The Australian Parliament is comprised of two houses: the House of Representatives, which is equivalent to the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Senate, which is equivalent to the U.S. Senate. To get a sense of how many politicians in Australia have a legal background, we’ll look at each house individually and then at both houses together. We’ll also look at what percentage of politicians in Australian Capital Territory are lawyers and whether or not the Prime Minister has a law degree.
With approximately 10% of politicians in Australia having degrees in law, it’s clear that lawyers are a highly represented group in the political sphere. There are many legal minds currently occupying important positions in Australian politics, including the roles of Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition. It remains to be seen whether this trend will continue into the future or if more kinds of backgrounds will diversify the political landscape.
11 Australian Politicians That Are Lawyers
In Australia, the Hon is used before a politician’s name to indicate that they have been appointed by the Queen or another head of state. For example, The Hon Michael Keenan MP is Michael Keenan, who was appointed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Another way to express this is “The Hon” plus their honorific title: The Hon Christopher Pyne MP (Member of Parliament) or The Hon Christian Porter (Attorney-General). Using these labels makes it easier for you to identify politicians and understand their role in government after reading an article or watching a political debate on TV.
1. Hon Christian Porter
Christian Porter is the Attorney-General of Australia. For a while he was also the Minister for Health, but that job was taken away from him in 2018. He’s since been replaced by Greg Hunt, who has also been a Member of Parliament since 2004. Mr Porter has been an MP for about 15 years now a long time to be in politics. Before this, he worked as a lawyer and barrister for many years and even attended Oxford University where he won a Rhodes Scholarship one year after graduating from law school at Sydney University (he did it all.).
2. Hon Christopher Pyne MP (Barrister, South Australia)
Christopher Pyne is the Federal Member for Sturt, representing the Liberal Party of Australia. He is the Minister for Defence Industry, Minister for Defence, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Minister for Defence Personnel in the Morrison Government.
3. The Hon Andrew Laming MP (Barrister, Queensland)
Andrew Laming is a member of the Australian House of Representatives for Bowman. He has been in this position since 2004. He is also a member of the Liberal National Party of Queensland, which holds power at state level in Queensland.
Laming was born in Brisbane, Queensland on 20 December 1968 and graduated from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Law and Bachelor Science (Psychology).
He commenced practice as an Associate to Justice David Ogilvie at Brisbane’s Supreme Court before becoming an associate lawyer at Nigel Renton & Associates specializing in commercial law, international trade and investment.
4. The Hon Michael Keenan MP (Barrister, Western Australia)
Michael Keenan is the current Member for Stirling, a Liberal Party of Australia politician, and the current Minister for Human Services and Digital Transformation in the Morrison Government.
Prior to entering politics, he worked as a lawyer in Perth.
5. The Hon Stuart Robert MP (Barrister, Queensland)
If you’re thinking of becoming a lawyer, Stuart Robert’s career might give you cause for pause. He was a barrister and solicitor, and also held an LLB degree from the University of Melbourne, but he never actually completed his training as a lawyer. Instead, he went on to become an Australian politician after working in the private sector for several years. In addition to his role as the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Assistant Minister for Defence Industry since July 2016, Robert has held many other positions within federal politics including serving as Assistant Treasurer from 1 December 2009; Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Public Service Matters from 13 October 2013; Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister from 18 September 2015; and Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer from 19 January 2018 until 30 March 2019 when he resigned due to allegations against him by members of Parliament that arose during an investigation into bullying within federal politics (more on this later).
6. Scott Morrison, Treasurer of Australia
Scott Morrison is the current Treasurer of Australia, a role he has held since September 2015. Before becoming Treasurer, Morrison was a member of the Australian House of Representatives representing Cook in New South Wales from 2007 to 2018. He served as Minister for Immigration and Border Protection from 2014 until 2015 and was Acting Prime Minister during the Royal Visit by Queen Elizabeth II in May 2014. As a lawyer, Scott Morrison worked as senior counsel at Freehills and later Allens before entering politics.
7. Josh Frydenberg, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party and Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
Josh Frydenberg is the current Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party and Deputy Prime Minister of Australia. He is the Member of the Australian House of Representatives for Kooyong, Victoria, since 2010.
8. Simon Birmingham, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment
Simon Birmingham is the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment. He was born in Adelaide, South Australia on 20th March 1978. Simon Birmingham has been an Australian Senator since 2007 and currently serves as the Minister for Education and Training after being promoted from his original role as Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister on 1st January 2017.
Simon Birmingham first entered politics when he was elected to the Australian Parliament at a by-election held following the resignation of former Liberal leader Alexander Downer in 2007. He was appointed Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Families in 2009 before being promoted to Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Broadband, Communications and Digital Economy in 2010 (a position he held until 2013). In addition to these roles, Simon has also served as Chair of several Senate Committees including Legal Affairs References Committee (2009), Community Affairs References Committee (2012) and Environment Reference Committee (2013).
In 2013 Simon became Assistant Minister for Trade which led him onto this current role where he works closely with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s government along with other key ministers such as Treasurer Scott Morrison who is responsible for managing Australia’s economy while they both focus their efforts towards shaping foreign policy through trade deals such as recently announced Comprehensive Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (CPTPP)
9. Richard Colbeck, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians and Minister for Youth and Sport
Richard Colbeck was born in Launceston, Tasmania. He was educated at Launceston Grammar School and the University of Tasmania. He was a teacher before entering politics.
He was elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly in 1996, becoming Minister for Education and Training from 1998 to 2004. In 2006 he became Deputy Leader of his party (the Liberal Party) and held this position until his appointment as Deputy Premier under Will Hodgman in January 2014.
10. Michael Sukkar, Assistant Minister to the Treasurer
Michael Sukkar, Assistant Minister to the Treasurer, is a member of the Liberal Party and was first elected as Member for Deakin in 2013. Before entering politics, he worked as an associate to Justice Michael Kirby in the High Court of Australia. He has also worked as Senior Counsel at Freehills where his clients included big companies such as BHP Billiton, Westpac and Telstra.
Sukkar was educated at Melbourne Grammar School before studying law at Monash University from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) degree. He then went on to work as a solicitor at Mallesons Stephen Jaques before becoming an associate with justice Michael Kirby in 1993. The following year Sukkar became senior counsel at Freehills where his clients included big companies such as BHP Billiton, Westpac and Telstra
11. Zed Seselja, Assistant Minister for Finance, Charities and Electoral Matters
Zed Seselja is the Assistant Minister for Finance, Charities and Electoral Matters. He is a lawyer by trade. He was a solicitor before becoming an Australian Capital Territory politician in 2001, where he held several positions including Attorney General and Minister for Corporate and Information Services.
Seselja also worked as a lawyer for the Australian Capital Territory Government from 1998 to 2001, before entering politics full time with his election to the Legislative Assembly of Australia
Conclusion
Lawyers play a vital role in our society and it gets better when we have lawyers who are politicians in AU. With so many lawyers in Australian politics, it is no wonder that the country has such a high reputation for law. But this is only part of what makes Australia such a great place to live and work. It is also very beneficial to have leaders who understands the law in order to safeguard the interests of the people. We hope this article helped you understand lawyers who are politicians in AU.