Bart Bassett MP, an 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, is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly

New South Wales Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...

 representing the electorate of Londonderry

Electoral district of Londonderry

Londonderry is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by Bart Bassett of the Liberal Party of Australia.-Members for Londonderry:-Election results:...

 for the Liberal Party

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...

 since 26 March 2011

New South Wales state election, 2011

Elections to the 55th Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday, 26 March 2011. The 16-year incumbent Australian Labor Party government led by Premier Kristina Keneally was defeated in a landslide by the Liberal-National coalition opposition led by Barry O'Farrell.New South Wales has...

. Bassett is a Councillor

Alderman

An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...

 of the City of Hawkesbury

City of Hawkesbury

The City of Hawkesbury is a Local Government Area of New South Wales, Australia, part of which is at the fringe of the Sydney metropolitan area, about 50 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district...

 since 2004 and the Mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 of the City since 2007.

Early years and background

Bassett was born and raised in western Sydney and in 1989 co-found the Australian arm of Child Flight

Child Flight

Child Flight is an Australian helicopter service dedicated to the emergency transport of sick children. It operates two twin-engined instrument-flight rated helicopters...

, an Australian helicopter service dedicated to the emergency transport of sick children. As a helicopter pilot, Bassett was also Chairman of the Windsor Rd taskforce for the upgrading of the key arterial route to the north west of Sydney.

Political career

Bassett was elected to Hawkesbury Council in 2004 and became Mayor later that year. He held the post until 2006 when he became deputy mayor, until regaining the position a year later.

He first contested the seat of Londonderry at the 2007 state election gaining 34.4 per cent of the vote on first preferences, but was unsuccessful in defeating the incumbent Allan Shearan

Allan Shearan

Allan Francis Shearan is a former Australian politician, elected as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly.Shearan represented Londonderry for the Australian Labor Party from 2003 to 2011.-Notes:...

, who was representing 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...

. At the 2011 election, Bassett stood again and defeated Shearan, with a swing of 18.3 per cent, winning the seat from Labor for the first time in history, and wining the seat with 62.3 per cent of the vote on a two-party preferred basis.

Bassett was charged with drink driving on 15 June 2011, having a blood alcohol level of 0.053%.