Jeff Collins (Australian politician)

Jeff Collins MLA
Member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly for Fong Lim
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 August 2016
Preceded by	Dave Tollner
Personal details
Born	Jeffrey David Collins (1961-10-27) 27 October 1961 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Political party	Labor Party
Alma mater	University of Sydney University of Technology Sydney
Occupation	Lawyer

Jeffrey David Collins (born 27 October 1961) is an Australian politician. He is a Labor member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly since 2016, representing the electorate of Fong Lim.

Early life and career

Collins was an electrician and a firefighter before gaining a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney and his law degree at the University of Technology, Sydney. He worked as a senior solicitor at Colin Biggers & Paisley and as a barrister for Edmund Barton Chambers in Sydney.

Collins moved to Darwin in 2012, working as a specoal counsel with Clayton Utz and then with Ward Keller. He was treasurer of the Law Society NT and a member of the National Human Rights Committee of the Law Council of Australia.

He has four children and lives at Stuart Park.

Politics

Collins was elected into the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly in 2016 in the electoral division of Fong Lim, previously held by Dave Tollner, who did not recontest after losing preselection for the new safer seat of Spillett.

In 2017 Collins chaired a Select Committee on Opening Parliament to the People which resulted in a fundamental change to the way bills passing through the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly are scrutinised.

Also in 2017 Collins travelled to Portugal to undertake a study of the 2001 Portuguese Drug Strategy and has become a vocal proponent of the harm minimisation approach to drug laws.