Duncan Gay

Duncan John Gay (born 2 May 1950), an Australian politician, has been the Vice-President of the Executive Council of New South Wales and the Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council since May 2014; and the Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight since April 2015.^[1][2] Gay is the Leader of the Nationals in the Legislative Council and has been a member of the Council since 1988, represent The Nationals.^[3]

He served as the Minister for Roads and Freight, has played a key role in the implementation of the NSW nanny state and as the Minister for the North Coast between 2014 and 2015 in the first Baird government;^[4][5][6] and the Minister for Roads and Ports in the O'Farrell ministry between 2011 and 2014.^[7]

Early life

Gay was born and raised in Crookwell, New South Wales near Goulburn and educated at Crookwell District Rural School.^[8] He attended Newington College (1962-1967) in Sydney as a boarding student before studying accountancy and wool classing.^[9] He is married to Katie and they have two children.^[8]

Prior to his political career, Gay owned a small trucking company and managed his family’s grazing property at Crookwell.^[8]

Political career

Gay was elected as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council in March 1988^[10] and has been a member of the National Party since 1974;^[8] and served in various portfolios and positions while in Opposition.^[7][8]

Following the election of the O'Farrell government at the 2011 election, Gay was appointed as the Minister for Roads and Ports in the New South Wales government. Following the resignation of Barry O'Farrell as Premier,^[11] and the subsequent ministerial reshuffle by Mike Baird, the new Liberal Leader,^[4] in April 2014 the name of Gay's portfolio changed to Minister for Roads and Freight;^[12] the responsibilities as Vice-President of the Executive Council and Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council were added in May 2014;^[5][7] and as Minister for the North Coast added in October 2014.^[6] Following the 2015 state election, Gay's portfolio responsibilities were amended slightly and renamed as Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight.

Major activities in Gay's term as Minister for Roads include commencement of planning for the introduction of the controversial WestConnex;,^[13][14][15] a road project that has had its costs reported to be overrun by 1.4 billion dollars.^[16] Gay has announced the preferred construction contractor for the NorthConnex;^[17][18][19] and the continued duplication of the Pacific Highway.^{[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31]}

Gay has also been responsible for a number of highly controversial ministry decisions; these include his anti-LGTBI stance removing the rainbow striping on Taylor Square Oxford street in 2013,^[32] the anti-cycling decision to remove the 5 million dollar cycleway on College St in 2015^[33][34] and mismanaging the constructions costs of the Tibby Cotter bridge^[35][36] – claimed to reflect poorly on his ability to manage the much larger construction of the WestConnex project.^[37] On 21 December 2015, Gay announced penalty increases and new ID requirements for cyclists in 2016 as a product of consensus with bicycle advocacy groups.^[38][39] However, the ID requirements were reported to be against the advice of his own department^[33] and the advocacy groups oppose the fine and ID changes and rejected the claim they were based on consensus.^[40][41][42] His anti-cycling policies have been questioned in the media due to his prior comment that he was a "bike lane skeptic."^[33][43]

References

External links

• Official website
• The Hon. Duncan John Gay, MLC at Parliament of New South Wales