Rick Colless
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rick Colless | |
|---|---|
| Member of Legislative Council of New South Wales | |
| In office 30 August 2000 – 23 March 2019 | |
| Deputy Opposition Whip in the Legislative Council | |
| Assumed office 27 August 2002 | |
| Preceded by | Richard Bull |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 12 November 1952 |
| Party | The Nationals |
| Spouse | Geraldine Faith Barton (nee Porter) |
| Children | 3 |
Richard Hargrave Colless (born 12 November 1952) is an Australian politician. Colless was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 2000 to 2019, representing the National Party.[1]
Colless was born in Tamworth to Kenneth Hargrave Colless and Yvonne Tipling and was raised on a rural property at Bundarra, near Inverell. He undertook primary school by correspondence from the Blackfriars Correspondence School in Sydney; and secondary education at Tamworth and Singleton High Schools. Colless won a cadetship with the Soil Conservation Service of the New South Wales, that led to studies at Hawkesbury Agricultural College. Working for the Soil Conservation Service for the next 26 years, he worked in various country towns including Henty, Cowra, Goulburn, Gunnedah and Inverell where he settled in 1987.[2]
In 1991, he was elected to Inverell Shire Council and served three terms as a councillor and became its mayor in 1999.
He became the Chairman of the Inverell Branch of the National Party of Australia in 1996 and served in that role until 1999. He became Chairman of the New England Electorate Council in 1999 and served a term during 2000 on the Central Executive of the National Party.