speaker of the South Australian House of Assembly
In office
27 April 2006 – 25 March 2010
Preceded byBob Such
Succeeded byLyn Breuer
Member of the South Australian House of Assembly for Playford
In office
11 October 1997 – 17 March 2018
Preceded byJohn Quirke
Succeeded byMichael Brown
Personal details
Born
John James Snelling

(1972-11-08) 8 November 1972
North Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Political party
SpouseLucia[1]
Children6

John James "Jack" Snelling (born 8 November 1972) is a former Australian politician. He was the Labor member for the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Playford from the 1997 election until his retirement in 2018. Snelling left the Labor Party in 2021 to found the Family First Party.

Background

Prior to his election into politics, Snelling was an electoral officer, and a staffer in the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA).[2] Snelling was a supporter of the work of Christopher Pearson.[3]

Parliament

Entering parliament in 1997 at the age of 24, he was the youngest member of the House of Assembly at the time. He was Speaker of the South Australian House of Assembly for the Rann Labor government from 2006 to 2010.[4] He also served as Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Committees. He is aligned with Labor's right faction.[5]

A consequence of the major 2016 electoral redistribution was that two thirds of the voters in Snelling's electorate of Playford will be moved to Florey. On 15 March 2017 he won Labor preselection to be the candidate for Florey at the 2018 election. The incumbent member for Florey, Frances Bedford, had also nominated for pre-selection.[6] On 28 March 2017, Bedford resigned from the party after they endorsed Snelling for the seat.[7] A ReachTEL poll conducted on 2 March 2017 of 606 voters in post-redistribution Florey indicated a 33.4 percent primary vote for Bedford running as an independent which would likely see Snelling defeated after preferences.[8] Snelling withdrew from the pre-selection on 17 September 2017.[9]

Cabinet

After the 2010 election, Snelling was appointed as the Minister for Employment, Training and Further Education, Science, Information Economy, Veterans Affairs and Road Safety.[10]

Following the parliamentary resignation of Kevin Foley, Snelling was sworn in as the Treasurer of South Australia on 8 February 2011.[11]

Once the ALP had retained power (though dependent on an independent parliamentarian's support) at the 2014 election, Snelling was appointed as the Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Arts and Minister for Health Industries in the Weatherill Labor cabinet.[1] He resigned from Cabinet on 17 September 2017, and announced that he would not be contesting the 2018 election, for which he had been preselected to the seat of Florey.[9] He also served as Leader of Government Business in the House of Assembly until 2017.

Outside parliament

On 28 July 2021, alongside former minister Tom Kenyon, Snelling founded the Family First Party, saying that "we are very concerned about religious freedom and attempts to restrict that freedom".[12][13]

Personal life

Jack Snelling is married to Lucia, and has six children. He met his wife through the Young Labor movement.[14]

References

  1. 1 2 Jack Snelling MP: Premier.sa.gov.au Archived 6 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ Mayne, Stephen (25 January 2006). "Tracking the unionists in parliament". Crikey. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  3. ↑ "A gift for friendship » The Spectator". Archived from the original on 14 September 2014.
  4. ↑ "Hon John (Jack) James Snelling". Former members of the Parliament of South Australia. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  5. ↑ Owen, Michael (23 March 2010). "Left MP Tony Piccolo refuses to back move on Right's Kevin Foley". The Australian. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  6. ↑ Richardson, Tom (16 March 2017). ""Labor needs to get back to its roots": Friendless Frances takes Snelling to task". InDaily. Solstice Media. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  7. ↑ "Frances Bedford points finger at Labor's 'faceless men' as she quits the party". ABC News (Australia). 28 March 2017. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
  8. ↑ Labor polling shows boundary redraw appeal loss means Jack Snelling could lose to veteran party MP Frances Bedford: The Advertiser 10 March 2017
  9. 1 2 "SA Health Minister Jack Snelling resigns from Cabinet and will not contest March election". ABC News. 17 September 2017. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  10. ↑ Brett Williamson (25 March 2010). "Rann's reign continues as Labor Government sworn in". ABC News Online. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 25 March 2010.
  11. ↑ Michael Owen (19 January 2010). "South Australia's Right faction to seal deputy role for Rau". The Australian. Retrieved 19 January 2010.
  12. ↑ MacLennan, Leah (28 July 2021). "Former SA Labor MPs Jack Snelling and Tom Kenyon revive Family First Party". ABC News. Archived from the original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  13. ↑ Penberthy, David (28 July 2021). "Ex-Labor ministers resurrect Family First in South Australia". The Australian. Archived from the original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  14. ↑ Swallow, Julian (30 May 2012). "The mum who runs Jack Snelling household". The Advertiser. Retrieved 24 September 2016.

 

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