Graham Watt | |
Constituency Am: | Burwood |
Assembly: | Victorian Legislative |
Term Start: | 27 November 2010 |
Term End: | 24 November 2018 |
Predecessor: | Bob Stensholt |
Successor: | Will Fowles |
Birth Date: | 1976 8, df=yes |
Birth Place: | Norseman, Western Australia |
Party: | Liberal Party |
Parents: | Graham Jack Watt Yvonne Karen Watt |
Spouse: | Rachel Carling-Jenkins |
Alma Mater: | Edith Cowan University |
Website: | grahamwatt.com.au |
Graham Travis Watt (born 18 August 1976) is an Australian politician. He was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 2010 to 2018, representing the seat of Burwood.[1] He is a member of the Liberal Party.
As a child, Watt was a represented his state in athletics. In 2004, he walked a hundred miles in 24 hours, to become an Australian centurion, something achieved by only 48 people on Australian soil, at that time.[2]
Watt graduated from Edith Cowan University, obtaining a Bachelor of Business, and majoring in Finance and Economics.
Before election to parliament he worked variously as the owner of a mobile phone retail store and a carpet cleaning business.
Watt ran for the Liberal Party in 2002 and 2006 in the electoral district of Northcote, losing to Mary Delahunty in 2002[3] and Fiona Richardson in 2006.[4]
In 2009 he was preselected as the Liberal candidate for the electorate of Burwood, which he won at the 2010 Victorian election, defeating the sitting Labor member Bob Stensholt.[5]
He was re-elected in the 2014 Victorian election with 50.1% of the primary vote and 53.17% of the 2 candidate preferred vote.
In 2015, Watt was criticised for being the only member of the Victorian Parliament to not stand to applaud domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty when she addressed the parliament in an historic joint sitting.[6] [7]
Watt was subsequently defeated in the 2018 Victorian state election.[8]
In 2022, Watt ran as a Liberal candidate again, this time in Melton, but was unsuccessful.[9]
In 2021, Watt married former DLP Member of Parliament Rachel Carling.[10]