Matthew John Cowdrey is an Australian politician and Paralympic swimmer. He presently holds numerous world records. He has a congenital amputation of his left arm; it stops just below the elbow. Cowdrey competed at the 2004 Paralympic Games, 2006 Commonwealth Games, 2008 Paralympic Games, 2010 Commonwealth Games, and the 2012 Paralympic Games. After the 2012 London Games, he is the most successful Australian Paralympian, having won thirteen Paralympic gold medals and twenty three Paralympic medals in total. On 10 February 2015, Cowdrey announced his retirement from swimming.
2012 Australian Paralympic team portrait of Cowdrey
Cowdrey at the 2012 London Paralympics
Cowdrey, gold medallist, at the 2012 London Paralympics
Cowdrey at the 2012 London Paralympics
2018 South Australian state election
The 2018 South Australian state election to elect members to the 54th Parliament of South Australia was held on 17 March 2018. All 47 seats in the House of Assembly or lower house, whose members were elected at the 2014 election, and 11 of 22 seats in the Legislative Council or upper house, last filled at the 2010 election, were contested. The record-16-year-incumbent Australian Labor Party (SA) government led by Premier Jay Weatherill was seeking a fifth four-year term, but was defeated by the opposition Liberal Party of Australia (SA), led by Opposition Leader Steven Marshall. Nick Xenophon's new SA Best party unsuccessfully sought to obtain the balance of power.
Image: Premier Marshall 2018
Image: Jay Weatherill 2018
Image: 2009 07 24 Nick Xenophon speaking cropped
Labor candidate Nat Cook won the traditionally Liberal seat of Fisher at the December 2014 by-election by just 9 votes (Lib 10,275 LAB 10,284) after preferences from a 7.3 percent Liberal to Labor two-party swing, taking Labor from minority to majority government.
