Former Wentworth Liberal MP Dave Sharma, the first Indian-origin lawmaker in Australia’s Parliament, is returning to parliament after having secured victory in the New South Wales Liberal Senate race.
Sharma, 47, is set to take on a pivotal role in the Australian Senate, replacing the retired ex-foreign minister Marise Payne. His success is seen as a win for the moderates within the Liberal party, especially following their setbacks in the 2022 election where they lost inner-city seats to teal independents.
Expressing gratitude to party members, Sharma said, “I would like to thank the party members for the opportunity to hold the Albanese government to account in the Senate over its many missteps and wrong decisions, and to fight for the many households across New South Wales (NSW) struggling to deal with Labor’s cost-of-living crisis.”
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“The opportunity to serve in the Senate will allow me to fight for our nation’s national security interests in a time of greater global turmoil,” he was quoted as saying in the report by Australian Associated Press.
Sharma, known for his past roles as head of the International Division of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (2010–2012) and as Ambassador to Israel (2013–2017), was born in Vancouver, Canada, in 1975. His father, of Trinidadian-Indian heritage, and his Sydney-born mother moved the family to Turramurra in Sydney in 1979.
Sharma's win aligns with the rising influence of individuals of Indian origin in leadership positions globally. The 2021 Indiaspora Government Leaders List released by a US-based organisation working among the Indian diaspora stated that more than 200 Indian-origin people occupy leadership positions in as many as 15 countries – over 60 of them hold Cabinet positions. A lot of countries are currently being led by people who can trace their ancestry to India including Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister of UK and Tharman Shanmugaratnam, President of Singapore. In the US alone, a total of 112 people of Indian origin are at top positions in the administration, including Neera Tanden who is a senior adviser to President Joe Biden.
