Gary Maas | |
Honorific-Suffix: | MP |
Constituency Am: | Narre Warren South |
Assembly: | Victorian Legislative |
Term Start: | 24 November 2018 |
Predecessor: | Judith Graley |
Party: | Labor Party |
Committees: | Chair, Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee since August 2023[1] Member, Legislative Assembly Legal and Social Issues Committee March 2023 - February 2024[2] Chair, Integrity and Oversight Committee February 2023 - March 2023[3] Chair, Integrity and Oversight Committee August 2022 - November 2022[4] Member, Public Accounts and Estimates Committee March 2019 - November 2022[5] |
Mark Gary Maas is an Australian politician. He has been a Labor Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly since November 2018, where he represents the seat of Narre Warren South. He has been a member of the party since 1998.
Maas holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A Honours) from Monash University and a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) from La Trobe University. He also holds a Diploma in Financial Planning and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Maas has previously worked as a touring and recording musician, an educator and a private-practice lawyer. He has been a board member on commercial and not-for profit boards.
For 16 years, he worked at the powerful private sector union, National Union of Workers (now United Workers Union) where for the last four years he was its Victorian Secretary.
In November 2018 Maas was elected to represent Narre Warren South with a small swing in his favour,[6] successfully retaining the seat for Labor.
In November 2022 he was re-elected in a third term Andrews Labor Government, with a small two-party preferred swing against him.[7]
Maas has an interest in many public policy areas including education,[8] law reform, climate change action, industrial relations,[9] housing, trade, and creative industries.
In 2023, Maas made a submission to the Electoral Matters Committee on the Conduct of the 2022 Victorian State Election highlighting his experience and recommendations, including concerns for safety and behaviour of some political activists during the two-week pre-poll period.[10]
Since becoming the Member for Narre Warren, Maas lived in the electorate but has since relocated to be closer to his children. In 2024, The Australian named Maas in an article about Members who live outside the district they represent.[11]
Maas was born, raised and public school educated in the Melbourne south-eastern suburb of Springvale. He is the youngest son of Sri-Lankan migrants, who settled in Australia just 18 months earlier.
He co-parents his two daughters from a previous marriage and is an active member of local music and creative communities.