Geoff Lee


Geoffrey Lee, an Australian politician, is the Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education in the second Berejiklian ministry since April 2019. Lee is also a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Parramatta for the Liberal Party since 2011.

Early years and background

Geoff Lee was born in 1967 and has an Australian and Chinese background. He attained a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in horticulture from the University of Western Sydney – Hawkesbury and was managing director of Hambledon Garden Centre, a garden centre and landscaping business in Parramatta from 1992 until 2001. He completed his Master of Business Administration from Macquarie University's School of Business Administration in 2001 and commenced teaching part-time at Liverpool TAFE. From 2004 to 2006, Lee was a lecturer in business at the University of Western Sydney and, during this time, completed a Doctor of Business Administration degree at the Macquarie Graduate School of Management. In 2007, he was appointed Associate Dean at UWS.

Political career

At the March 2011 elections, Lee was elected as member for Parramatta and received a swing of 25.8 points in the traditionally strong Labor seat. Going into the election, Labor held Parramatta with a majority of 13.1 points. As a measure of the size of the massive Coalition wave that swept New South Wales that year, Lee picked up a swing large enough to turn Parramatta from a very safe Labor seat into a very safe Liberal seat in one stroke. He later said that could not have won—and certainly not with as large a swing—without winning over dozens of people who had never voted for a Liberal before. He was reelected in 2015 and 2019, becoming the first non-Labor member in 83 years to have held the seat for more than one term.
Following the 2019 state election, Lee was appointed as the Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education in the second Berejiklian ministry, with effect from 2 April 2019.