The members' champion
About Robert Hardie
Robert Hardie is a lifelong Liberal who believes in small and efficient government, supporting entrepreneurs and innovators, upholding individuals‘ rights and backing personal responsibility.
He's the experienced members' champion we need on State Executive
Work experience
Robert is Executive Manager - Health and Agriculture @ NBN Co
Robert is Executive Manager - Health and Agriculture at NBN Co. In this role, Robert assists communities in regional, rural and remote Australia to increase their digital capability and take full advantage of the benefits of broadband internet delivered by the nbn network.
Prior to joining nbn in 2020, Robert was a policy director at the NSW Farmers’ Association (2017-2019). In this role, Robert worked closely with farmers during the worst drought on record to ensure the agriculture sector continued to thrive; Robert led the development of the Association’s 2019 state election policy manifesto, FOCUS. Robert also worked briefly as a political adviser in the Morrison government following the 2019 election.
Political experience
Years' of practical political and campaign experience
Before living in Sydney, Robert was a Canberra-based political adviser; a key achievement during those 10 years was the successful delivery of the 2015 Centenary of Anzac commemorations. Working for a regionally-based Victorian senator, Robert assisted with the 2013 campaign in the key seat of Corangamite, a seat critical to the Abbott government’s victory; his work also took him to key marginal seats across the country working with Coalition candidates and campaigns. At the 2010 election, Robert was deployed to the key winnable seat of Macquarie which flipped back to the Liberal Party by a few hundred votes. Robert is an experienced marginal seat campaigner, having worked against the odds to hold the must-win seat of Herbert (Qld) at the 2007 election.
Growing up in Geelong, Robert first joined the Liberal Party‘s Victorian division in 2004 and served in various executive roles. He was also a member of the Australian National University’s Liberal Club during his studies between 2003 and 2006; Robert graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce from The Australian National University in 2006. In 2018, he completed the Australian Institute of Company Director’s Company Director’s Course.
Local campaign experience
Fighting for Liberal values in the inner city
Robert is the President of the City of Sydney Local Government Conference and, since joining the City of Sydney branch of the Liberal Party in 2016, has been involved in each Federal, state and local government campaign in the area.
At the delayed 2021 local government elections, Robert co-chaired the campaign which returned two Liberal councillors to Sydney Town Hall. He was the Sydney electorate campaign manager at the 2016 Federal election and, as Sydney SEC President, co-chaired the 2019 state election campaign for the state seat of Sydney. He was first elected as a delegate to the NSW Division’s State Council in 2018.
In the community
Supporting community organisations
Outside a passion for politics, and work responsibilities, Robert is closely involved in community organisations; he has extensive committee and board experience.
Robert is a Director on the National Board of Management of Masters Swimming Australia; first elected in 2020, he was elected unopposed for a second two-year term in April 2022. He is the chair of the National Membership Committee and will represent the Board on the Gender Diversity Sub-committee which is presently being established.
A keen swimmer, Robert has been a member of the Sydney Wett Ones since 2017. Wett Ones is Australia’s largest LGBT+ swimming club, and one of Australia’s largest Masters swimming clubs. Robert was elected Vice President of the club in 2017 and went on to serve the maximum three years as the club’s President (2018 to 2021). During that time, Wett Ones became Australia’s largest Masters swimming club and Wett Ones also won the 2019 Masters Swimming NSW Branch Points Score trophy (for the first time in it’s history) and won the 2020 International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics tournament held in Melbourne. Administratively, Robert's time as President oversaw the introduction of a fully-electronic member booking system, reform of the constitution, rebranding of the club with a new uniform and active support for programs which lifted women's participation in the club.
Robert also serves on the committee of the Farm Writers’ Association of NSW (Committee member since 2018, Secretary 2019 to 2021, Bookings manager 2021 to present); Farm Writers connects agribusiness professionals with key agricultural thought leaders and innovators.
In addition to a few kilometres a week in the pool, Robert is an avid gym-goer, which allows him to offset the cooking he also enjoys. Robert lives in Green Square in inner Sydney.
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