Matthew Ryan Mason-Cox is an Australian politician who served as President of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 4 May 2021 until 9 May 2023.
He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council for the Liberal Party from 28 September 2006 until 3 March 2023, with a short two-week stint as an Independent in May 2021.
Mason-Cox was the Minister for Fair Trading between May 2014 and April 2015 in the first Baird ministry (one of the shortest ministerial careers in NSW)[citation needed] and served as Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia in the Legislative Council during 2014 and 2015.
[11] As the dispute over the presidency continued, Maclaren-Jones assumed the chair without being declared elected by the clerk on the night of 4 May 2021, before losing a vote of no confidence less than 90 minutes later.
[12] On assuming the chair, he pledged to be an independent and impartial president, and announced he would no longer attend party room meetings.