Tony Burke - WikiHQ

Anthony Stephen Burke (born 4 November 1969) is an Australian politician serving as Minister for Home Affairs, Immigration and Citizenship, Cyber Security and the Arts. A member of the Labor Party, he has been a member of the Australian House of Representatives for Watson since 2004. He previously held cabinet positions in the governments of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard from 2007 to 2013.

Burke is a graduate of the University of Sydney, and worked as a political staffer, company director, and union organiser before entering politics. He was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council in 2003, but resigned the following year to enter federal politics. He was included in the shadow ministry immediately after winning a seat at the 2004 election. During the first Rudd government, Burke held the position of Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, before being given the role of Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water and Population in the Gillard government, after Gillard replaced Rudd as prime minister. In June 2013, Rudd would in turn replace Gillard as prime minister, and appointed Burke as the Minister for the Arts and Minister for Immigration, Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship in his subsequent government. He held these positions for less than three months, as Labor was defeated in the 2013 federal election.

In opposition, Burke served as the Manager of Opposition Business under Bill Shorten and Anthony Albanese, and held various positions in the shadow cabinet. After Labor's victory in the 2022 election, Burke would become Leader of the House, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for the Arts in the Albanese government.

Early life

Burke was raised in a Catholic family of Irish descent. He attended Catholic schools, Regina Coeli (Beverly Hills, NSW) and St Patrick's College (Strathfield, NSW), where he was Vice-Captain. He attended the University of Sydney where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws. He was also awarded the Martin Sorensen Trophy for Best Speaker at the 1994 Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships.

From 1993 to 1995, Burke worked as a staffer to Labor senators Graham Richardson and Michael Forshaw. In 1996, he and two friends from his university debating society established Atticus Pty Ltd., a business that provides training for "clients from the corporate and education sectors in advocacy and communication skills". It was named after the iconic fictional character Atticus Finch from the novel To Kill a Mockingbird.

State politics

At the 2003 state election, Burke was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council. He chaired the NSW State Development Committee, conducting inquiries into ports infrastructure and science commercialisation. Burke was elected to the House of Representatives at the 2004 federal election, replacing the retiring Leo McLeay in the safe Labor seat of Watson. He and fellow Labor MP Linda Burney are the only members of the Federal Parliament to have always served as a minister or shadow minister. He was immediately promoted to the shadow ministry under Mark Latham, as Shadow Minister for Small Business. He was promoted to Shadow Minister for Immigration in June 2005, by which time Kim Beazley had replaced Latham as leader. After the 2006 leadership spill, the new leader Kevin Rudd expanded Burke's portfolio to Immigration, Integration and Citizenship. He oversaw the eradication of the horse flu in Australia after the 2007 equine influenza outbreak.

On 2 April 2010, Rudd appointed Burke as Minister for Population. Burke's responsibilities included planning for the growth in Australia's population and coordinating the provision of services accordingly.

Following the 2010 federal election, Burke was appointed Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. In March 2012, following the ALP leadership spill, Burke was also appointed Vice-President of the Executive Council.

Burke also added koalas to the threatened species list in Queensland, NSW and the ACT. He also placed a ban on a controversial Dutch "super trawler" fishing vessel operating in waters off Tasmania.

He acted as a mediator in the long-running dispute between environmental groups and the Tasmanian forestry industry, culminating in the signing of the historic Tasmanian Forests Intergovernmental Agreement in 2011.

Burke often cites Labor's environmental credentials and the campaign to protect the Daintree Rainforest as the reason he got involved in politics. The Portuguese delegation called the delisting attempt "feeble". Burke said many of the demands made by environmental groups opposed to the development had been addressed.

left|thumb|Burke in a 2014 protest against the [[Abbott government's proposed changes to section 18(c) of the Racial Discrimination Act]]

On 22 November 2012, Burke developed, negotiated and signed into law the Murray Darling Basin Plan, a process more than 100 years in the making, after extensive consultation with irrigators, environmental groups and state governments.

On 25 March 2013, Burke was appointed Minister for the Arts in the Second Gillard Ministry, in addition to his existing responsibilities. Following the June 2013 Labor leadership spill, which saw Gillard lose the Labor leadership, Rudd rejected Burke's offer to resign from the ministry. Burke, a Gillard supporter, had been critical of Rudd's performance during his previous tenure.

Opposition (2013–2022)

Following Labor's 2013 election loss, Burke was appointed Shadow Finance Minister and Manager of Opposition Business.

Albanese government (2022–present)

Following the 2022 federal election, Burke was appointed Leader of the House, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for the Arts in the Albanese ministry.

Following the 2025 federal election, it was announced that Burke would retain the Arts and Home Affairs portfolios, and would also take responsibility for the Australian Federal Police and ASIO.

At a March 20th 2026, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Burke were heckled at a Eid morning prayers event at Lakemba Mosque. Several mosque attendees accused the Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister of being "genocide supporters" Other members in the crowd booed.

Other political issues

Death penalty

While in opposition, Burke led an unsuccessful bipartisan appeal for clemency to the Singapore High Commissioner to stop the execution of convicted Australian drug smuggler, Van Tuong Nguyen.

Racial Discrimination Act

Burke has been a vocal opponent of the Liberal National government's attempts to repeal Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. In May 2014, Burke held a march against the changes to Section 18C in the Sydney suburb of Lakemba. The event was attended by more than 1,000 people protesting against the changes, which were subsequently dropped by the Abbott government. In the 1990s, Burke served as the executive director of Euthanasia No!, a group that lobbied state and federal governments against altering the status quo on euthanasia. In 1996, he and a pro-euthanasia campaigner, Peter Baume, were invited to address the New South Wales Legislative Assembly before a debate on the subject, one of only a handful of occasions on which non-MPs have been invited to speak in parliament. He was later tasked with lobbying Labor senators to vote for what became the Euthanasia Laws Act 1997, which voided the Northern Territory's euthanasia laws.

Same-sex marriage

Burke publicly announced his support of marriage equality in May 2015, and voted in favour of the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017. He had previously voted against the Marriage Amendment Bill 2012, citing opposition within his constituency. His division had the second-highest percentage of "No" responses in the 2017 Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey, with 69.64% of the electorate's respondents to the survey responding "No".

Personal life

Burke married Cathy Bresnan in 1994; after commencing their relationship in 1989. She subsequently took the surname "Bresnan-Burke". The couple had three daughters together, but separated at the end of December 2012. The separation was not disclosed until the completion of the Federal Election in September 2013. In February 2014, The Australian reported that Burke had recently commenced a relationship with Skye Laris, his former chief of staff. Burke and Laris married in December 2015.

He is also known for his love of music and keeps musical instruments in his Parliament House office.

Burke has coeliac disease.

References

External links

Tony Burke's personal website
Australian Parliament Biography
Summary of parliamentary voting for Tony Burke MP on TheyVoteForYou.org.au