43 Facts About Rob Oakeshott

Robert James Murray Oakeshott was born on 14 December 1969 and is a retired Australian politician.

Rob Oakeshott was the independent Member of the House of Representatives for the Division of Lyne in New South Wales from 2008, when he won the 2008 Lyne by-election, until his retirement in 2013.

Rob Oakeshott retained the seat until 2008, when he resigned to contest the federal seat of Lyne, which he won with a large margin.

Rob Oakeshott retained Lyne at the 2010 election, again with a large margin.

Rob Oakeshott retired at the 2013 election, choosing not to recontest his seat.

Rob Oakeshott contested the Division of Cowper at the 2016 election, challenging National incumbent Luke Hartsuyker.

Rob Oakeshott lost the election, but managed to turn the once-safe National seat into a marginal seat.

On 15 January 2019, Rob Oakeshott announced his candidacy for the seat of Cowper at the 2019 Australian federal election.

Rob Oakeshott's father, named Rob Oakeshott, was a doctor in the area until his death in 2016 and his grandfather Captain John Oakeshott was a prisoner of war and survived the Sandakan Death Marches.

Rob Oakeshott attended Barker College for his secondary schooling, and was a boarder in his later years there.

Rob Oakeshott then studied a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Sydney.

Rob Oakeshott graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Government in 1992.

Rob Oakeshott then worked as an administrative officer at the Road Transport Forum, for the lobbying company Resolutions, as a staffer for future National Party Leader Mark Vaile, and in public relations for the Coalition in Canberra before his own election to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly.

Almost immediately after his election to the legislature, Rob Oakeshott identified a number of points of disagreement.

Rob Oakeshott was not at home with the party's strong conservatism on social policy; he recalled being "massively heavied" not to support a Labor bill for a safe injecting room trial.

Rob Oakeshott was unnerved by a senior National claiming that "blacks and poofters " were gaining too much influence in the party; he took particular offence to the former because his wife is of South Seas descent.

Rob Oakeshott was pressured to fall into line on the Nationals' staunch opposition to a republic.

Rob Oakeshott later said that he should have done "more due diligence" on the Nationals' ideology, saying that he would have never joined the party had he known about its conservative bent.

Rob Oakeshott questioned the relevance of the Nationals in an electorate transformed by demographic change and the growth of tourism.

Rob Oakeshott resigned from both the shadow cabinet and the National Party on 9 March 2002.

Rob Oakeshott retained the seat almost as easily in 2007, winning 78 percent of the vote after preferences were distributed.

Rob Oakeshott did not comment at the time because Vaile had not announced his intentions.

On 5 August 2008 Rob Oakeshott resigned from the NSW parliament to stand as an independent candidate at the federal by-election for Lyne.

Rob Oakeshott won virtually every booth in the electorate, receiving about two-thirds of the primary vote.

Rob Oakeshott has explained that this record was not indicative of support for Labor's policy platform, but rather because he believed in allowing governments to govern.

Rob Oakeshott decided with the other incumbent independents, Bob Katter and Tony Windsor, to negotiate as a bloc.

Rob Oakeshott expressed his desire to establish stable government and raised concerns that a 76-seat government was "a by-election away from trouble" and, to avoid this, he proposed the formation of a government with ministers from both of the usually antagonistic major parties.

On 7 September 2010, Rob Oakeshott gave his backing to the formation of a Labor minority government.

Rob Oakeshott made the announcement at the end of a 17-minute speech.

Rob Oakeshott later released a statement saying that he would accept nomination to be the Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives if he were nominated by another member, provided proposed Parliamentary reforms were put into place.

Rob Oakeshott declined and Peter Slipper, a coalition MP, became speaker, allowing the Labor Party to continue in minority government.

Shortly before the Australian Labor Party leadership spill, 2012, Rob Oakeshott stated that he would not, as a matter of course, continue to support the minority Labor government if Labor changed leaders.

Rob Oakeshott further stated that he would be prepared to work with whoever could provide stable government and would consider negotiating with the Liberal-National coalition to that end, although his preference would be to deal with former opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull over Tony Abbott.

In February 2012, Rob Oakeshott introduced a private member's bill to allow the Australian Minister of Immigration to authorise sending asylum seekers to any country that is part of the Bali Process.

Rob Oakeshott retired from politics prior to the 2013 federal election, and did not contest his seat.

In June 2016, Rob Oakeshott announced his candidacy for a return to federal politics at the federal election on 2 July.

Rob Oakeshott ran as an independent in Cowper, which now includes Port Macquarie following a redistribution.

In January 2019, Rob Oakeshott announced he would stand again in Cowper at the 2019 Australian federal election.

Rob Oakeshott was unsuccessful in his bid to win the seat.

In October 2021 Rob Oakeshott was named as an advisor for climate fund, Climate 200.

In 2017, Rob Oakeshott was among the first batch of students to begin studying a undergraduate medical degree at University of New South Wales's new Rural Clinical School Campus in Port Macquarie.

Rob Oakeshott said he aimed to work as a regional general practitioner in the Port Macquarie area.

In May 2012, Rob Oakeshott revealed that he suffers from Graves' disease.