Luke Hartsuyker

Hartsuyker was born in Muswellbrook, New South Wales, where he attended a state primary school and state high school. His father, Tom Hartsuyker, immigrated from the Netherlands in 1951 and subsequently established a Dutch-themed tourist park in Coffs Harbour called The Clog Barn. Hartsuyker was born a Dutch citizen by descent, but automatically lost his citizenship in 1995 by failing to meet a provision requiring foreign-born citizens to return to the Netherlands every ten years.[2]

Hartsuyker holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Newcastle University, and an Associate Diploma in valuation. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Practising Accountants Australia. He managed his father's business before entering politics. He and his wife, Irene, have two sons.[3][4][5]

In the 2001 federal election Hartsuyker was elected to the Division of Cowper after longstanding Nationals MP Garry Nehl retired from the seat. Hartsuyker retained the seat in subsequent elections: 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016.[6]

An electoral redistribution changed Cowper's boundaries prior to the 2016 election: Port Macquarie was included in Cowper for the first time, while the region north of Coffs Harbour was transferred out of Cowper to the Division of Page.[6]

Former Independent MP Rob Oakeshott, who lives in Port Macquarie (which had been within the Division of Lyne prior to the redistribution), contested the Division of Cowper at the 2016 election.[6] A number of seat-level opinion polls in Cowper found the incumbent Hartsuyker and independent Oakeshott neck-and-neck on the two-party-preferred vote. Hartsuyker won re-election, but suffered a swing of 13 percent – the closest that the Nationals had come to losing Cowper in over half a century. The Nationals have held it for all but one term since 1919. While Oakeshott slashed Hartsuyker's two-party margin to 4.5%, Cowper is still a safe National seat in a "traditional" two-party matchup with Labor.

On 8 August 2018, Hartsuyker announced he would retire from federal politics at the 2019 federal election.[1]