Denis Napthine

Denis Vincent Napthine (born 6 March 1952) is an Australian politician for the Liberal Party in the state of Victoria. He is a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, representing the electoral district of South-West Coast. Following the resignation of Ted Baillieu, he was elected leader of the Parliamentary Liberal Party on 6 March 2013 and was sworn in as the 47th Premier of Victoria later the same day. On 29 November 2014, at the Victorian state election, the Coalition was defeated by Labor and Napthine conceded defeat and his term as Premier ended on 4 December 2014 when the new Labor government was sworn in and he resigned as Liberal leader and was succeeded in the Liberal leadership by Matthew Guy.

 Early life 
One of Napthine's ancestors is the renowned convict, Joseph Potaski. Before entering political life he was a veterinarian, undertaking a Bachelor's and then a Master's Degree in Veterinary Science, both from the University of Melbourne, and later gaining a Master's Degree in Business Administration, from Deakin University.

 Political career 
Napthine was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1988 as Member for the country seat of Portland, as the electorate was then known. He was re-elected in 1992, 1996 and 1999. The electorate of Portland was abolished in the 2002 redivision. Napthine was then elected MLA for South-West Coast in the November 2002 election. He was re-elected in November 2006 with an increased margin.

 Kennett Ministry 
He was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health in 1992 and then promoted to Minister for Youth and Community Services in 1996 in Jeff Kennett's Liberal government, a position he held from 1996 to 1999.

 Leader of the Opposition 
Following the defeat of the Liberal Party at the 1999 election, Kennett resigned as Liberal leader, and Napthine was a surprise choice to take his place. Napthine had briefly served as Deputy Liberal Leader having been elected to the position just shortly before Kennett stood down as Liberal Leader. During his term as Opposition Leader the Liberal-National coalition split, fracturing the opposition parties.

Under Napthine's leadership, the Liberal Party did poorly in the polls and did not make any significant electoral inroads on the ruling Labor Government. Shortly before the 2002  state election, Doyle challenged Napthine for the leadership of the Liberal Party. Doyle won the leadership by a narrow margin, but went on to lead the party to its worst electoral defeat ever, in which Napthine nearly lost his seat.

 Baillieu Ministry 
After the Liberals won the 2010 Victorian election, Napthine was made a member of Ted Baillieu's cabinet. He served as the Minister for Ports, Racing, Regional Cities and Major Projects.

 References 

 Other websites 
 Official website 
 Official Facebook page

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Category:1952 births
Category:Living people
Category:Premiers of Victoria
Category:Leaders of the Opposition (Victoria)
Category:Veterinarians
Category:People from Geelong
Category:Liberal Party of Australia politicians