David Smith (Western Australian politician)

The Honourable
David Smith
OAM
Member of the Legislative Assembly
of Western Australia
In office
19 February 1983 – 14 December 1996
Preceded byNone (new creation)
Succeeded byDan Sullivan
ConstituencyMitchell
Personal details
Born (1943-10-12) 12 October 1943 (age 81)
Bunbury, Western Australia
Political partyLabor
Alma materUniversity of Western Australia

David Lawrence Smith OAM (born 12 October 1943) is a former Australian politician who was a Labor Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1983 to 1996. He served as a minister in the governments of Peter Dowding and Carmen Lawrence.

Smith was born in Bunbury, Western Australia. He attended Marist Brothers' St Francis Xavier's boys school in Bunbury and St Ildephonsus college in New Norcia. After graduating from high school he studied law at the University of Western Australia.[1] A member of the Labor Party since 1967, he contested the seat of Bunbury at the 1977 state election, but lost to the sitting Liberal member, John Sibson.[2] Smith served on the City of Bunbury council from 1979 to 1983,[1] before being elected to the seat of Mitchell at the 1983 state election.[2] After the 1989 election, he was appointed to the Dowding ministry as Minister for Justice, Minister for Community Services, and Minister for the South-West. Smith was retained in the ministry when Carmen Lawrence succeeded Peter Dowding as premier in February 1990, with the same titles. Following a reshuffle in February 1991, he was replaced as Minister for Community Services by Eric Ripper, but was additionally made Minister for Lands, Minister for Planning, and Minister for Local Government.[1] Smith lost his ministerial titles after Labor's defeat at the 1993 election, but remained in parliament until his retirement at the 1996 election.[1] Between 2005 and 2013, he was the mayor of Bunbury.[3] In 2023, Smith was honoured as a freeman of the City of Bunbury.[4]

  1. ^ a b c d David Lawrence Smith – Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  2. ^ a b Black, David; Prescott, Valerie (1997). Election statistics : Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, 1890-1996. Perth, [W.A.]: Western Australian Parliamentary History Project and Western Australian Electoral Commission. ISBN 0730984095.
  3. ^ Munday, Thomas (12 June 2018). "Former City of Bunbury Mayor David Smith awarded Order of Australia Medal". Bunbury Mail. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  4. ^ Prentice, Holly (1 June 2023). "Former Bunbury mayor David Smith honoured as Freeman of City". South Western Times. West Australian Newspapers. Retrieved 29 December 2023.