Dean Smith (Australian politician)

Dean Anthony Smith (born 15 May 1969) is an Australian politician and Liberal Party member of the Australian Senate since 2012, representing Western Australia.
Smith joined the Liberal Party at the age of 17, and later worked as a policy advisor to Premier of Western Australia Richard Court. In 1998, he was a senior advisor to Prime Minister John Howard during the Coalition's 1998 federal election campaign. In 2010, he founded Smith & Duda Consulting, a political lobbying firm, and also served as treasurer of the Liberal Party state branch in Western Australia.
Smith was appointed to the Senate on 2 May 2012 by a joint sitting of the Parliament of Western Australia, to fill a casual vacancy caused by the death of Senator Judith Adams. Smith was the first, from the Liberal Party, openly-LGBTI member of the Parliament of Australia and supports marriage equality in Australia. In the past however he opposed same-sex marriage and voted against it.
Smith is a member of a number of political and community organisations, including Australians for Constitutional Monarchy and Australian National Flag Association.

Smith is the son of a policeman and housewife and is originally from Mirrabooka. He was the first person in his family to attend university.