Dean Smith has been a Liberal Senator for Western Australia since May 2012.
He was elected Chief Government Whip in the Senate by his Liberal colleagues in January 2019 and is a member of the Morrison Government’s Senate Leadership Team.
The son of a WA Policeman, Dean grew up in Port Hedland and Perth’s northern suburbs.
He maintains close ties to both and is a champion for issues important to those communities – and to all regional WA.
As a Liberal Senator for WA, Dean has been one of our State’s strongest voices in Canberra.
He first spoke on GST reform in the Senate in 2012 and advocated relentlessly for the fairer GST deal struck in 2018, which delivers WA a GST floor of 75 cents in 2024/2025.
In 2013, he successfully fought to protect WA interests by co-ordinating other Liberal Senators to oppose Labor’s plan to recognise local government in the Australian Constitution.
Dean also backed WA farming communities by opposing attempts to re-regulate Australia’s wheat exports and our premium wine producers by progressing reform of the wine equalisation tax, supporting tourism and jobs.
He is the architect of the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017 that brought marriage equality to Australia - legislation that delivers marriage equality while also protecting religious views on marriage.
Dean was awarded the McKinnon Prize in Political Leadership in 2018 by a panel of eminent Australians, including John Howard and Julia Gillard.
Prior to entering the Senate, he held senior executive roles at Insurance Australia Group and SingTel Optus.
Dean brings to his Senate role extensive policy experience, having worked as Policy Adviser to both WA Premier Richard Court and Prime Minister John Howard.
His Parliamentary obligations since becoming a WA Senator have included Chair of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts and Audit, Human Rights and the Implementation of the National Redress Scheme. He is currently a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Northern Australia and various other Committees associated with the management of the Senate.
