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 of 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.
A committed advocate for Western Australian interests, particularly issues affecting regional communities, Dean was one of WA’s earliest and loudest voices calling for GST reform and part of the Federal WA Liberal team that secured a fairer GST deal for the State in 2017.
He is the architect of the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017, which brought marriage equality to Australia – legislation that protected religious views on marriage while also delivering marriage equality.
Before entering the Senate, Dean held senior executive roles at Insurance Australia Group and SingTel Optus.
Dean brings to his Senate role extensive policy experience, having worked as Policy Adviser to both Western Australian Premier Richard Court and Prime Minister John Howard.
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.
Dean was appointed to the National Archives of Australia Advisory Council in July 2022 and has previously been a Government-appointed member of the Australian National University’s China in the World Centre.