James Patrick Flaherty 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 was an 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...

 member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly

New South Wales Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...

 from 1962 to 1984, representing the electorate of Granville

Electoral district of Granville

Granville is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales in Sydney's West. It is currently represented by Tony Issa of the Liberal Party of Australia.-History:...

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Flaherty was born in Granville

Granville, New South Wales

Granville, is a suburb in western Sydney, Australia. Granville is located west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Parramatta. A small part in the north-west is located in the Local Government Area of the City of Holroyd.South Granville is a...

, and was educated at Blaxcell Street Public School and Marist Brothers High School, Parramatta. He was a carpenter and joiner by trade. He was an alderman on the City of Parramatta

City of Parramatta

The City of Parramatta is a Local Government Area in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia.Initially in 1861 it was formed as Municipality of Parramatta...

 council from 1957 to 1962, serving as Deputy Mayor in 1960 and Mayor in 1962.

Flaherty entered state politics at the 1962 state election

New South Wales state election, 1962

The 1962 New South Wales state election was held on 3 March 1962. It was conducted in single member constituencies with compulsory preferential voting and was held on boundaries created at a 1961 redistribution...

, when he defeated the incumbent Labor MLA for the safe seat of Granville

Electoral district of Granville

Granville is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales in Sydney's West. It is currently represented by Tony Issa of the Liberal Party of Australia.-History:...

, Bill Lamb

Bill Lamb

The Hon. William Henry Lamb was an Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1938 until 1962 and, variously, a member of the Australian Labor Party and the Lang Labor Party...

, for preselection. He was re-elected without difficulty on seven occasions, and retired at the 1984 state election

New South Wales state election, 1984

Elections were held in the state of New South Wales, Australia, on Saturday 24 March 1984. The Labor government led by Neville Wran won a fourth term in office, although with a reduced margin and a 7% swing against it....

, where he was replaced by future federal minister Laurie Ferguson

Laurie Ferguson

Laurie Donald Thomas Ferguson , Australian politician, has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives since March 1990, representing Reid until 2010 and Werriwa thereafter, both in New South Wales. He was born in Sydney, New South Wales, and grew up in the...

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