Greg Piper

Gregory Michael Piper (born 31 August 1957 in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales), an Australian politician, is the independent member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Lake Macquarie since 2007. Piper also served as Mayor of City of Lake Macquarie between 2004 and 2012, prior to the enactment of the Local Government Amendment (Members of Parliament) Act, 2012 (NSW) preventing dual membership of state parliament and local council.

Early years and background

Piper grew up in the Lake Macquarie suburb of Kahibah. He has three children and one granddaughter. He now lives on the Morisset Peninsula in Mirrabooka, near the Westlakes suburb of Morisset, with his wife Lyn.^[1]

Political career

Piper was first elected to the City of Lake Macquarie Council in 1991 as an independent councillor and served as deputy mayor through 2000. He sat on and chaired numerous council and state government committees. Piper held the position of chair of the Lake Macquarie Estuary Management Committee and the Lake Macquarie Project Management Committee since the establishment of each. He also served on Hunter Waste Management and Planning Board for a number of years including a period as chair.^[1] He was directly elected as the mayor of Lake Macquarie in March 2004 and again in September 2008, where he received 60% of the first-preference vote.^[2]

Piper was elected as the member for Lake Macquarie at the 2007 general election. Piper has sat on the Legislative Assembly's Broadband Committee and currently is a member of the Natural Resources Committee (Climate Change).^[1]

Political views

According to his web site he is "left leaning, socially progressive, fiscally cautious, pragmatic, swinging voter; and staunchly Independent."^[3]

References