Martin Hamilton-Smith is a former minister in the South Australian government. After politics he became a a self-employed consultant, investor and company director with an interest in international trade and investment, defence and space industries, entrepreneurship and science and technology linked to artificial intelligence, cyber and big data.
He is a former Australian politician who represented the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Waite from the 1997 election until his retirement in 2018. First elected as a candidate for the Liberal Party, Hamilton-Smith was the state parliamentary leader of the Liberal Party and the Leader of the Opposition in South Australia from 2007 to 2009, and a Minister in the Kerin Liberal government from 2001 to 2002. He became an independent two months after the 2014 election. He served as the Minister for Investment and Trade, Minister for Defence Industries and Minister for Veterans' Affairs in the Weatherill Labor cabinet from May 2014 until January 2018 and Minister for Space Industries and Minister for Health Industries from September 2017 until January 2018..
Mr Hamilton-Smith is a graduate of the Royal Military College and completed a Bachelor and Master of Arts from the University of New South Wales, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Adelaide winning the Baron Partner’s Prize in Strategic Management.
Before entering Parliament, Martin spent 24 years in the Army, serving in the Special Air Service Regiment (SAS), commanding the 1st Commando Regiment, and as commanding officer of the Australian multi-national Peacekeepers (MFO) in Egypt. After leaving the Army, he built up a property development and private child care centre business that employed 125 people across two states.
He is Chairman of the National SAS Association and was appointed as a Trustee to the SAS Resources Fund Board on 25 November 2021.
