Andrew Southcott

Infobox Politician
honorific-prefix =
name = Dr. Andrew Southcott

honorific-suffix = MP


office = Member for Boothby
term_start = 1996
term_end =
predecessor = Steele Hall
successor =
majority =
birth_date = birth date and age|1967|10|15|df=y
birth_place = flagicon|AUS Adelaide, South Australia
death_date =
death_place =
party = Liberal Party of Australia
relations =
spouse =
civil partner =
children =
residence =
occupation = Medical practitioner
alma mater = Flinders University
University of Adelaide
religion =


website =
footnotes =

Dr. Andrew John Southcott MP (born 15 October 1967), Australian politician, has been a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives since March 1996, representing the Division of Boothby, South Australia.

Early life

Southcott was born in Adelaide, South Australia, and attended Paringa Park Primary School, and St Peter's College. He received his tertiary education at Flinders University and the University of Adelaide, graduating in medicine and economics. He was a medical practitioner before entering politics, serving as an intern and surgical trainee at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and as a surgical registrar at the Flinders Medical Centre.

He joined the Liberal Party in 1989 while serving as President of the Adelaide Medical Students Society. He is regarded as being from the conservative end of the Liberal party, and defeated the former defence minister Robert Hill, a moderate, in a preselection battle for the seat in 1994.

War in Iraq

Southcott was a strong advocate for Australia's participation in the Iraq War, with several speeches and questions dedicated to the deployment. In a 2003 parliamentary speech referring to the possible deployment of Australian troops, he said;

the cost of inaction is for the human rights abuses in Iraq to continue. Australian's have a proud record of standing against proliferation of inhumane weapons, but we have to recognise that 12 years of UN Security Council resolutions and eight years of weapons inspections have failed to contain Saddam Hussein. ... If, as it seems likely, the United Nations Security Council passes a resolution which authorises the disarmament of Iraq, I presume the majority of the ALP will support Australian involvement. So we have been on an exercise of personal anti-Americanism, of distressing the families of members of the ADF who are going off to the predeployment—for nothing, for what is an academic point: the issue of the United Nations. [ [http://parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au/piweb/view_document.aspx?id=2201513&table=HANSARDR Ministerial Statements: Iraq] , "Hansard" (10 Feb 2003)]

Climate change

Speaking in parliament on climate change, he said;

Looking at the whole issue of climate change and the differing approaches of the Labor Party and the government, Labor's argument seems to be that they believe and the government does not believe. The Labor Party's approach, though, is a triumph of the symbolic over the substantial. The Labor Party's policy on climate change for the last 10 years has been that we should ratify Kyoto. That would have no effect at all on Australian greenhouse gas emissions; not one molecule of carbon dioxide would that change. [* [http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21315015-28737,00.html 'The decisive doctors' wives effect is in full swing'] George Megalogenis, "The Australian", 3 March 2007]

External links

* [http://www.andrewsouthcott.com/ Personal website]

References

* [http://parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au/piweb/view_document.aspx?id=2724037&table=HANSARDR Matters of public importance] , "Hansard" (31 May 2007)