Premier Jay Weatherill Preceded by Bob Such Resigned March 25, 2010 Succeeded by Jay Weatherill Party Australian Labor Party | Preceded by Kevin Foley Education University of Adelaide Preceded by John Hill Name Jack Snelling | |
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Premier Mike Rann
Jay Weatherill Role Member of the South Australian House of Assembly Previous office Speaker of the South Australian House of Assembly (2006–2010) Office Member of the South Australian House of Assembly since 1997 | ||
John James "Jack" Snelling (born 8 November 1972) is an Australian politician in the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party who has been the member in the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Playford since the 1997 election. He currently serves as Leader of Government Business in the House of Assembly and has previously served as Treasurer of South Australia.
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Background
Prior to his election into politics, Snelling was an electoral officer, and a staffer in the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA). Snelling was a supporter of the work of Christopher Pearson.
Parliament
Entering parliament in 1997 at the age of 24, he was the youngest member of the House of Assembly at the time. He was Speaker of the South Australian House of Assembly for the Mike Rann Labor government from 2006 to 2010. He also served as Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Committees. He is aligned with Labor's right faction.
A consequence of the major 2016 electoral redistribution was that two thirds of the voters in Snelling's electorate of Playford will be moved to Florey. On 15 March 2017 he won Labor preselection to be the candidate for Florey at the 2018 election. The incumbent member for Florey, Frances Bedford, had also nominated for pre-selection. On 28 March 2017, Bedford resigned from the party after they endorsed Snelling for the seat. As with the rest of the crossbench, Bedford will continue to provide confidence and supply support to the incumbent Labor government. She has not decided if she will re-contest Florey as an independent. A ReachTEL poll conducted on 2 March 2017 of 606 voters in post-redistribution Florey indicated a 33.4 percent primary vote for Bedford running as an independent which would likely see Snelling defeated after preferences. Snelling later withdrew from the competition on 17 September 2017.
Cabinet
Following the 2010 election, Snelling was appointed as the Minister for Employment, Training and Further Education, Science, Information Economy, Veterans Affairs and Road Safety.
Following the parliamentary resignation of Kevin Foley, Snelling was sworn in as the Treasurer of South Australia on 8 February 2011.
Following the 2014 election, Snelling was appointed as the Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Arts and Minister for Health Industries in the Weatherill Labor cabinet. He resigned from Cabinet on 17 September 2017, and announced that he would not be contesting the 2018 election, for which he had been preselected to the seat of Florey.
Portfolios
In addition to serving as Leader of Government Business in the House of Assembly, Snelling also served in the following portfolios in the Cabinet of South Australia until 17 September 2017:
Personal life
Jack Snelling is married to Lucia, and has six children. He met his wife through the Young Labor movement.