Keith Pitt | |
---|---|
Minister for Resources and Water [a] | |
In office 6 February 2020 –23 May 2022 | |
Prime Minister | Scott Morrison |
Preceded by | Matt Canavan |
Succeeded by | Madeleine King (Resources) Tanya Plibersek (Water) |
Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister | |
In office 5 March 2018 –28 August 2018 | |
Prime Minister | Malcolm Turnbull Scott Morrison |
Preceded by | Luke Hartsuyker |
Succeeded by | Andrew Gee |
In office 18 February 2016 –19 July 2016 | |
Preceded by | Michael McCormack |
Succeeded by | Luke Hartsuyker |
Assistant Minister for Trade,Investment and Tourism | |
In office 19 July 2016 –20 December 2017 | |
Prime Minister | Malcolm Turnbull |
Preceded by | Richard Colbeck (as Minister Assisting the Minister for Trade and Investment) |
Succeeded by | Luke Hartsuyker |
Member of the Australian Parliament for Hinkler | |
Assumed office 7 September 2013 | |
Preceded by | Paul Neville |
Personal details | |
Born | Keith John Pitt 31 August 1969 Bundaberg,Queensland,Australia |
Political party | National |
Other political affiliations | Liberal National Party of Queensland |
Spouse | Allison |
Children | 3 |
Alma mater | Queensland University of Technology |
Occupation | Electrical engineer,businessman,farmer |
Keith John Pitt (born 31 August 1969) is an Australian politician. He is a member of the National Party and has represented the Division of Hinkler in Queensland since the 2013 federal election. He was a member of cabinet in the Morrison government as Minister for Resources and Water and also served as an assistant minister in the Turnbull government. He was an electrical engineer and businessman before entering politics.
Pitt was born in Bundaberg,Queensland. [1] He grew up in Woongarra and attended Kepnock State High School before taking up an electrical apprenticeship. [2] [3] He went on to the Queensland University of Technology,graduating with the degree of Bachelor of Engineering. [1]
Pitt worked as an electrical fitter mechanic before joining Bundaberg Sugar as an electrical engineer. He later served as the company's group safety co-ordinator. [1] In 2002,he established the Australian Safety and Training Alliance,a workplace health and safety training provider. [4] He and his wife also purchased two sugarcane farms,one bought in 1998 and one in 2004,but they were sold to concentrate on the training business. [3]
In December 2012,Pitt won the Liberal National Party of Queensland's preselection ballot for the Division of Hinkler,following the retirement of incumbent MP Paul Neville. [5] He had been a member of the LNP for only six months prior to his selection,and stated that his victory in the ballot was a surprise. [6] He retained Hinkler for the party at the 2013 federal election and like Neville sits with the Nationals in federal parliament. He was re-elected at the 2016 and 2019 federal elections. [1]
Pitt served as the Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister between February and July 2016,following a rearrangement in the First Turnbull Ministry. [7] [8] With the reelection of the Turnbull government in 2016,Pitt served as the Assistant Minister for Trade,Investment and Tourism between July 2016 and December 2017 in the Second Turnbull Ministry. [9] He returned as Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister from 5 March to 28 August 2018. [10]
In February 2020,following the resignation of Matt Canavan,Pitt was reappointed to the ministry as Minister for Resources,Water and Northern Australia in the Second Morrison Ministry. [1] [11] He reportedly supported Michael McCormack against Barnaby Joyce in the preceding Nationals leadership spill. [12] He contested the party's vacant deputy leadership against David Littleproud and David Gillespie,with Littleproud emerging victorious. [13]
In December 2017,Pitt was one of only four members of the House of Representatives to vote against the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017,which legalised same-sex marriage in Australia. [14]
Described as "one of the government's most outspoken advocates for nuclear power",Pitt quit as assistant minister in August 2018 to demonstrate his opposition to the government commitment to the Paris Agreement on emission reductions. He has been described as "one of the key drivers" behind a 2019 parliamentary inquiry into nuclear power which "recommended the government consider adding the energy technology to its future energy mix". [4]
In a May 2021 interview with Sky News Australia presenter,Tom Connell,Pitt declined to admit that batteries could provide dispatchable power to back up electricity generated by a wind farm. [15]
Pitt is a monarchist. [16]
Pitt has three children with his wife Allison. [3]
Malcolm Thomas Brough is an Australian former politician. He represented the Liberal Party in the House of Representatives and held ministerial office in the Howard and Turnbull governments.
Ian Elgin Macfarlane is an Australian former politician who was a member of the House of Representatives from 1998 to 2016, representing the Liberal Party. He served as a minister in the Howard and Abbott governments.
The Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP) is a major conservative political party in Queensland, Australia. It was formed in 2008 by a merger of the Queensland divisions of the Liberal Party and the National Party. At a federal level and in most other states, the two parties remain distinct and often operate as a Coalition. The LNP is a division of the Liberal Party of Australia, and an affiliate of the National Party of Australia.
John Mark Dempsey is an Australian politician who served as the Mayor of the Bundaberg Regional Council from 2016 to 2024. He previously served as the Queensland Minister for Police and Community Safety in the Newman Government and was a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 2006 to 2015.
Mark Maclean Coulton is an Australian politician. He is a member of the National Party and has served in the House of Representatives since the 2007 federal election, representing the Division of Parkes in New South Wales. He has served as Minister for Regional Health, Regional Communications and Local Government (2020–2021), Minister for Regional Services, Decentralisation and Local Government (2019–2020), Assistant Minister for Trade and Investment (2019–2020), Assistant Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment (2018–2019), and Deputy Speaker of the House (2016–2018).
Darren Jeffrey Chester is an Australian politician. He has been a member of the House of Representatives for Gippsland in Victoria, representing the Nationals since 2008. Chester had served as the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and the Minister for Defence Personnel between March 2018 and July 2021 in the Turnbull and Morrison governments. He was also Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC until May 2019.
Daniel Thomas Tehan is an Australian politician. He is a member of the Liberal Party and has been a member of the House of Representatives since the 2010 election, representing the Victorian seat of Wannon. He held ministerial office in the Coalition governments under Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison, serving as Minister for Defence Materiel (2016), Defence Personnel (2016–2017), Veterans' Affairs (2016–2017), Social Services (2017–2018), Education (2018–2020), and Trade, Tourism and Investment. He was a public servant and political adviser before entering parliament.
Jane Prentice is a former Australian politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives from 2010 to 2019, representing the Division of Ryan in Queensland. She previously served on the Brisbane City Council from 2000 to 2010. She is a member of the Liberal National Party of Queensland and sat with the Liberal Party in federal parliament.
Scott Andrew Buchholz is an Australian politician. He is a member of the Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP) and served as an assistant minister in the Morrison government from 2018 until May 2022, following the appointment of the Albanese ministry. He has represented the seat of Wright since the 2010 federal election, sitting with the parliamentary Liberal Party, and previously served as chief government whip in the House of Representatives in the Abbott government in 2015. He was a businessman in the transport industry before entering politics.
Karen Lesley Andrews is an Australian politician who served in the Morrison government as Minister for Industry, Science and Technology from 2018 to 2021 and as Minister for Home Affairs from 2021 to 2022. She is a member of the Liberal National Party of Queensland and has represented the Queensland seat of McPherson since the 2010 federal election. Andrews sits as a Liberal and previously served as an assistant minister in the Abbott and Turnbull governments. Before entering politics she was a mechanical engineer and industrial relations consultant.
John Joseph McVeigh is an Australian former politician. He was elected to the House of Representatives at the 2016 federal election, representing the Division of Groom. He was a member of the Liberal National Party of Queensland and sat in the Liberal party room. During the Turnbull government he served in cabinet as Minister for Regional Development, Territories and Local Government from 2017 to 2018. He previously served in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 2012 to 2016 and was Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry under Premier Campbell Newman.
Michelle Leanne Landry is an Australian politician who has been a member of the House of Representatives since the 2013 federal election, representing the Division of Capricornia. Landry served as the Assistant Minister for Children and Families (2018–2022) and as the Assistant Minister for Northern Australia (2020–2022) in the Morrison government. She is a member of the Liberal National Party of Queensland, and sits with the Nationals in federal parliament.
Kevin John Hogan is an Australian politician. He has been a Nationals member of the Australian House of Representatives, representing the Division of Page in New South Wales, since September 2013.
David Arthur Gillespie is an Australian politician and gastroenterologist. He is a member of the National Party and has served in the House of Representatives since 2013, representing the New South Wales seat of Lyne. He held ministerial portfolios during the Turnbull and Morrison governments as Assistant Minister for Rural Health (2016–2017), Assistant Minister for Health (2017), Assistant Minister for Children and Families (2017–2018), Minister for Regional Health (2021–2022), and Minister Assisting the Minister for Trade and Investment (2021–2022).
James Anthony McGrath is an Australian politician and Senator for Queensland since 2014. He is a member of the Liberal National Party of Queensland and sits with the Liberal Party in federal parliament. Following his re-election in 2022, McGrath was appointed as Shadow Assistant Minister for Finance and Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition.
Trevor Mark Evans is a former Australian politician who was a member of the House of Representatives from 2016 to 2022, representing the Division of Brisbane. He was a member of the Liberal National Party of Queensland, and sat with the Liberal Party in federal parliament. Evans served as the Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction and Environmental Management in the Morrison government from May 2019 until May 2022.
David Kelly Littleproud is an Australian politician who has been the leader of the National Party since May 2022. He has represented the Queensland seat of Maranoa since the 2016 federal election and was a cabinet minister in the Turnbull and Morrison governments.
The second Morrison ministry was the 72nd ministry of the Australian Government. It was led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The second Morrison ministry succeeded the first Morrison ministry following the 2019 Australian federal election. The ministry was announced on 26 May 2019 and was sworn in on 29 May. Following the Coalition's defeat at the 2022 election, the ministry was succeeded by the Albanese ministry on 23 May 2022.
A leadership spill for the federal leadership of the National Party of Australia was held on 4 February 2020, and was called by the Member for Wide Bay, Llew O'Brien.
A leadership spill for the federal leadership of the National Party of Australia was held on 21 June 2021, and was called by the Senator for Queensland, Matt Canavan. Following the spill in the regularly scheduled party room meeting, the incumbent Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals leader Michael McCormack was defeated by his predecessor Barnaby Joyce, who assumed the former's position as leader and Deputy Prime Minister.
The Hon Keith Pitt MP returns to the Ministry as Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister.
Mr Pitt, who declined requests for comment yesterday, was one of several supporters of Nationals leader Michael McCormack to be rewarded with a promotion in the ministerial reshuffle following Barnaby Joyce's unsuccessful leadership coup on Tuesday.