In 2019 Roy was elected to the NSW Parliament's Legislative Assembly, to represent the people of Barwon and was elected for a second term in 2023 as the first ever Independent Member for Barwon.

Roy is passionate about seeing Barwon get its fair share and is willing to work with anyone in Parliament to improve the outcomes in Barwon. He believes that working together across the political divide can solve problems and make decisions that will improve our collective future. 

Roy has been a member of the Joint Standing Committee on road safety since 2019. This committee monitors, investigates and reports on road safety in New South Wales. As part of its role, the committee looks at ways to reduce deaths, injuries, and the economic costs to the community, of road accidents. 

He was appointed the Chair of the Legislative Assembly Committee on Investment, Industry and Regional Development in 2023, a committee looking at issues relating to funding, programs and services in regional NSW across a broad range of portfolios.

Background

Roy lives on a property at Mendooran with his wife Jenny where they breed and raise cattle.

Roy and Jenny have raised three children who all live and work in Regional NSW

In Roy's early years after leaving boarding school, he enlisted in the Australian Army. After basic and Infantry IETs he was posted to Brisbane with the Royal Australian Regiment, where he was in the reconnaissance sniper platoon.

Roy switched from part-time service to study and completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Addictions Counselling and Group Psychotherapy. After completing his studies he started working for Corrective Services NSW.

For the next few years, Roy worked in the NSW prison system as a drug and alcohol counsellor and group psychotherapist. After that, he delivered and coordinated offender management programs across the Sydney metropolitan area and in western New South Wales.

In 2004, Roy worked with the Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care as a manager of community access. After five years in ageing and disability, he was appointed as Regional Manager of the Western Region of the NSW Police Force, a job he describes as "the best job in New South Wales".

In 2012 and 2013, Roy completed an Executive Master of Public Administration through the Australia and New Zealand School of Government. 

His time in Corrective Services and the police took him all over the state, including the electorate of Barwon, where he saw first-hand some of the inequities and challenges facing this unique part of the world. It convinced him that he needed to run in the 2019 election, to give back to the community.

About Barwon

Barwon is a vast north-west rural electorate of 356,292 square kilometres and is the largest electorate, covering 44.5% of the state. It stretches from Walgett, Narrabri, and Coonabarabran in the east to Broken Hill and the South Australian border in the west.

Major centres include Broken Hill, Wilcannia, Bourke, Cobar, Condobolin, Walgett, Brewarrina, Warren, Coonamble, Gilgandra, Narrabri, Wee Waa, and Coonabarabran.

The electorate derives its name from the Barwon River, which flows into and becomes the Darling-Baaka River at the confluence with the Culgoa River, west of Brewarrina.

Contact Detials:

Roy’s Electorate Office contact details 

Narrabri Electorate Office – 1/60 Maitland Street, Narrabri NSW 2390

Phone – 02 6792 1422 

Broken Hill Electorate Office - 1/142 Argent Street, Broken Hill NSW 2880

Phone – 08 8087 3315 

Cobar Electorate Office – 11 Barton Street, Cobar NSW 2835

Phone - 02 6836 3722 

Authorised by Roy Butler MP, funded using Parliamentary Entitlements.