Jason Wood (politician)
Jason Wood (born 24 May 1968), Australian politician, was elected to the Australian House of Representatives for the Division of La Trobe, Victoria for the Liberal Party of Australia at the 2004 federal election. He was educated at the Chisholm Institute, Swinburne University and RMIT University, Melbourne, and has qualifications in management, including a Masters Degree in Applied Science (Field Innovation Service Management - Counter Terrorism). He was a Senior Sergeant with the Victoria Police counter-terrorism unit before entering politics. He was the Liberal candidate for the Division of Holt at the 2001 federal election.
Support of Workchoice Legislation
As a member of the Federal Parlimentary Liberal Party, Wood supported and voted in favour f the Howard Government's controversial WorkChoices legislation. This legislation came into effect on 28 March 2006
On Friday December 1st 2006 around 100 local constituents staged a morning rally outside of Wood's Boronia electoral office in opposition to Wood's support of the Howard Government's controversial WorkChoices legislation. Speakers included The National Secretary of The Australian Worker's Union Bill Shorten who addressed the orderly and well behaved crowd. Despite advanced knowledge of the planned rally Wood refused to be drawn into the debate and did not attend the rally.
In a local paper (Knox Leader) 12th December 2006, Wood justified his reasons for not attending the rally claiming a hectic Canberra schedule. Wood was quoted in the article as saying "even if I could attend I would not" he then went on to claim "Police resources would be wasted looking after me" In a letter to the editor in the same publication (16th January 2007) his comment in regard to "Police resources...etc" was described by a local constituant as "A display of arrogance"