Craig Laundy

Craig Arthur Samuel Laundy (born 16 February 1971) is a former Australian Liberal Party politician who served as Member of Parliament for Reid from 2013 until his retirement in 2019. He served as Minister for Small and Family Business, the Workplace and Deregulation in the Second Turnbull Ministry, before resigning in August 2018 following the ousting of Malcolm Turnbull as Prime Minister. On 15 March 2019, Laundy announced he would retire from politics at the 2019 federal election.

Laundy is the son of pub baron Arthur Laundy and his ex-wife Margaret. The family owns more than 50 pubs across New South Wales. Craig was born in Sydney and educated at St Patrick's College, Strathfield, St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill, and the University of New South Wales, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Economics.

Prior to his election to parliament at the 2013 federal election, Laundy worked in the family hotel business.

Laundy served as the Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs between February and July 2016 following a rearrangement in the First Turnbull Ministry and served as the Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science between July 2016 and December 2017 in the Second Turnbull Ministry. Following a subsequent rearrangement of the ministry in December 2017, he was appointed as the Minister for Small and Family Business, the Workplace and Deregulation. He resigned from the position in August 2018 following the election of Scott Morrison in a Liberal Party Leadership spill.

As a candidate during the 2013 federal election campaign, Laundy argued that the removal of the fringe benefits tax concession on motor vehicles would be "another kick in the pants to Australia's automotive industry."

In January 2014, public broadcaster, the ABC received criticism from senior members of the Coalition government, including the Defence Minister, David Johnston, and the Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who said that he feels that sometimes the ABC acts in a way that "instinctively takes everyone's side but Australia's." Laundy defended the ABC, responding that he does not defend their content, but their right to "say what they want." He said that "the beauty of living in a democracy is that if you don't like what you're hearing, what you're watching, or what you're looking at on the internet, choose another channel." He also said that it is not the role of the ABC to be patriotic.

In March 2014, the Attorney-General George Brandis proposed draft legislative amendments to the Racial Discrimination Act, 1975, seeking to remove sections that made it unlawful "to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of people" on the basis of their "race, colour or national or ethnic origin." Laundy, a Liberal backbencher at the time, spoke out against the changes, saying that it was "important that we support a legislative system that reflects the diverse and multicultural country that modern Australia has become today." The changes were dropped after widespread public outrage, and opposition from some Liberal backbenchers, including Laundy, Phillip Ruddock, and Ken Wyatt, an indigenous Member of Parliament.

On 3 October 2014, Laundy joined with Labor MPs Tony Burke, Anthony Albanese, and Michelle Rowland in supporting the #NotinMyName campaign, which condemns racism, hatred, and bigotry.