Wyatt Roy

Who is Wyatt Roy?

Wyatt Beau Roy is an Australian politician. He has been a Liberal National Party of Queensland member of the Australian House of Representatives since August 2010, representing the electorate of Longman. At 20 years of age, he was the youngest person ever to be elected to an Australian parliament. The federal record was previously held by Edwin Corboy, who was 22 when elected in 1918.

Prior to the election, there was speculation that the Liberal National Party did not want Roy endorsed as the candidate for Longman, because of his youth. However, both Liberal leader Tony Abbott and Nationals leader Warren Truss publicly endorsed Roy.

Roy's campaign was not without incident. His electoral success may have been helped by a gaffe made by his Labor opponent and incumbent member, Jon Sullivan. In the closing week of the 2010 federal election campaign, Sullivan gained national media attention due to a blunder where he criticised the father of a seven-year-old child with a disability for waiting two years on a Queensland Health waiting list, responding to a question at a candidates' forum with a counter-question. Sullivan apologised to the father at the first available opportunity and dismissed the significance of the gaffe, in the days following his defeat. A week earlier, one of Roy's campaign volunteers was involved in an incident, captured on video. The footage shows a member of Roy's campaign team hitting a Labor supporter in the face while campaigning. The LNP claimed the attack was provoked and brought about by the Labor campaign worker holding a giant L-plate sign next to a poster of Roy.