Bruce Atkinson

Bruce Norman Atkinson (born 15 May 1953) is an Australian politician. He has been a Liberal member of the Victorian Legislative Council since October 1992, representing Koonung Province from 1992 to 2006 and Eastern Metropolitan Region since. He was the President of the Legislative Council from 2010 to 2018.

The Honourable

Bruce Atkinson

MLC
Member of the Victorian Legislative Council for Eastern Metropolitan Region
Assumed office
3 October 1992
ConstituencyEastern Metropolitan Region
President of the Victorian Legislative Council
In office
21 December 2010 – 19 December 2018
Preceded byBob Smith
Succeeded byShaun Leane
Personal details
Born (1953-05-15) 15 May 1953
Melbourne
Political partyLiberal Party
Children3
Websitebruceatkinson.com.au

Personal affairs

Atkinson was born in Melbourne, and attended Mitcham High School. He undertook a cadetship with the Leader group of newspapers after graduating, and worked as a journalist for a period. However, he soon made a move into the business world, first into small business, and later into several more prominent operations, including a stint managing a shopping centre. He has also been a writer for the Foodweek and Inside Retailing publications since 1981, and operates his own business consultancy firm, The Atkinson Group.[1]

Political career

Local Politics

He was elected to the Nunawading city council in 1975, and served as a councillor there for 17 years. This included two terms as mayor in 1981–1982 and 1990–1991.[1]

State Politics

In the lead-up to the 1992 state election, Atkinson won Liberal Party pre-selection for the moderately safe upper house seat of Koonung Province. He was elected, and served on the Family and Community Development Committee from 1992 to 1996. In 1996, he was promoted to ministry in the Kennett Government, as Parliamentary Secretary for Planning and Local Government.[1]

Atkinson subsequently spent four years on the backbenches, during which time he did not serve on any committees. After a significant loss of the shadow ministry following the Liberal Party's defeat at the 2002 state election, Atkinson was appointed as the party's spokesperson for small business. He was also appointed to serve on the Housing and Economic Development Committees, and was Deputy Chair of the latter.

In January 2004 he was appointed spokesman for sport and recreation. In December 2006 he was elected Deputy President of the Legislative Council and relinquished his shadow ministry positions. In 2009 he was appointed Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Business Development.[1] Following the Coalition's victory in the 2010 state elections, Atkinson was elected President of Victoria's Legislative Council.

Atkinson was reappointed to the role of Legislative Council President in December 2014, defeating Labor nominee Gayle Tierney.[2] In 2019, media reported that Atkinson was an honorary member of a foreign influence organization known as the World Trade United Foundation, which has ties to the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China. In response, Atkinson claimed that he derived no financial benefit from the organization and that his title was solely honorific in nature.[3] In May 2019, Atkinson became vice chairman of a water technology company that is linked to World Trade United Foundation.[3]

References
  1. "Bruce Atkinson". Parliament of Victoria. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
  2. New Vic. Parliament sits first day Archived 24 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Oakes, Dan; Hui, Echo; Curnow, Sarah (14 August 2019). "Liberal MP Gladys Liu's ties to Chinese Government influence network revealed". ABC News. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
Victorian Legislative Council
Preceded by
Bob Smith		 President of the Victorian Legislative Council
2010–2018		 Succeeded by
Shaun Leane
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