Zak Kirkup was a Liberal member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for Dawesville from 2017 to 2021. After high school and a brief stint at Murdoch University, Zak Kirkup spent 2006 to 2009 working for the Liberal Party of Western Australia. He became the youngest ever deputy state director of the Liberal Party and worked on a number of election campaigns.
Mr Kirkup was principal policy advisor for Premier Colin Barnett through to 2014, and was responsible for advising both the Premier and Government in a variety of areas including environment, corrective services, agriculture, planning, housing, heritage, emergency services, Parliament and Aboriginal affairs. After working for more than ten years in politics, Mr Kirkup moved into the private sector and became strategic development manager of BGC.
In April 2016, Mr Kirkup won Liberal pre-selection for the state seat of Dawesville by 343 votes. He was appointed Western Australia's Shadow Minister for Health, Mental Health, Innovation & Disruptive Technologies, and Aboriginal Affairs under Liza Harvey's Shadow Cabinet in 2019. He led a new portfolio as Shadow Minister for New Industries in July 2020, tasked with creating more job opportunities for West Australians out of work as the State deals with the record unemployment numbers arising from the coronavirus epidemic.
In November 2020, following the resignation of Liza Harvey, Mr Kirkup became the youngest person to lead the WA Liberal Party at 33 years of age. He lost his seat of Dawesville at the 2021 state elections and stepped down from politics.
