16 Facts About Bart Bassett

Bart Edward Bassett was born on 4 March 1961 and is an Australian politician.

Bart Bassett was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 2011 to 2015, representing the electorate of Londonderry.

Bart Bassett was elected as a member of the Liberal Party, but resigned to sit as an independent in August 2014 following revelations about his conduct at hearings of the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Bart Bassett was formerly mayor of the City of Hawkesbury from 2007 until 2012.

Bart Bassett was chair of the Windsor Road Taskforce, which campaigned for the upgrading of the key arterial route to the north west of Sydney.

Bart Bassett was elected to Hawkesbury Council in 2004 and became mayor later that year.

Bart Bassett held the post until 2006 when he became deputy mayor, until regaining the position a year later.

Bart Bassett first contested the seat of Londonderry at the 2007 election gaining 34.4 per cent of the vote on first preferences, but was unsuccessful in defeating the incumbent Labor MP Allan Shearan.

At the 2011 election, Bart Bassett stood again and defeated Shearan, with a swing of 18.3 points, and a two-party-preferred vote of 62.3 per cent, winning the seat from Labor for the first time in its history, as a part of a statewide backlash against Labor, which had been in government since 1995.

On 8 April 2014 Bart Bassett lost a Liberal preselection battle for the NSW state seat of Hawkesbury, which he was contesting in an effort to move from his present seat of Londonderry.

Bart Bassett has ruled out re-contesting Londonderry at the 2015 election, citing drastic changes to the boundaries of the Londonderry electorate after a 2013 redistribution.

The Liberal margin had been more than halved to 5.3 percent, and Bart Bassett felt it would be better to find a candidate with more affinity to the area.

At a hearing of ICAC on 6 August 2014, it was alleged that Bart Bassett had used his casting vote as mayor of Hawkesbury to approve a controversial development, a year before having an $18,000 donation credited to his 2011 state election campaign.

However Bart Bassett declined to comment on evidence indicating a donation from another Tinkler-owned company, Boardwalk Resources, may have been used for his 2011 campaign.

Bart Bassett appeared before ICAC on 2 September 2014 and again denied ever soliciting donations from Buildev.

The subsequent witness, a Buildev executive, contradicted Bart Bassett's account, declaring Bart Bassett sought, obtained, and thanked him for donations.