Meet Mark

Mark Speakman was elected as the Member for Cronulla in 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2023. He was elected as the Leader of the Opposition and NSW Liberal Party in April 2023.Mark previously served as Attorney General, Minister for Prevention of Domestic and Sexual Violence, and Minister for Environment and Heritage. 

In his 6 years as Attorney General Mark spearheaded reforms such as:

• The criminalisation of coercive control in intimate partner relationships
• An affirmative consent test in sexual assault
• National defamation reforms
• Child abuse criminal justice reforms, including removal of legal barriers to civil claims, simplifying unfair settlements, and making NSW the first state to legislate a child abuse redress scheme
• New offences of threatening or inciting violence based on race, religion, sexuality, displaying Nazi symbols without reasonable excuse, intimate partner abuse and assaulting frontline emergency workers, as well as sentencing historical offences based on current sentencing patterns and practices
• Expansion of alternative pathways for drug users and Indigenous offenders, including the Drug Court and the Youth Koori Court.

Born and raised in Caringbah, Mark attended Caringbah High School, before studying law and economics at the University of Sydney and postgraduate law at the University of Cambridge. Mark was called to the Bar in 1991 and became a Senior Counsel in 2004. Mark and his wife Caroline have two children.