John McGrath was appointed Shadow Minister for Racing & Gaming, Sport & Recreation under Liza Harvey's Shadow Cabinet in 2019. Mr McGrath was the Liberal Party member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for South Perth from 2005 until his retirement at the 2021 state election.
Prior to entering parliament, Mr McGrath was a senior journalist at West Australian Newspapers. During his career at “The West”, he was a senior journalist, sports editor, racing editor and chief football writer. He covered major sporting events including the Olympic Games in Barcelona and Sydney, and the Commonwealth Games in Auckland. Having a passion for horse racing and football, Mr McGrath covered the Melbourne Cup for 15 years and the AFL Grand Finals for 13 years. He also covered major golf and tennis tournaments.
During his career as a journalist, Mr McGrath won numerous awards including Australian Racing Writer of the Year 1986, WA Racing Writer of the Year 1988 and 1989, WA Football Best News Story 1993, and the Alan Newman Award for Football Writing AFL in 2003 and 2004.
