Michael James Hart (born 19 June 1960) is an Australian Liberal National politician who is the member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland for Burleigh, having defeated Christine Smith at the 2012 state election then being re-elected at the 31 January election in 2015. His office is in the electorate of Mermaid Beach, some distance from Burleigh. Michael moved to the Gold Coast in 1986 with his family, including wife Sally and three children Tim, Hayden and Jessica.

The evolutionary origins of yellow fever most likely came from Africa.Phylogenetic analyses indicate that the virus originated from East or Central Africa, with transmission between primates and humans, and spread from there to West Africa. The virus as well as the vector Aedes aegypti, a mosquito species, were probably brought to the western hemisphere and the Americas by slave trade ships from Africa after the first European exploration in 1492. The first outbreaks of disease that were probably yellow fever occurred in the Windward Islands of the Caribbean, on Barbados in 1647 and Guadeloupe in 1648. Barbados had undergone an ecological transformation with the introduction of sugar cultivation by the Dutch. Plentiful forests present in the 1640s were completely gone by the 1660s. By the early 18th century, the same transformation related to sugar cultivation had occurred on the larger islands of Jamaica, Hispaniola and Cuba. Spanish colonists recorded an outbreak in 1648 on the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico that may have been yellow fever. The illness was called xekik (black vomit) by the Maya. At least 25 major outbreaks followed in North America, such as in 1793 in Philadelphia, where several thousand people died, more than nine percent of the total population. The American government, including George Washington, had to flee the city, which was the capital of the United States at the time. In 1878, about 20,000 people died in an epidemic in towns of the Mississippi River Valley and its tributaries. The last major outbreak in the US occurred in 1905 in New Orleans. Major outbreaks also occurred in Europe in the 19th century in Atlantic ports following the arrival of sailing vessels from the Caribbean, most often from Havana. Outbreaks occurred in Barcelona, Spain, in 1803, 1821, and 1870. In the last outbreak, 1,235 fatalities were recorded of an estimated 12,000 cases. Smaller outbreaks occurred in Saint-Nazaire in France, Swansea in Wales, and in other European port cities, following the arrival of vessels carrying the mosquito vector. The first mention of the disease by the name "yellow fever" occurred in 1744. Many famous people, mostly during the 18th through the 20th centuries, contracted and then recovered from, or died of, yellow fever.

Michael James Hart (born 19 June 1960) is an Australian Liberal National politician who is the member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland for Burleigh, having defeated Christine Smith at the 2012 state election then being re-elected at the 31 January election in 2015. His office is in the electorate of Mermaid Beach, some distance from Burleigh. Michael was born in Bega on 19 June 1960. Before his entry into the Queensland parliament he was the company director and CEO of Mastercut Technologies. He is a qualified aircraft maintenance engineer. He is a longtime follower and supporter of Surf Life Saving Queensland, having been president of the Pacific Life Saving Club in his electorate in 2011–2012 and subsequently the patron of the South Coast branch of SLSQ. Michael moved to the Gold Coast in 1986 with his family, including wife Sally and three children Tim, Hayden and Jessica. In his maiden speech in government he emphasized his belief in small government with minimal regulation, stating "I believe good government needs to ensure the population is secure from interference from the actions of others. If a government just does that one thing, I believe it succeeds." He was appointed Shadow Minister for Energy, Biofuels and Water Supply in May 2016 and served on the Infrastructure Planning and Natural Resources parliamentary committee in 2012 and was Deputy Chair of the committee in 2015-2016 (June). He is currently the Shadow Minister for Housing and Public Works, Shadow Minister for Energy and Shadow Minister for Innovation and Digital Technology.