Anthony "Tony" McGrady is a former 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. Born in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, he moved to Mount Isa

Mount Isa, Queensland

-Culture and sport:The local theatre group, the Mount Isa Theatrical Society, or MITS, often holds plays and musicals, at least once every few months or so....

 in Queensland, eventually serving as its mayor. A member of the Australian Labor Party

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...

, he was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly

Queensland Legislative Assembly

The Queensland Legislative Assembly is the unicameral chamber of the Parliament of Queensland. Elections are held approximately once every three years. Voting is by the Optional Preferential Voting form of the Alternative Vote system...

 in 1989 as the member for Mount Isa

Electoral district of Mount Isa

The district of Mount Isa is an electoral district in the Queensland Legislative Assembly in the state of Queensland, Australia.It is located in the west of the State and covers an area of 570,502 sq kilometres...

. He was Minister for Mines and Energy 1998–2001, moving to Police and Corrective Services in 2001 and to State Development and Innovation in 2004. On 9 August 2005, he was elected Speaker of the Legislative Assembly

Speaker of the Queensland Legislative Assembly

The Speaker of the Queensland Legislative Assembly is a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, elected by the whole Parliament to preside over sittings of the Assembly and to maintain orderly proceedings. The Speaker is supported in his role by officers of the Parliamentary Service,...

, succeeding Ray Hollis

Ray Hollis

Raymond Keith "Ray" Hollis is a former Australian politician. Born in London, England, he migrated to Australia in 1962 as a merchant seaman and worked in a variety of occupations, including a railway worker, cook, paper mill operator, insurance salesman and a position with the Victorian...

, who resigned from parliament. McGrady was Speaker until the next election was called on 9 October 2006, after which he retired from politics.