Political career
In September 1999,he was elected to the Hawkesbury City Council. From 2001 to 2004 he served as deputy mayor,while still working as a teaching administrator. [5] Conolly contested the 1999 state election,but was unsuccessful in winning the seat of Londonderry for the Liberal Party. [6]
In 2007 and again in 2011,Conolly contested the normally safe Labor seat of Riverstone in north-western Sydney. [7] In March 2011,Conolly was elected with a two-party swing of 30.2 points—almost unheard of in Australian politics. He ultimately won the seat with 70.2 per cent of the vote,turning it into a comfortably safe Liberal seat in one stroke. His primary-vote margin was actually enough for him to take the seat without the need for preferences. [6] It was the first time in the seat's 30-year history that the seat was not held by Labor. Before the election,the sitting member,John Aquilina,who had held the seat since 1991,announced his retirement.
Conolly opposes same-sex marriage,declaring in a 2015 statement that "marriage existed before parliaments and government" and that it was a "relationship that reflects the laws of nature". [8]
Conolly opposed the Abortion Law Reform Act 2019,describing it as "capital punishment for being unwanted" [9] and "a fascist solution in search of a problem". [10] Along with Mulgoa MP Tanya Davies,Conolly threatened to move to the crossbench unless certain amendments were passed,stripping the Liberal Party of their majority. [11]
In August 2022,Conolly announced that he would not be recontesting his seat and that he would retire at the March 2023 New South Wales State Election. [12]
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