Dennis Hood

Early life and personal life

Dennis Hood was born in Woodside, South Australia, and raised in Salisbury. His father held three jobs during Hood's youth, and his mother, who is blind, worked as a meat packer. He earned a Bachelor of Economics with honours in politics and philosophy and a Bachelor of Arts in Politics from the University of Adelaide. Before entering politics, he worked as a financial executive for Johnson & Johnson in pharmaceuticals.

Hood converted to Christianity at 19, though his parents were not religious, and he continues to attend church regularly. He and his wife Lisa had a daughter in 2006. Hood has ankylosing spondylitis.

Political career

Hood took on the role of Federal Director for the Family First Party in 2005. He was the party's lead candidate at the 2006 South Australian election and won a seat. By February 2007, he had taken over as the Family First parliamentary leader from Andrew Evans, while also holding the positions of party treasurer and serving on the Social Development Committee. He secured re-election on the Family First ticket in 2014, and in 2016 chaired a committee within the South Australian Parliament.

When Family First merged with the Australian Conservatives in 2017, Hood and Robert Brokenshire moved to the new party. Following the 2018 state election, which Hood did not contest, the Conservatives performed poorly and Brokenshire lost his seat, making Hood their sole representative in the state parliament. Just nine days after the election, Hood switched to the Liberal Party, explaining that the Liberals' platform closely matched his own and that the Conservatives were too focused on federal matters to have any state-level impact.

In April 2020, he was appointed to the South Australian Parliament's COVID-19 Response Committee. From 2020 to 2022, he served as a government whip.

He was placed second on the Liberal Legislative Council ticket for the 2022 state election and was re-elected. Over his career, Hood has also been Shadow Cabinet Secretary and shadow minister for sport, training and skills, and multicultural affairs. He now serves as shadow minister for veterans affairs, tourism, and recreation, sport and racing.

Political stances

In 2014, Hood argued that government overregulates people and has become too large. He suggested removing compulsory voting in 2009, calling it undemocratic to force people to vote. In 2008, he unsuccessfully pushed for stricter sentences for criminals' second offences. In 2013, he stated that while rehabilitation is a goal, public safety must be the absolute priority and that punishing criminals should take precedence.

In 2011, he introduced a law to increase police powers to seize computers of convicted child molesters without a court order and to allow judges to restrict pedophiles' internet usage. In 2017, he supported an anti-bullying bill based on Brodie's Law, saying existing approaches were insufficient. In 2018, he opposed the continuation of Safe Schools, a policy reducing bullying of LGBTQ+ students. In 2010, he noted the state coroner needed more resources for a backlog of cases, and in 2011 he advocated for a police task force to address unexecuted arrest warrants.

Hood has held staunch anti-prostitution beliefs, which in 2011 he said were consistent with his Christian feminist positions. In 2015, he believed decriminalising prostitution would be akin to government encouragement of sex work, though he criticised a proposed bill for failing to protect sex workers. He voted against decriminalisation in 2019. In 2007, he opposed sex education for primary school children, and in 2011 questioned the effectiveness of existing programs after a rise in sexually transmitted infections, calling for stricter messaging and expressing dislike of courses that do not teach abstinence before marriage.

Did You Know?

• In 2024, despite being anti-abortion, Hood cast the deciding 10–9 vote that defeated an anti-abortion bill.
• Hood suffers from ankylosing spondylitis, a form of arthritis affecting the spine.