{{Short description|Australian politician (1968–2025)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Barry Urban | honorific_suffix = | image = | assembly = Western Australian Legislative | constituency_AM = Darling Range | term_start = 11 March 2017 | term_end = 8 May 2018 | predecessor = Tony Simpson | successor = Alyssa Hayden | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1968|12|10}} | birth_place = Ashington, Northumberland, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2025|02|15|1968|12|10}} | death_place = Perth, Western Australia, Australia | party = Labor (2012–2017)<br/>Independent (2017–2018) }}
'''Barry Urban''' (10 December 1968 – 15 February 2025) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly representing Darling Range from March 2017 until his resignation in May 2018. Urban was elected as a member of the Labor Party but resigned from the party and sat as an independent from November 2017, after a series of scandals involving false claims of his credentials, including his educational qualifications and his wearing of a police overseas service medal to which he had no entitlement.<ref>Kagi, Jacob. [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-29/embattled-wa-labor-mp-barry-urban-resigns-from-wa-labor/9205448 Barry Urban quits WA Labor amid doubts about past but says he will stay in Parliament]. ABC News, 29 November 2017. Accessed 20 December 2017</ref>
In May 2018, the parliament's procedures and privileges committee recommended Urban be expelled from the assembly after it found he had misled the house on five occasions. Urban resigned immediately after the tabling of the committee's report, and his seat was lost to the Liberal Party in the subsequent by-election.<ref name="resignation">{{cite news|last1=Hondros|first1=Nathan|title=Barry Urban quits WA parliament after committee moves for expulsion|url=https://www.watoday.com.au/politics/western-australia/barry-urban-quits-wa-parliament-after-committee-moves-for-expulsion-20180508-p4ze2k.html|access-date=8 May 2018|work=WAtoday|date=8 May 2018}}</ref> Urban was charged by Western Australian police with twelve counts of forgery, attempted fraud and false evidence in September 2018,<ref name="charges">{{cite news |title=Disgraced MP Barry Urban charged with fraud |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-21/disgraced-mp-barry-urban-charged-with-fraud/10292000 |access-date=21 September 2018 |work=ABC News |date=21 September 2018 }}</ref> for which he was sentenced to three years in jail. He was released after serving 18 months. He died after allegedly being punched in the head following an argument.
==Early life== Urban was born in Ashington, Northumberland, England, and joined the British Army after leaving school. He claimed to have served in Northern Ireland, Cyprus and Namibia and, in 1989, joined the police. He claimed to have worked as a detective, and later as a war crimes investigator in Bosnia. None of this was able to be verified when requested, and was removed from his parliamentary biography following a scandal where he wore an Australian Police Overseas Service Medal without being entitled to it.<ref name="bioedit">{{cite news|title=MPs military history 'deleted' amid fake medal scandal|url=https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/medal-questions-ng-b88665113z|access-date=8 May 2018|work=The West Australian|date=20 November 2017}}</ref>
He relocated to Western Australia around 2000 and worked in the construction industry until joining Western Australian police in 2005. He also served on Serpentine-Jarrahdale Shire Council.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.communitynews.com.au/comment/news/not-another-urban-miss-labor-candidate-barry-urban-to-try-for-darling-range-again/ |title=Not another Urban miss: Labor candidate Barry Urban to try for Darling Range again |last=Moore |first=Sophie |date=24 January 2017 |work=Comment News |access-date=11 May 2017 |publisher=Community News Group}}</ref><ref name="abc">{{cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/wa-election-2017/guide/darl/|last=Green|first=Antony|authorlink=Antony Green|title=Darling Range|work=ABC Elections|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|year=2017}}</ref>
Urban was working for South West Metro Youth Justice services, as a Youth Justice Officer before he was elected to the Parliament of Western Australia.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.businessnews.com.au/Person/Barry-Urban | title=Barry Urban }}</ref>
==Political career== Urban first contested Darling Range for Labor at the 2013 state election, but was heavily defeated by incumbent Tony Simpson, winning only 34.7 percent of the two-party vote.<ref>{{cite web |title=2013 State General Election: Results and Statistics Report |url=https://www.elections.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/content/documents/2013_SGE_Results_Stats_report.pdf |website=Western Australian Electoral Commission |access-date=16 February 2025 |page=18}}</ref> Urban was again pre-selected to contest the electorate at the 2017 state election, this time defeating Simpson, achieving an 18.9% two-party preferred swing. He was the first Labor member ever to win Darling Range; for most of its existence it had been considered to be a safe Liberal seat.<ref>{{cite web |title=Darling Range - WA Election 2017 |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/wa/2017/guide/darl |website=ABC News |access-date=16 February 2025}}</ref>
In November 2017, Urban was asked to explain why he wore an Australian Police Overseas Service Medal to commemoration services, despite not having served overseas for an Australian police force. Urban claimed that he was awarded a medal by British police for his work as a war crimes investigator in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the late 1990s, but that he had somehow been sent the wrong medal by authorities in the UK.<ref name="november">{{cite news|title=WA Labor MP Barry Urban under fire for 'fake' peacekeeping medals|url=https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/wa-labor-mp-barry-urban-under-fire-for-fake-peacekeeping-medals-ng-b88663401z|access-date=7 May 2018|work=The West Australian|date=17 November 2017}}</ref> A day later, he issued a statement saying that he had ordered a commemorative International Police Service Medal from a military supply store because he felt he was entitled to one, but had received a POSM in error. In addition, the University of Leeds stated that it had no record of Urban attending the institution, or completing a Bachelor of Arts in health and physical education there, as he had claimed.<ref name="leedsuni">{{cite news|title=Is this MP's university degree an Urban myth?|url=https://thewest.com.au/politics/state-politics/barry-urbans-university-degree-under-a-cloud-ng-b88666582z|access-date=7 May 2018|work=The West Australian|date=21 November 2017}}</ref> His claims to have completed a certificate of higher education in policing at the University of Portsmouth, and a diploma of local government in Western Australia, were also questioned, and later found to be false.<ref name="ppcreport">{{cite web|last1=Procedure and Privileges Committee|title=Misleading the House: Statements Made by the Member for Darling Range|url=http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/WebCMS/WebCMS.nsf/resources/file-tp---ppc-report-no2/$file/PPC%20Report%20No.%202.pdf|publisher=Parliament of Western Australia|access-date=8 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180623170809/http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/WebCMS/WebCMS.nsf/resources/file-tp---ppc-report-no2/$file/PPC%20Report%20No.%202.pdf|archive-date=23 June 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In response to Urban's statement, the United Nations and Overseas Policing Association of Australia announced it would be lobbying Australian federal parliamentarians to make it a criminal offence "with considerable penalties" for people to wear medals to which they are not entitled.<ref>Travers, Mick. [http://trueblueline.net/2017/12/united-nations-overseas-policing-association-of-australia-statement-in-relation-to-barry-urban-mp-member-for-darling-range/ UNOPAA statement in relation to Barry Urban MP – Member for Darling Range]. Media release, 1 December 2017. Accessed 20 December 2017</ref>
On 29 November 2017, Urban announced his resignation from the Labor Party. The following day, after addressing parliament, Urban was referred to the procedures and privileges committee.<ref>Adshead, Gary. [https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/wa-labor-mp-barry-urban-under-fire-for-fake-peacekeeping-medals-ng-b88663401z WA Labor MP Barry Urban under fire for ‘fake’ peacekeeping medals]. ''The West Australian'', 18 November 2017</ref>
On 8 May 2018, the committee released its report. The committee found Urban had committed a "gross and aggravated contempt of parliament" and had misled the house on five occasions. It also found that Urban had breached the trust of his constituents and his colleagues by representing himself as someone he was not. The committee recommended that Urban be expelled from the Legislative Assembly, concluding that Urban's continued presence in the legislature was not "appropriate or tenable."<ref name="report">{{cite news|title=Urban quits after expulsion recommendation|url=https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/5387819/urban-quits-after-expulsion-recommendation/?cs=7|access-date=8 May 2018|work=Newcastle Herald|date=8 May 2018}}</ref><ref>[https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4454066-PPC-Report-Into-Barry-Urban.html Final committee report on Urban]</ref> On the day the report was due to be released, ABC News reported that Urban planned to resign from Parliament.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-07/embattled-mp-barry-urban-to-resign-from-wa-parliament/9736266|title=Embattled MP Barry Urban to resign from WA Parliament as member for Darling Range|work=ABC News|date=7 May 2018}}</ref> Minutes after the report was tabled, Urban resigned rather than face all-but-certain expulsion.<ref name="resignation" /> A by-election for Darling Range was held on 23 June, with the Liberal candidate Alyssa Hayden winning the seat.<ref name="hayden">{{cite news |title=Liberal Alyssa Hayden wins Darling Range by-election |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-24/liberal-alyssa-hayden-wins-darling-range-by/9904264 |access-date=21 September 2018 |date=24 June 2018 }}</ref>
== Post-resignation == On 21 September 2018, Urban was arrested by Western Australian police major fraud squad and charged with twelve offences, including forgery and attempted fraud over applications he made to Western Australian police, and five false evidence charges relating to information given to the parliamentary committee.<ref name="charges" /> He was subsequently found guilty and sentenced to three years in jail in November 2021.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Mayes|first1=Andrea|last2=Weber|first2=David|last3=Menagh|first3=Joanna|date=25 November 2021|title=Judge brands Barry Urban a 'real-life Pinocchio', jailing disgraced ex-MP for spinning web of lies|language=en-AU|work=ABC News|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-25/former-mp-barry-urban-sentenced-for-fraud-lies-over-background/100610622|access-date=20 January 2022}}</ref> He was released from jail after serving 18 months. Following that, he worked at a tyre business in Kelmscott.<ref name="ABC News 16 February 2025"/>
In January 2022, Urban was fined $20,000 and asked to pay $1,900 in costs for illegally dumping thousands of tyres at two properties in Armadale between January and July 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |date=18 January 2022 |title=Jailed former MP Barry Urban cops fine for tyre dumping |url=https://thewest.com.au/news/crime/disgraced-former-mp-barry-urban-fined-20000-for-illegally-dumping-tyres-in-armadale-c-5356051 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118102747/https://thewest.com.au/news/crime/disgraced-former-mp-barry-urban-fined-20000-for-illegally-dumping-tyres-in-armadale-c-5356051 |archive-date=18 January 2022 |access-date=8 January 2023 |website=The West Australian |language=en}}</ref>
Urban died at Royal Perth Hospital on 15 February 2025 due to a severe brain injury, three months after he was allegedly punched in the head outside his workplace in Kelmscott following an argument. He was 56. At the time of the incident, a 25-year-old man, was charged with grievous bodily harm, common assault, aggravated burglary, no authority to drive, and reckless driving.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Page |first1=Jessica |title=Disgraced former Perth MP Barry Urban dead, three months after attack |url=https://thewest.com.au/news/crime/disgraced-former-perth-mp-barry-urban-dead-three-months-after-attack-c-17738530 |website=The West Australian |access-date=16 February 2025 |date=16 February 2025 |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Burton |first1=Jesinta |title=Ex-Labor MP Barry Urban dies after one-punch attack |url=https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/ex-labor-mp-barry-urban-dies-after-one-punch-attack-20250216-p5lci8.html |website=WAtoday |access-date=16 February 2025 |date=16 February 2025}}</ref><ref name="ABC News 16 February 2025">{{cite web |title=Disgraced former WA Labor MP Barry Urban dies, three months after alleged attack |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-16/disgraced-former-labor-mp-barry-urban-dies-/104942678 |website=ABC News |access-date=16 February 2025}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist |30em}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|au-wa-la}} {{s-bef|before=Tony Simpson}} {{s-ttl|title=Member for Darling Range | years=2017–2018}} {{s-aft|after=Alyssa Hayden}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Urban, Barry}} Category:1968 births Category:2025 deaths Category:21st-century Australian politicians Category:Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia Category:Independent members of the Parliament of Western Australia Category:Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Category:English emigrants to Australia Category:Australian police officers Category:British police officers Category:Royal Horse Artillery soldiers Category:People from Ashington Category:20th-century British Army personnel Category:Military personnel from Northumberland Category:Alumni of the University of Portsmouth Category:Western Australian local councillors Category:Criminals from Western Australia Category:Australian politicians convicted of crimes Category:Violent deaths in Australia