User:Davesharma/suggestedadditions

Government sector
'''Sharma spent much of his career as a diplomat, often working abroad. ''' Sharma began working for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 1999 and held posts both in Australia and overseas. From 2004 to 2006 he served as the legal adviser to Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer and was then appointed to the Australian Embassy in Washington from 2006 until 2009. '''It was during his time in Washington that Sharma first became interested in diplomatic issues in the Middle East and in Israel in particular. '''

Sharma held appointments at the Australian High Commission to Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby, and as a senior civilian adviser with the Peace Monitoring Group on Bougainville.

From 2010 to 2012 Sharma was the head of the International Division in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. He advised the Prime Minister Julia Gillard during G-20 summits (including as the Prime Minister's sous-sherpa) and East Asia summits and was involved in international diplomatic events which occurred in Australia including the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in October 2011 and during US President Barack Obama's visit to Australia in November 2011.

Sharma served as the Assistant Secretary, responsible for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's Africa Branch between 2012 and 2013. In November 2012, Sharma led a visit to Abuja, Nigeria and participated in talks with the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Security Adviser as well as with officials from the Economic Community of West African States. <-- Undue weight using primary source.

Sharma was appointed the Ambassador to Israel by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Bob Carr, on 16 May 2013 replacing Andrea Faulkner. Sharma presented his credentials to Israeli President Shimon Peres on 8 August 2013. He served as ambassador to Israel for about four years. He was considered one of the most Israel-friendly ambassadors in Australia's history. During his tenure, Australia's United Nations representatives often voted in favor of Israel's agenda. However, Sharma's pro-Israel stances led to criticisms from the State of Palestine for his pro-Jerusalem positions. Australia also stopped referring to East Jerusalem as "occupied territory."

Sharma wanted Australians to be aware of features of Israel beyond its conflicts, including technology, tourism and antiquities, and encouraged Australians to engage with Israel's high-tech economy. During Sharma's time as Ambassador, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Australia, the first visit by a sitting Israeli Prime Minister, which Sharma described as "massively significant" for the bilateral relationship. Sharma also resolved disputes between Australia and Israel, developed a business incubator program that helped Australian entrepreneurs establish startups in Israel, and negotiated bilateral air services agreements.  While in Israel, Sharma and his wife Rachel,''' became involved in various humanitarian causes. They '''visited casualties of the Syrian civil war in the Ziv Medical Center in Zefat. This visit made him the first international representative to visit casualties of the war.

In May 2014 Sharma caused a diplomatic incident by meeting with the Israeli Housing and Construction Minister, Uri Ariel, in Israeli government offices located in occupied East Jerusalem, resulting in a formal complaint from the chief Palestinian UN negotiator to Julie Bishop, the then Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, that the meeting may be deemed as "aiding and abetting … illegal Israeli policies". Australia rejected these complaints, saying the meeting did not alter its position regarding the status of Jerusalem and the need to resolve this through direct negotiations.

In April 2017, Julie Bishop announced that Chris Cannan would succeed Sharma as Ambassador to Israel in mid-2017. Cannan began his appointment as Ambassador on 19 June 2017.

Private sector
Sharma was chairman of Shekel Brainweigh Ltd, an Israeli technology company. He was reported to be helping a number of other Israeli technology companies to enter the Australian market.

Federal politics
Following the resignation of Malcolm Turnbull, Dave Sharma won pre-selection as the Liberal Party's candidate for the Wentworth seat in the House of Representatives on September 13, 2018. Shortly before the party's representatives cast their votes, former Prime Ministers John Howard and Malcolm Turnbull endorsed Sharma. Sharma then won pre-selection, despite Prime Minister and Liberal Party member Scott Morrison's preference for female candidate Katherine O’Regan. Sharma and Richard Shields were the two last candidates in the running, but Sharma won with 119 votes.

Since Turnbull resigned before his term was over, a by-election was required. Independent candidate Kerryn Phelps won the by-election holding the seat for seven months, before Sharma regained the seat in the general election on May 18, 2019. He became the first member of the Australian parliament of Indian ancestry. Sharma said he would primarily focus on three issues: women in the workplace, national security, and the economy. He did a lot of work on international affairs, such as advocating that more resources be devoted to international diplomacy. 

In response to criticism from John Hewson, Sharma has stated that the Liberal Party has a "good record" on climate change, and is "doing enough" to meet the Paris Agreement. <-- Suggest moving this to a Views section (see below)

Independent candidate Kerryn Phelps won the by-election, but Sharma was pre-selected again to run as the Liberal candidate for Wentworth at the 2019 Australian federal election, and won the seat from Phelps. <-- This is now better explained in the proposed content above

After his preselection as the candidate for Wentworth, In September 2018, Sharma apologised for an opinion piece published the previous June in The Sydney Morning Herald where he argued that school infrastructure was underused and teachers worked only three-quarters the hours of a full-time job. <-- Suggest moving this to a Views section (see below)

On 26 September 2018, Sharma's campaign team was accused by other candidates in the Wentworth by-election of removing their campaign posters and replacing them with Sharma's posters. '''Sharma's campaign denied the allegations. '''

On International Women's Day 2021, Sharma was criticized for handing out flowers to women. The gesture was seen by some as "failing to read the room", and was held up as evidence of the government being out of touch women's rights issues.

Views
Sharma advocates for Australia to do more to mitigate global climate change. He said the Liberal–National Coalition should have attempted to persuade Donald Trump to have the United States rejoin the Paris Agreement and that it should push other countries to meet their targets under the agreement. In 2020, he opposed a government plan that would have provided federal funding to coal power plants. Sharma opposed electric car mandates that he felt were too totalitarian or communist.

Sharma encourages Australia to engage in "political warfare," such as disinformation campaigns, voting interference, and gathering military intelligence, in countries that pose a threat to Australia. He used Israel's covert intelligence organization as an example, though he opposes the assassinations Israel's covert operations are known for. He argues this form of statecraft is necessary due to similar efforts by other countries to interfere with Australia's elections and to spread propaganda in Australia. Sharma started advocating for these tactics after the United States started targeting Russian politicians with negative campaigns in response to Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.

Sharma said Australia needs to invest more in its military. He argues the influence the United States historically used to secure international peace is fading. He wants Australia to increase the 2% of GDP it spends on its military. The Financial Review described Sharma as a “realist” who believes in the inevitability of human conflict and the self-interested behavior of nations.

Sharma also wants Australia to secure more positions within UN agencies, as he says China and others have already done. He said COVID-19 travel bans were an excessive burden on personal liberties, and has argued for reform of the World Health Organization. Sharma wrote a paper for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute encouraging the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to invest more in online diplomacy programs, saying their social media activity was largely canned posts.

Sharma has also advocated for the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, but said conflict is unlikely to end until Hamas stops firing rockets over the border. Sharma supports gay marriage and has said the Religious Discrimination Bill cannot be at the expense of gay rights. In 2019, Sharma said an accused pedophile in the Israel court system was making fraudulent claims of mental health issues to delay extradition to Australia. He said Israel was too lenient in entertaining the accused pedophile's claims. Sharma was involved in motions attempting to get her extradited to Australia. 

Personal life
Sharma is married to Rachel Lord, a lawyer and diplomat with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. They have three daughters. Sharma has an interest in history, especially ancient Greek and Roman history. He and his family often visit archeological sites. He also plays rugby, soccer, and other sports. 

In January 2020, former Labor MP Melissa Parke sued Sharma for defamation over an April 2019 tweet in which he accused her of anti-semitism and "trafficking in conspiracy theories". He made the comment after she had withdrawn from the 2019 federal election when her comments about Israel and Palestine were publicized. In October 2020, the Federal Court dismissed Parke's defamation action against Sharma, but ruled that Sharma's earlier settlement offer should take effect, where each party would have to pay their own costs. Following this, Sharma reiterated his comment on Parke, and stated that it was "a victory for free speech".