Richard Riordan (Australian politician)

Richard Vincent Riordan (born 11 April 1972) is an Australian politician and businessman. He was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as a Liberal Party member for Polwarth, at a by-election held October 31st, 2015.

In 1989 he completed his Year 12 education in Calgary (Alberta, Canada) as a Rotary Exchange Student, and completed his Victorian Certificate of Education at Trinity College Colac in 1990. Riordan was a prefect and was admitted to Monash University to undertake a Bachelor of Business Management - during this time he was active in university politics as well as the Young Liberal Movement.

After completing his studies in 1994, he was appointed managing director of his family's hardware business. In 1999, Riordan was nominated for pre-selection in the seat of Polwarth, vacated by Ian Smith. Terry Mulder subsequently won pre-selection for Polwarth in 1999.

Riordan experienced defeat in pre-selection again in 2010 before being successful in 2015, and was subsequently re-elected at the 2018 state election. Despite the Liberal Party experiencing a swing against it, Riordan increased his primary vote - receiving in excess of 50% of the vote. Riordan was appointed Assistant Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Regional Development and Deputy Chair of The Public Accounts and Estimates Committee.

Marquee issues for Riordan include wire rope barriers on county roads, and their effectiveness as a notable and important life-saving measure. He recently came under fire for his comments after the death of a truck driver in Clifton Springs where he was accused of using a fatality for political gain. His views were however supported by some road transport groups.

He was managing director of his family company, which had varied retail interests. He is active in the local community, having served as director of the board of Colac Area Health. After the Liberal Party loss during the 2022 Victorian state election, Riordan announced his candidacy for the 2022 Liberal Party of Australia (Victorian Division) leadership election. A few days later he would withdraw and announce his support for Brad Battin for the leadership election.