The Honourable John Cobb |
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Member of the Australian Parliament for Calare |
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In office 24 November 2007 – 9 May 2016 |
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Preceded by | Peter Andren |
Succeeded by | Andrew Gee |
Majority | 15.97 points (2013) |
Member of the Australian Parliament for Parkes |
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In office 10 November 2001 – 24 November 2007 |
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Preceded by | Tony Lawler |
Succeeded by | Mark Coulton |
Personal details | |
Born |
Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia |
11 February 1950
Nationality | Australian |
Political party | The Nationals |
Spouse(s) | Gai (divorced) Lisa Syme (m. 2014) |
Children | 7 |
Website | www |
John Kenneth Cobb (born 11 February 1950), Australian politician, has been a National Party member of the Australian House of Representatives since November 2001 representing the Division of Parkes, New South Wales and the Division of Calare since 2007. On 27 February 2016, John Cobb announced that he is retiring from politics and will not re-contest the Division of Calare in the 2016 Australian federal election.
Cobb was born in Bathurst, son of Lee and Mary Cobb, and was raised on the family property near Mount Hope, New South Wales.
From the 1980s until his candidacy for Federal Parliament, Cobb was active in, and spent three years as president of the New South Wales Farmers Association, a lobby group representing farmers and rural and regional communities. He also continued to farm the family property.
Cobb was elected to the House of Representatives from the Division of Parkes, a safe National Party seat, at the 2001 federal election.
In July 2005, Cobb was appointed to the ministry as Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, but soon after was reshuffled to the community services portfolio.
After Parkes was dramatically altered in a redistribution, Cobb ran for the neighbouring seat of Calare at the 2007 election after the popular independent member Peter Andren retired. The Liberal-National Party Coalition lost the election, however Cobb won Calare handily. He was chosen by new Opposition leader Brendan Nelson to be a member of the shadow ministry, as the spokesperson on regional development and water security. He was re-elected at the 2010 election and in September 2010 was appointed Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Food Security by Opposition leader, Tony Abbott.