Ray Williams (politician)

Ray Williams MP
Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Hawkesbury
In office 24 March 2007 – 28 March 2015
Preceded by	Steven Pringle
Succeeded by	Dominic Perrottet
Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Castle Hill
Incumbent
Assumed office 28 March 2015
Preceded by	Dominic Perrottet
Majority	5.3
Personal details
Born	Raymond Craig Williams (1960-09-27) 27 September 1960 Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia
Nationality	Australia
Political party	Liberal Party of Australia
Spouse(s)	Wendy Lorraine (m. 1982)
Alma mater	Curtin University

Raymond Craig "Ray" Williams (born 27 September 1960) is an Australian politician. He is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing the seat of Castle Hill for the Liberal Party of Australia since 2015 and before that, the seat of Hawkesbury between 2007 and 2015.

Early life and background

Williams is the son of Allen Williams, a former heavyweight boxing champion of Australia and the South Pacific and Margaret Williams, the daughter of English migrants from Cornwall. His family was involved in the training of horses, and Williams followed in the family footsteps and trained horses for more than 30 years. From 1985, he worked for Glenorie Bus Company at Dural.

Williams previously was a panel beater and maintenance manager with the Hillsbus company. He was serving as a councillor on Baulkham Hills Shire Council until September 2008. He was a former President of the Kellyville Rouse Hill Progress Association. Williams led a campaign of roadside protests to highlight the need for the upgrade of Windsor Road.

Political career

In 2003, Williams contest the seat of Riverstone, and was unsuccessful. In an internal Liberal Party preselection prior to the 2007 State election, Williams defeated incumbent Steven Pringle. As a result, Pringle decided to run for the seat as an independent candidate. Williams proceeded to win the seat in the 2007 State Election with a 6.07% majority. In 2007, Williams was accused of branch stacking after a local pastor stated in a statutory declaration that Williams paid him party membership fees for churchgoers. This claim was denied by Williams, and has not been substantiated.

In 2008, Williams was ejected from state parliament by the Speaker Richard Torbay for pretending to wrestle a toy iguana, in reference to the Belinda Neal – John Della Bosca scandal known as Iguanagate.

Since his election to parliament, Williams has been appointed the Deputy Chair of the Liberal Party's Western Sydney Taskforce. In June 2010, Williams was appointed the Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Western Sydney and replaced Wayne Merton who retired. He won the seat again at the 2011 state election with a swing of 29.7 points, winning 84.7 per cent of the two-party vote. At the 2015 state election, with Dominic Perrottet, they were preselected for each other's seat and both were elected, effecting a "seat-swap" with Williams elected as the Member for Castle Hill.

References

Parliament of New South Wales
Preceded by Steven Pringle	Member for Hawkesbury 2007–2015	Succeeded by Dominic Perrottet
Preceded by Dominic Perrottet	Member for Castle Hill 2015–present	Incumbent