Paul Osborne

Paul Anthony Osborne (born 30 September 1966) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer, administrator and politician.

Paul Osborne was the Captain of the Australian Schoolboy Rugby League Team in 1984.

He was a member of the St George Dragons between 1986–91 and the Canberra Raiders from 1992–94.

His form during his tenure at St George was inconsistent; he was sometimes considered a future star for the club and a captaincy candidate, while at other times he was considered a liability.

He did, however, star in the Dragons team that won the mid-week 1988 Panasonic Cup.

Osborne left the club at the end of Brian Smith's first year as head coach in 1991 to join Canberra, whose forwards roster had been weakened after the 1991 salary cap investigation led to the Raiders having to shed several players.

In switching clubs, Osborne was unlucky in that Canberra had made the grand final in four of his last five years at St George, and then the Dragons made the grand final in each of the two seasons following his move to the nation’s capital.

Although he was a regular first-grader in his first two seasons with the Raiders, he injured his foot early in 1994 and thus didn't play much first grade that season.

Not expecting to be selected for any post-season matches, and unsigned for the following year, he had organised an immediate release from finals-bound Canberra, and had been ready to fly to England to finish his career there.

In the Raiders’ 1994 preliminary final victory over North Sydney, John Lomax was sent off and subsequently suspended, meaning Lomax was unavailable for the grand final.

Canberra coach Tim Sheens felt that the reserve forwards he had been using in the finals, Brett Hetherington and David Westley, would lose their impact if they started the match, so he literally called Osborne back from the airport for the opportunity to play one last game, in the grand final.

In a career-best performance, Osborne laid on two offloads which led directly to tries in the early stages of the decider, playing an important role as Canberra claimed the 1994 Winfield Cup, and giving him a dream ending to his playing days.

He played first-grade rugby league for the St George Dragons and Canberra Raiders before serving as a member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly from 1995 until 2001.

Missing the flight to England had terminated his contractual agreements in the UK, so he was left without a club for 1995.

Osborne consequently joined the local Canberra competition, and later got involved in local politics.

Osborne was elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly as an independent representative for the electorate of Brindabella in 1995 on a socially conservative platform.

In 1995, with the support of Osborne and Michael Moore, another independent, Liberal leader, Kate Carnell, formed a minority government.

Moore later went on to serve as an independent Minister for Health in the Carnell-led government.

Prior to the 1998 general election, Osborne formed a group called the Osborne Independents Group and ran two candidates in each of the three seats.

Osborne was re-elected and Dave Rugendyke, a former police officer, won a seat in the Assembly, representing Ginninderra.

The Osborne Independent Group ran on a strong anti-abortion ticket with stated objectives of blocking efforts to legalise euthanasia and decriminalise abortion.

However, on taking up his seat in the Assembly, Rugendyke chose not to sit with Osborne, opting instead to sit as an independent in the Assembly.

In 1998, with support of Rugendyke, Osborne introduced an anti-abortion bill, requiring that more information be provided to women considering the procedure and that there be a 72-hour cooling-off period between it being approved and carried out.

His move was vehemently but unsuccessfully opposed by the Health Minister, Moore.

The Bill, while consistent with Osborne's Catholic beliefs, damaged his popularity among the suburban voters who had been his chief supporters.

Less than a year later, at the request of the party, the ACT Electoral Commission deregistered the Osborne Independent Group on 15 February 1999.

Osborne and Rugendyke sat in the Assembly as independents from that date.

Osborne voted against the 2000 budget in a successful attempt to stop the opening of a supervised injecting room.

Although the injecting room had the support of a majority of the Assembly members, Osborne's support was needed to approve the funding in the budget.

A new budget without funding for the injecting room was presented to the Assembly soon after and it was passed with Osborne's support.

In late 2000, Labor gave notice of an intention to move a no confidence vote against Carnell over the controversial Bruce Stadium affair.

The Assembly adjourned for seven days and, despite her attempts to secure support from Osborne, Carnell was forced to resign as Chief Minister before the vote was put to the Assembly.

She was replaced by Gary Humphries.

Osborne had a crucial role in determining Carnell's future, initially proposing an early election (which was outside the provisions of the ACT Constitution) to resolve the lack of confidence in Carnell.

(Abortion was decriminalised and the legislation repealed in 2002).

He was the chief executive officer of the Parramatta Eels in the National Rugby League from 2009 to 2011.

Osborne grew up in Hurlstone Park, New South Wales and was educated at Christian Brothers' High School, Lewisham.

He was formerly a police detective.

He is married to Maria Giertta, with whom he has two children.

He also has nine children with his first wife, Sally Behn.