Paul Osborne

Paul Anthony Osborne (born 30 September 1966) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer, administrator and politician.

He played first-grade rugby league for the St George Dragons and Canberra Raiders before serving as a member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly from 1995 until 2001.

Osborne grew up in Hurlstone Park, New South Wales and was educated at Christian Brothers' High School, Lewisham.

Osborne left the club at the end of Brian Smith's first year as head coach in 1991 to join Canberra, whose forwards' roster had been weakened after the 1991 salary cap investigation led to the Raiders having to shed several players.

Not expecting to be selected for any post-season matches, and unsigned for the following year, he had organised an immediate release from finals-bound Canberra, and had been ready to fly to England to finish his career there.

[citation needed] Osborne was elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly as an independent representative for the electorate of Brindabella in 1995 on a socially conservative platform.

The Osborne Independent Group ran on a strong anti-abortion ticket with stated objectives of blocking efforts to legalise euthanasia and decriminalise abortion.

In 1998, with support of Rugendyke, Osborne introduced an anti-abortion bill, requiring that more information be provided to women considering the procedure and that there be a 72-hour cooling-off period between it being approved and carried out.

In late 2000, Labor gave notice of an intention to move a no confidence vote against Carnell over the controversial Bruce Stadium affair.

Osborne returned to Rwanda in 2009 with six Parramatta Eels players, Joe Galuvao, Matt Keating, Tim Mannah, Joseph Paulo, Justin Poore and Joel Reddy.

They worked in the same village and also made the trip to the border of Rwanda and the Congo at the Volcanoes National Park to visit the mountain gorillas.