David Connolly (politician)

David Miles Connolly AM (born 20 July 1939) is an Australian politician. Born in Sydney, he attended the University of Sydney and was a research officer with the NSW Liberal Party before becoming private secretary to Senator Alister McMullin, the President of the Senate, in 1963, holding the position until 1965. In that year he joined the Australian Diplomatic Service, and remained there until 1974. In that year, he was selected as the Liberal candidate for the very safe seat of Bradfield on the retirement of the former member, Harry Turner. He was elected to the Australian House of Representatives, and held the seat until 1996, when he was defeated for preselection by future Liberal leader Brendan Nelson. In Government He was chairman of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee between 1975 and 1983 and in Opposition a shadow minister continuously up to his retirement. It has been speculated that without his pre-selection defeat he would have become a minister.
Connolly served as Australia's High Commissioner to South Africa between 1998 and 2002 with accreditation to Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. Later he was a board member of ARIA the Commonwealth's superannuation fund, Chairman of Rice Warner Actuaries and a part-time member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal from 2006 to 2011, and of the Migration and Refugee Review Tribunals from 2002 to 2010.