Adrian Tantari

Adrian Tantari
MP
Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly
for Hervey Bay
In office
31 October 2020 – 26 October 2024
Preceded byTed Sorensen
Succeeded byDavid Lee
Personal details
Born (1961-03-15) 15 March 1961 (age 63)
Altona, Victoria, Australia
Political partyLabor

Adrian Tantari (born 15 March 1961) is an Australian former politician. He was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly as the Labor member for Hervey Bay at the 2020 Queensland state election and held the seat for one term until his defeat at the 2024 state election. Despite being considered a safe seat for the Liberal National Party in 2020, he achieved an eleven-point swing and won the seat with a majority of two percent, the first non-LNP victory in Hervey Bay since 2006.[1][2][3][4]

Biography

Tantari was born in 1961, in Altona, Victoria, to an Italian family. His father immigrated to Australia after World War Two at the age of 17. Tantari is divorced and has 3 adult children.[2] Prior to the 2020 election, Tantari has lived on the Fraser Coast for over 23 years and was the Labor candidate in the 2017 Queensland state election.[1] Locally, he is a member of the Hervey Bay Historical Society, the Hervey Bay Boat Club, and the Fraser Coast Bicycle Users Group.[2]

Political career

2017 state election

In 2017, Tantari was the Labor Party candidate for Hervey Bay. He received 29.1% of the primary vote, behind the Liberal National candidate, Ted Sorensen, who received 37.7% of the primary vote. After preferences, Tantari received 40.9% of the vote to Sorensen's 59.1%.[1]

Tantari's 2017 campaign emphasised growing the region's educational institutions and gaining better infrastructure for the growing city.[5]

2020 state election

In his 2020 campaign, Tantari again emphasised growing the region's educational institutions and gaining better infrastructure for the growing city. Tantari also called for the re-establishment of the Ministerial Regional Community Forums to help bolster the economic significance of the region.[2]

Prior to the 2020 Queensland state election, the seat of Hervey Bay was treated as a "safe" seat for the Liberal Nationals.[6] In the final result, Tantari gained over an 11% swing, securing the seat for Labor.[1]

Parliamentary Activities

Tantari was a member of the Queensland Parliament's Economics and Governance Committee as well as the Parliamentary Crime and Conduct Committee.

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Hervey Bay - QLD Election 2020 Electorate, Candidates, Results | QLD Votes - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". ABC News.
  2. ^ a b c d "Get To Know Your Candidates: Adrian Tantari". Fraser Coast Chronicle.
  3. ^ Walker, Carlie. "Twitter reacts to close election race in Hervey Bay". Noosa News.
  4. ^ "Mr Adrian Tantari". Parliament of Queensland.
  5. ^ Antrobus, Blake. "Labor candidate Adrian Tantari outlines his policies". Daily Mercury.
  6. ^ "How One Nation propelled Labor to victory". Northern Star.
Parliament of Queensland
Preceded by Member for Hervey Bay
2020–present 		Incumbent