Murray Watt | |
---|---|
Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations | |
Assumed office 29 July 2024 | |
Prime Minister | Anthony Albanese |
Preceded by | Tony Burke |
Minister for Agriculture,Fisheries and Forestry | |
In office 1 June 2022 –29 July 2024 | |
Prime Minister | Anthony Albanese |
Preceded by | David Littleproud |
Succeeded by | Julie Collins |
Minister for Emergency Management | |
In office 1 June 2022 –29 July 2024 | |
Prime Minister | Anthony Albanese |
Preceded by | Bridget McKenzie |
Succeeded by | Jenny McAllister |
Senator for Queensland | |
Assumed office 2 July 2016 | |
Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Everton | |
In office 21 March 2009 –24 March 2012 | |
Preceded by | Rod Welford |
Succeeded by | Tim Mander |
Personal details | |
Born | Murray Patrick Watt 20 January 1973 Brisbane,Queensland,Australia |
Political party | Australian Labor Party |
Alma mater | University of Queensland |
Occupation | Public servant Judge's associate Political advisor |
Profession | Lawyer |
Website | www |
Murray Patrick Watt (born 20 January 1973) is an Australian politician who has served as Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations in the Albanese government since July 2024. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has been a Senator for Queensland since the 2016 federal election. He previously served in the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 2009 to 2012.
Watt was born in Brisbane on 20 January 1973. [1] His parents were both schoolteachers from working-class backgrounds. He grew up in Brisbane's southern suburbs. [2]
Watt was educated at Brisbane State High School where he was school captain in 1989. In 1996,he graduated from the University of Queensland with the degrees of Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws. He practised as a solicitor from 1997 to 2002 and was a judge's associate from 1999 to 2000. He was then a public servant in the Queensland Department of Premier and Cabinet and the Department of State Development from 2007 to 2009,and chief of staff to Anna Bligh from 2002 to 2007,and again in 2008. He had long been active in the Australian Labor Party,serving as president of Queensland Young Labor in 1998 and delegate to various state conferences. [3]
Watt was also a senior associate with the Brisbane office of the legal firm Maurice Blackburn. [4]
In 2009,Watt was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland for Everton,succeeding Rod Welford,who had retired. He was defeated at the 2012 state election. [3]
When Meaghan Scanlon was preselected as the Labor candidate for Gaven at the 2017 state election,it was claimed that Watt was the deciding factor and that it was against the wishes of the branch members. One member of the branch claimed "factional politics prior to Murray coming to the Gold Coast didn't happen". [5]
Following the retirement of Senator Jan McLucas in 2015,Watt was endorsed by the Labor Party as a Senate candidate for Queensland at the 2016 federal election [6] and was subsequently elected. [7]
After the 2019 election,Watt was included in Anthony Albanese's shadow ministry as Shadow Minister for Northern Australia and Shadow Minister for Disaster and Emergency Management. In 2021 he was also appointed to the role of Shadow Minister for Queensland Resources. [8] He is also Deputy Opposition Whip in the Senate. [1]
Watt is a member of Labor Left. [9]
Re-elected at the 2022 election,Watt became Minister for Agriculture,Fisheries and Forestry and Minister for Emergency Management. [10] In the July 2024 reshuffle,he was appointed Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. [11]
Brendan Patrick O'Connor is an Australian politician who served as Minister for Skills and Training from 2022 to 2024 in the Albanese ministry after having served in the same portfolio in 2013 in the Second Rudd ministry. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has served in the House of Representatives since 2001. He held ministerial office in the governments of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard from 2007 to 2013,including as a member of cabinet from 2012 to 2013. He was a member of the shadow cabinet from 2013 to 2022.
Kim John Carr is an Australian former politician who served as a Senator for Victoria between 1993 and 2022. Representing the Labor Party,he was a minister in the Rudd and Gillard governments.
Anthony Stephen Burke is an Australian politician serving as Leader of the House,Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for the Arts. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP),and has served as member of parliament (MP) for Watson since 2004. He held cabinet positions in the governments of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard from 2007 to 2013.
Ian Douglas Macdonald is an Australian former politician who served as a Senator for Queensland from 1990 to 2019,representing the Liberal Party. He was Minister for Regional Services,Territories and Local Government (1998–2001) and Minister for Fisheries,Forestry and Conservation (2001–2006) in the Howard government. He was defeated at the 2019 federal election,having been the longest-serving incumbent member of parliament for the final years of his career.
Katherine Ruth Gallagher is an Australian politician who has been serving as the Minister for Finance,Minister for Women,Minister for the Public Service and Vice-President of the Executive Council in the Albanese Government since 2022 having formerly served as the 6th Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory from 2011 to 2014. She has been a Senator for the Australian Capital Territory since the 2019 federal election,as a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). She previously served in the Senate from 2015 to 2018.
Jan Elizabeth McLucas is a former Australian politician. McLucas was an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian Senate representing Queensland from 1999 to 2016. McLucas was the Minister for Human Services in the Rudd Government till the 2013 Election.
Yvette Maree D'Ath is an Australian politician. She is a Labor member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland representing the seat of Redcliffe. D'Ath is currently serving as Attorney-General and Minister for the Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence. She has previously held an extensive list of various ministerial and other governmental positions,including Minister for Justice and Leader of the House. She was previously a Labor member of the Australian House of Representatives representing the outer Brisbane seat of Petrie from 2007 to 2013.
Julie Maree Collins is an Australian politician. She is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has represented the Tasmanian seat of Franklin since the 2007 federal election. She held ministerial positions in the Gillard and Rudd governments,and is Minister for Agriculture,Fisheries and Forestry and Minister for Small Business in the Albanese ministry.
Mark Lionel Furner is an Australian politician. He was a Labor member of Australian Senate from 2008 to 2014,representing the state of Queensland. Since the 2015 Queensland state election,he has represented Ferny Grove in the Queensland Legislative Assembly.
Scott Anthony Emerson is a former Australian politician and journalist. He is a director of national consulting firm GXO Strategies and a commentator on Nine Entertainment’s national breakfast television program Today. He hosted the Scott Emerson Drive Show on Brisbane talkback radio station 4BC from 2020 to 2022. He served as the Minister for Transport and Main Roads Minister in the Newman Ministry from 2012 to 2015. In the Legislative Assembly of Queensland he represented the seat of Indooroopilly in Brisbane's inner-west,from 2009 to 2017. Indooroopilly was abolished at the 2017 state election and Emerson chose to contest the new seat of Maiwar which had a notional LNP margin of 3%;Emerson was unsuccessful in his bid,losing to the Greens candidate Michael Berkman.
Matthew James Thistlethwaite is an Australian politician. He has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives since 2013,representing the electorate of Kingsford Smith. He was formerly a member of the Australian Senate from 2011 to 2013. From 1 June 2022 to 29 July 2024,Thistlethwaite served as Assistant Minister for Defence,Veterans' Affairs and the Republic in the ministry of Anthony Albanese. Since 29 July 2024,Thistlethwaite has served as the Assistant Minister for Immigration.
Jennifer Ryll McAllister is an Australian politician. She has been a Senator for New South Wales since 2015 and previously served as the party's national president from 2011 to 2015. She is from the Socialist Left faction of the Labor Party. She is the Minister for Emergency Management and the Minister for Cities in the Albanese ministry.
Patrick Martin Conroy is an Australian politician. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and the Labor Left faction and has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2013. He represented the Division of Charlton in New South Wales until its abolition in 2016,and since then has represented the Division of Shortland. He is currently the Minister for Defence Industry and Minister for International Development and the Pacific.
Terri Megan Butler is an Australian public servant and former politician. She was a member of the House of Representatives from 2014 to 2022,representing the seat of Griffith for the Australian Labor Party (ALP). She worked as an industrial lawyer prior to entering parliament and in 2024 was appointed as a deputy president of the Fair Work Commission.
Anthony David Chisholm is an Australian politician. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has been a Senator for Queensland since 2016. He was appointed an assistant minister in the Albanese government following the party's victory at the 2022 federal election. He previously served as the party's state secretary from 2008 to 2014.
Dugald Milton Dick is an Australian politician serving as the 32nd and current speaker of the Australian House of Representatives since 2022. A member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP),he has been the member of parliament (MP) for the division of Oxley since 2016. He previously served on the Brisbane City Council from 2008 to 2016 and as an ALP state secretary from 2004 to 2008.
The 2022 Australian federal election was held on Saturday 21 May 2022 to elect members of the 47th Parliament of Australia. The incumbent Liberal/National Coalition government,led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison,sought to win a fourth consecutive term in office but was defeated by the opposition Labor Party,led by Anthony Albanese. Up for election were all 151 seats in the lower house,the House of Representatives,as well as 40 of the 76 seats in the upper house,the Senate.
Nita Louise Green is an Australian politician who was elected as a Senator for Queensland at the 2019 federal election. She is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP).
Anika Shay Wells is an Australian politician who has been a member of the House of Representatives since the 2019 federal election. She is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and represents the Division of Lilley in Queensland. Wells is currently the Minister for Aged Care and Minister for Sport.
The Albanese ministry is the 73rd ministry of the Government of Australia. It is led by the country's 31st Prime Minister,Anthony Albanese. The Albanese ministry succeeded the second Morrison ministry,which resigned on 23 May 2022 following the federal election that took place on 21 May which saw Labor defeat Scott Morrison's Liberal–National Coalition.