John Fredrick Flowers MP, an Australian 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 Rockdale

Electoral district of Rockdale

Rockdale is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by John Flowers of the Liberal Party of Australia.-History:...

 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...

 since 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...

.

Early years and background

Flowers was a teacher at Belmore Boys’ High School for over 20 years. He served as a Councillor on Kogarah Council

Municipality of Kogarah

The Municipality of Kogarah is a Local Government Area in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The centre of the municipality is located 14km SSW of the Sydney central business district and west of Botany Bay....

 between 1999 until 2004, and then Rockdale Council

City of Rockdale

The City of Rockdale is a Local Government Area in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The city centre is located 12 kilometres south-south-west of the Sydney central business district, on the western shores of Botany Bay...

 since 2004, where he served as Deputy Mayor and then Mayor.

Political career

In 2011, Flowers contested the normally safe 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...

 seat of Rockdale in the St George-Kogarah district. He was elected with a swing of 9.9 per cent and won the seat with 53.6 per cent of the vote on a two party preferred basis. Flowers' main opponent was Steve Kamper, representing Labor. Frank Sartor

Frank Sartor

Francesco Ernest 'Frank' Sartor JP a former Australian politician, was New South Wales Minister for Climate Change and the Environment and Minister Assisting the Minister for Health between 2009 and 2011. He was a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Rockdale for the...

who was the previous Labor sitting member had earlier announced his retirement from politics after holding the seat for 8 years.

Immediately following the election it was revealed that Flowers may have breached legislation by running for political office whilst on a disability pension, gained when he was a teacher in 1997.