Greg Smith

Gregory Eugene Smith (26 November 1947—) is a retired Australian politician. 

Raised in a Roman Catholic family in New South Wales, Smith attended Marcellin College and graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Laws. He took up a career in law, becoming a Crown Prosecutor before pivoting to politics.

The mid-1990s also saw Smith president of the NSW chapter of the pro-life, anti-euthanasia and anti-abortion Right To Life group (Patty, 2014); this put him at the forefront of the grassroots campaign against the Northern Territory's Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995. He submitted comprehensively to the Select Committee on Euthanasia in March of that year, concluding "... the real death with dignity [is] helping people accept that they are going to die and making them as comfortable as possible." (Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory, 1995, p.42).

In the 2007 state election, Smith was elected to the seat of Epping for the Liberal party. He marked himself as a social conservative, standing against a relationships register that would give equal weight to married, de facto and same-sex relationships; despite this, the bill was passed in 2010.

After the 2011 election, Smith was promoted to Attorney General and Minister for Justice ("The Hon. Gregory Eugene Smith", n.d.); however, after a leadership change saw his responsibilities reassigned, Smith announced he would retire from politics and would not contest the 2014 elections (Whitbourn & Nicholls, 2014).

Patty, A. (2014, April 6). MPs moved by heaven and earth. Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/national/mps-moved-by-heaven-and-earth-20120405-1wfdi.html

The Hon. Gregory Eugene Smith. [n.d.]. Parliament of New South Wales. https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/members/formermembers/Pages/former-member-details.aspx?pk=2191

Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory. (1995). Report of the Inquiry by the Select Committee on Euthanasia: volume 2 [oral transcripts]. https://parliament.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/367964/vol2.pdf

Whitbourn, N. & Nicholls, S. (2014, July 16). Greg Smith to retire as Epping MP. Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/greg-smith-to-retire-as-epping-mp-20140716-ztkn9.html