In Westminster parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a Member of Parliament (MP) or a legislator who does not hold governmental office and is not a Front Bench spokesperson in the Opposition. A backbencher may be a new parliamentary member yet to receive high office, a senior figure dropped from government, or someone who for whatever reason is not chosen to sit either in the ministry or the opposition Shadow Ministry.

In most parliamentary systems, backbenchers individually do not have much power to influence government policy. However, they are important in providing services to their constituents and in relaying the opinions of their constituents. Some backbenchers also sit on parliamentary committees, where legislation is considered in more detail than is permitted on the floor of the House, and thereby provide valuable input into the legislative process. In addition, since backbenchers generally form the vast majority of the number of MPs, collectively they can sometimes exercise considerable power especially in cases where the policies of the government are unpopular or when a governing party is internally split.

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar ( pronunciation (help·info); born 24 April 1973) is an Indian cricketer widely considered to be one of the greatest batsmen of all time. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the first player to score a double century in ODI cricket. In 2002, just 12 years into his career, Wisden ranked him the second greatest Test batsman of all time, behind Donald Bradman, and the second greatest one-day-international (ODI) batsman of all time, behind Viv Richards. Tendulkar was a part of the 2011 Cricket World Cup winning Indian team in the later part of his career, his first such win in six World Cup appearances for India. He is currently nominated for receiving the Bharat Ratna award.

Mahat Raghavendra (born on 18 February 1987) is an Tamil film actor, who is best known for his role in Venkat Prabhu's action thriller, Mankatha.

After finishing a degree at Hindustan College of Arts and Science, Mahat pursued a career in films with actor-director Silambarasan who cast him in a minor role for the 2006 film, Vallavan.

Mahat Raghavendra, also a childhood friend of producer Dhayanidhi Alagiri, was signed to portray a role in Venkat Prabhu's Mankatha which featured an ensemble cast including Ajith Kumar, Vaibhav Reddy and Arjun. The film in which Mahat appeared as a Dharavi bar owner released to critical and commercial acclaim in August 2011.

Scott Driscoll is a Member of the Queensland Parliament and the honorary National President of the United Retail Federation, which is a high profile peak Australian retail industry organisation.

Driscoll was elected to the Queensland Parliament on 24 March 2012 against the former Labor Party incumbent.

Driscoll is also Honorary Chairman of the Australian Small Business Coalition.

He has been a critic of the Australian Labor Government and is known for being an advocate for small businesses and many of the policies of the Liberal Party. Driscoll was an early supporter of the current Australian Liberal Party leader, Tony Abbott.

Driscoll was born in and resides in Redcliffe in the state of Queensland. He has owned and run various small businesses and has also worked as a financial adviser for major banks and financial institutions in Australia.

As the National President, Driscoll had overall responsibility for the Federation in Australia as the elected Honorary National President.

Driscoll is well known as an active user of Social Media as a means of communication, regularly commenting via his Twitter account and his Facebook account

Dr Dennis Jensen (born 28 February 1962 in Johannesburg, South Africa), Australian politician, was elected to the Australian House of Representatives at the 9 October 2004 federal election for the Division of Tangney, Western Australia, for the Liberal Party.

He was educated at RMIT University, Melbourne University and Monash University, from where he has a PhD in materials engineering on ceramics. He was a research scientist with the CSIRO and a defence analyst before entering politics.

He was the Liberal candidate for the Division of Corio, Victoria at the 1998 election.

In 2006, Dr Jensen lost his preselection for the division of Tangney for the 2007 federal election. Dr Jensen later won back his preselection with the support of prime minister John Howard.

Dr Jensen is a sceptic of human induced global warming and, on behalf of the Lavoisier Group, organised the release of a book entitled Nine Facts About Climate Change by former mining CEO Ray Evans. In February 2007 during a Parliamentary sitting, Jensen quoted the then IPCC Vice Chairman Yuri Izrael who stated that "there is no proven link between human activity and global warming".