Matthew Francis Benson-Lidholm (born 5 March 1952) born in Albany

Albany, Western Australia

Albany is a port city in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, some 418 km SE of Perth, the state capital. As of 2009, Albany's population was estimated at 33,600, making it the 6th-largest city in the state....

, Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

 is an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n politician. He is currently the member of the Western Australian Legislative Council

Western Australian Legislative Council

The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the Legislative Assembly. It sits in Parliament House in the state...

 representing the Agricultural Region

Electoral region of Agricultural

The electoral region of Agricultural is a multi-member electoral region of the Western Australian Legislative Council, located in the South West, Peel and part of the Great Southern regions of the state...

 and Deputy President of the Legislative Council. Elected to Parliament in the 2005 state election

Western Australian state election, 2005

Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 26 February 2005 to elect all 57 members to the Legislative Assembly and all 34 members to the Legislative Council...

 he is a member of the Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

.
Prior to entering parliament, Benson-Lidholm was a teacher and taught at Mount Barker

Mount Barker, Western Australia

Mount Barker is a town on the Albany Highway and is the administrative centre of the Shire of Plantagenet in the Great Southern region of Western Australia...

Senior High School and at the school of Distance Education.

With his wife Jan, he is a prominent breeder of Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs under the Bowbridge prefix.