Dean Smith has been a Liberal Senator for Western Australia since May 2012.
He was appointed Shadow Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and Shadow Assistant Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction in May 2025.
Dean was previously a member for the Coalition’s Shadow Economic Team, serving as Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury from June 2022.
Prior to this, he was part of the previous Coalition Government’s Senate Leadership Team as Chief Government Whip in the Senate, a position he was elected to by Liberal Senate colleagues in January 2019.
Dean was awarded the McKinnon Prize in Political Leadership in 2018 by a panel of eminent Australians, including John Howard and Julia Gillard.
His Parliamentary Committee roles have included the Senate Economics Committee; Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade; Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on the Implementation of the National Redress Scheme and Chair of the Senate Scrutiny of Bills Committee.
Before entering the Senate, Dean worked as a Policy Advisor to both Western Australian Premier Richard Court and Prime Minister John Howard, and held senior executive roles at Insurance Australia Group and SingTel Optus.
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