Political career
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. [4] [5]
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. [6] Sullivan apologised to the father at the first available opportunity [7] and dismissed the significance of the gaffe,in the days following his defeat. [8] 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. [9]
Roy's successful election at 20 years of age quickly earned him the award 'Politician of the Year' from GQ magazine. [10] He was soon after romantically linked to teenaged sailor Jessica Watson.
In 2012,at 21 years of age Roy debuted on Cleo magazine's list of most eligible bachelors alongside triple-code footballing superstar Israel Folau,actor Ryan Corr,and MasterChef contestant Hayden Quinn. [11] [12]
Roy is a supporter of same-sex marriage in Australia [13] and supported a conscience vote on the issue in parliament. [14]
In 2015,Roy was appointed as Assistant Minister for Innovation,an outer ministry position assisting the Minister for Industry,Innovation and Science. [15]
In the Australian federal election in 2016,Roy lost the seat of Longman to Labor MP Susan Lamb by a margin of 3%,with an 8.45% swing to Labor. [16]
Post political career
In 2016,he visited a warzone in Iraq where he became caught up in a firefight between Islamic State (IS) and Kurdish Peshmerga forces,earning criticism from among others Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull,who admonished Roy for his "very stupid" decision to visit. [17] [18]
The Australian reported in 2019 that Roy had formed a relationship with Josie Ashby,a former adviser to Foreign Minister Julie Bishop,who was credited as a 'wingwoman' who helped pair up the Liberal power couple after a long courtship that started when Roy would deluge Bishop's ministerial office with gifts of fresh strawberries from his family farm in Queensland. [19]
Roy later joined Afiniti,a global artificial intelligence company,as its Australian general manager. He was based in Sydney [20] until 2024 when he relocated to Saudi Arabia to accept appointment as Head of Innovation at NEOM,the entity wholly-owned by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund and which was described as an ambitious and controversial project to build a futuristic city in Saudi Arabia powered by renewable energy. [21] He has also held roles at McKinsey &Company and solar energy company SunDrive Solar. [22]
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