Hon Tony Smith was appointed as CEO of the Australian American Leadership Dialogue in April 2022, and Executive Co-Chair of the AALD Board in March 2023, following more than two decades as a Federal Member of Parliament, representing the seat of Casey.
Tony was first elected as the Federal Member for Casey in 2001 and was re-elected at each subsequent federal election until his resignation from Parliament in 2022.
In 2007, he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to then Prime Minister Howard. He also served in several Shadow Ministerial portfolios whilst in Opposition.
In August 2015, he was elected as the 30th Speaker of the House of Representatives and was re-elected in 2016 and 2019. In 2019, his nomination was seconded by a Member of the Opposition. He is only the second Speaker in history to be elected unopposed by the House on three consecutive occasions. The first was the first Speaker of the House, Sir Fredrick Holder.
On 15 October 2019, Tony was announced as the recipient of the Accountability Round Tables’ John Button Award for integrity in performing his duties as Speaker.
On 27 February 2022 Tony was named the McKinnon Political Leader of the Year, recognised for his work in consistently and impactfully upholding Parliamentary standards and ensuring bipartisan accountability within the Parliament.
Tony has a BA(Hons) and BCom from the University of Melbourne.
