Jason Falinski

The Hon. Jason Falinski MP
Member of the Australian Parliament for Mackellar
In office 2 July 2016 – 21 May 2022
Preceded by	Bronwyn Bishop
Succeeded by	Sophie Scamps
Councillor of Warringah Council for A Ward
In office 13 September 2008 – 8 September 2012
Preceded by	Ruth Sutton
Succeeded by	Vanessa Moskal
Personal details
Born	(1970-08-24) 24 August 1970 Manly, New South Wales, Australia
Political party	Liberal Party
Residence(s)	Collaroy, New South Wales, Australia
Alma mater	University of Sydney (BAgEc) University of New South Wales (MBA)
Occupation	Politician
Website	Personal website

Jason George Falinski (born 24 August 1970) is a former Australian Liberal Party politician. He was first elected as the Member for Mackellar in the Australian House of Representatives at the 2016 Australian election. He was re-elected again at the 2019 Australian election. He lost the 2022 Australian federal election to independent Sophie Scamps, becoming the first Liberal Party member to lose the division of Mackellar.

Falinski currently serves as Chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics, and the Standing Committee on Tax and Revenue.

Early life

Falinski was born on 24 August 1970 in Manly, New South Wales. He is the oldest of four children born to Jill (née Brittain-White) and Stanley Falinski. His father was born in Soviet Kyrgyzstan to Jewish parents originally from Poland and Russia, who had been subject to Soviet population transfers during World War II. His father's family immigrated to Australia from Poland in 1958 to escape post-war antisemitism. On his mother's side, he has English and Irish heritage.

Falinski attended Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview, then graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Agricultural Economics. He later completed an MBA at the Australian Graduate School of Management at UNSW Sydney. He and his brother Tim worked for computer retailer Osborne, of which his father was a co-founder and managing director until its collapse in 1995. After entering politics, Falinski attributed the company's failure to the ALP's economic policies and the early 1990s recession, stating that "the bank took our family home" as a result of the collapse. Contemporary reporting instead attributed the company's failure to "a range of non-recessionary causes", with the administrator stating that "the problems of the company have been largely self-inflicted by the management".

Politics

Falinski was a president of the New South Wales branch of the Young Liberals in 1994–1995. Later he would serve as the Vice-President, in 1996–1996, and President, in 1997–1998, of the Australian Young Liberals. He was formerly the chief executive of CareWell Health.

Falinski has been involved in parliamentary politics for more than twenty years, including as an adviser to former Liberal leaders John Hewson and Barry O'Farrell, and was a spokesperson for the Australian Republican Movement. Falinski formerly sat on Warringah Council (elected September 2008).

In April 2016, Falinski won a preselection battle over the incumbent member, former Speaker Bronwyn Bishop, to represent the Liberal Party of Australia at the 2016 Australian election in the safe Liberal seat of Mackellar.

Falinski is a member of the Moderate/Modern Liberal faction of the Liberal Party.

Falinski lost the seat of Mackellar to Independent Sophie Scamps in the 2022 Australian federal election, suffering a 16.3% swing. Falinski is the first Liberal to lose the seat in its history.

Controversies

Falinski became the Liberal candidate for Mackellar after defeating the previous incumbent Bronwyn Bishop. Falinski procured the necessary votes to win the pre-selection as a result of the Liberal far-right faction supporting him in revenge for Bronwyn Bishop voting against Tony Abbott in a leadership ballot in 2015.

In 2019 Australian media reported that Falinski had inappropriately used a taxpayer-funded government inquiry into franking credits policy to raise funds and campaign for the Liberal Party. This incident involved Falinski enticing super fund trustees to donate to the Liberal Party in return for a meeting with the Liberal committee chair, Tim Wilson, which was held at the same venue as the inquiry.

Also in 2019, Falinski was accused of misusing research by cherry picking statistics to justify the government imposing a drug testing policy on welfare recipients.

At the 2022 election Falinski supported the controversial Warringah candidate, Katherine Deves, who had described transgender children as 'surgically mutilated and sterilised'.

On climate change and environmental issues, Falinski's voting record shows that he has consistently voted against a fast transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. He has also voted against investment in renewable energy and government action on animal & plant extinctions.

Falinski was accused of harassing prepoll volunteers during the 2022 Australian federal election.