Chris Hartcher

Early life

Hartcher was born in North Sydney and was educated at Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview. He received a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Sydney. He then worked as a personal injury and family law solicitor employed by his uncle.

Political career

Hartcher was elected to represent Gosford for the Liberal Party at the 1988 NSW state election. He was appointed Government Whip in 1991 and served in that role until 1992. On 3 July 1992, Hartcher was appointed to the NSW Cabinet as Minister for the Environment and left the Cabinet with the defeat of the Fahey Government in March 1995.

NSW Opposition

After the 1995 election, Hartcher was appointed to a number of shadow ministerial portfolios, spending a combined seven years as Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations and four years as Shadow Attorney General in the Shadow Ministry of Barry O'Farrell.

On 28 March 2002 he was elected as deputy opposition leader under John Brogden until the 2003 state election. Former Premier Bob Carr was often Hartcher's political "sparring partner", a relationship Carr referred to as "good natured fun". Carr nicknamed Hartcher the Swamp Fox – an irreverent reference to US War of Independence guerrilla commander, Francis Marion – to suggest Hartcher would challenge Brogden for leadership of the party.

At the 2003 election Hartcher was challenged in the seat of Gosford by Labor candidate Deborah O'Neill and won by only 272 votes. After narrowly retaining Gosford, Hartcher decided to step down as Deputy Liberal Leader.

In 2006, New South Wales Legislative Assembly seats were subject to an electoral redistribution. The seat of Peats was abolished and the majority of the area was redistributed into a newly created seat of Gosford. The majority of the former seat of Gosford was redistributed into the new electoral district of Terrigal. Hartcher was again challenged by O'Neill but was elected Member for Terrigal on 24 March 2007. O'Neill was later elected as the Member for Robertson at the 2010 Federal Election.

In 2010, Hartcher was endorsed as the Liberal Party's candidate for Terrigal ahead of the 2011 election. He was elected with a swing of 11.1 points, and won the seat with 74.1 per cent of the two-party vote. His main opponent was Labor's Trevor Drake.

O'Farrell Government

On 3 April 2011, Hartcher was appointed by Premier Barry O'Farrell to the Cabinet as Minister for Resources and Energy, Special Minister of State and Minister for the Central Coast.

He resigned from Cabinet on 4 December 2013 after the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) raided his office. In February 2014, the ICAC commenced investigating allegations of electoral funding irregularities. In response to the inquiry, Hartcher, and fellow MPs Chris Spence and Darren Webber, stood aside from the parliamentary party, even though they had just renominated for their seats, to sit as independents. With a final report not due before the 2015 election campaign, Hartcher, Spence and Webber chose to retire and not contest the next election.

On 30 August 2016, the ICAC released its report into the investigation into illegal developer donations. It found that Hartcher had "Acted with the intention of evading laws banning political donations from property developers, cap donations and requiring the disclosure of donation" and also recommended that the Director of Public Prosecutions charge Hartcher with larceny.

Personal life

Hartcher is married with three sons.