Christopher Pyne

The Honourable Christopher Pyne MP
Member of the Australian Parliament for Sturt
Incumbent
Assumed office 13 March 1993
Preceded by	Ian Wilson
Minister for Ageing
In office 21 March 2007 – 3 December 2007
Preceded by	Santo Santoro
Succeeded by	Justine Elliot
Constituency	Division of Sturt
Personal details
Born	13 August 1967 (1967-08-13) (age 44) Adelaide, South Australia
Political party	Liberal Party of Australia
Spouse(s)	Carolyn Pyne
Alma mater	University of Adelaide University of South Australia
Occupation	Politician
Religion	Roman Catholic
Website	http://www.pyneonline.com.au

Christopher Maurice Pyne, MP (born 13 August 1967), Australian politician, has been a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives since 13 March 1993, representing the Division of Sturt, South Australia.^[1]

Early years

Pyne was born in Adelaide, South Australia in 1967, and was educated at Saint Ignatius College, South Australia and the University of Adelaide, where he gained a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and was President of Adelaide University Liberal Club from 1987 to 1988.^[2][3] He was a research assistant to Senator Amanda Vanstone and later became President of the South Australian Young Liberals from 1988-1990. Pyne was then selected as the Liberal candidate for the state seat of Ross Smith—a very safe Labor seat—at the 1989 election, but was defeated by the sitting member and Premier of South Australia, John Bannon.^[4] He earned a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice at the University of South Australia and began practising as a solicitor in 1991. During this time he began working in Ian Wilson's Federal electoral office for Sturt.^[1]

Politics

At the 1993 Australian federal election, aged 25, Pyne was elected to the Division of Sturt in the House of Representatives, becoming the youngest member of the Australian Parliament. He had earlier defeated Ian Wilson, who is 35 years Pyne's senior, in a pre-selection battle for the seat.

^[1][5]

"Well Ian Wilson, my predecessor, he followed his father in the seat, Sir Keith Wilson, and in fact until I was preselected there’d never been anybody other than a Wilson preselected for the Liberal Party in Sturt, so I guess you could say it was a rather red letter day for the Liberal Party, and it was a contest that lasted for about 16 months from go to whoa; I nominated on a January 16th, and I was finally elected 3 March of the following year, so it was a very long process, involving some record-breaking aspects. We had more internal party appeals and investigations into the preselection than in the history of the Liberal Party, so it was quite exciting, and a bit stressful at times, but then anything that you want in life and in politics is always hard to come by; if it's worth having, then you have to fight for it."

^[6]

Pyne is a republican^[7]and established himself as a member of the moderate faction in the South Australian wing of the Liberal party, supporting then Deputy Leader Peter Costello. In 1994, after serving a period in the backbenches, Pyne was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Minister for Social Security.^[3] He retained this position after John Howard was elected as leader, and up to the 1996 election.^[3]

After the Coalition victory at the 1996 election, Pyne remained in the backbench. In 2003, he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Family and Community Services, where he remained until 2004, when named Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing.^[3] As Parliamentary Secretary, he defended the government's "War on drugs" and established his strong support of illicit drug prohibition, as opposed to harm minimisation.^[8] He remained as Parliamentary Secretary until 30 January 2007 when he was appointed Assistant Minister for Health and Ageing. He held this portfolio until 21 March, when he was appointed Minister for Ageing, succeeding resigning Minister, Senator Santo Santoro.^[1]

Pyne was also chairman of the Australia Israel Parliamentary group from 1996 to 2004.^[4]

2007 onward

Pyne came close to losing Sturt at the 2007 federal election to Labor candidate Mia Handshin, after suffering a primary vote swing of 4.5 percent and a two-party swing of 5.9 percent, to finish with 50.9 percent of the two-party vote. Following the election in which the John Howard-led Coalition government was defeated by the Kevin Rudd-led Labor opposition, Pyne put himself forward as a candidate for Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party. In a ballot of Liberal caucus members, Julie Bishop prevailed with 44 votes, ahead of Andrew Robb, who won 25 votes, and Pyne 18 votes.^[9] Following the election of Brendan Nelson as party leader, Pyne was appointed Shadow Minister for Justice and Border Protection.^[10]

Following Malcolm Turnbull's election as Liberal Party Leader in September 2008, Pyne was elevated to the position of Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training.^[11] After Deputy Leader Julie Bishop stepped down from the portfolio of Shadow Treasurer, Joe Hockey took up the portfolio, with Pyne replacing Hockey as Manager of Opposition Business. This sparked anger within the coalition over claims Turnbull was stacking his ministry with moderate Liberal MPs, with conservative Liberal shadow parliamentary secretary Cory Bernardi being demoted by Turnbull^[12] over claims thought to be made regarding Pyne in Bernardi's weekly online blog, in which Bernardi recalled an encounter with a Liberal MP at the Royal Adelaide Golf Club, of which Pyne has been a member since 1988:^[13]

“

In response to my question of why he joined the Liberal Party, the MP blithely responded "I live in a Liberal seat so I had to be a member of the Liberal Party to get into Parliament. If I lived in a Labor seat I would have joined the Labor Party". Frankly I was aghast at this response. Where was the conviction, the beliefs, the values that I believe should motivate our political leaders? Several follow up questions disclosed that the only motivation for his own political involvement was for him to become Prime Minister.[14]

”

These allegations were strenuously denied by Pyne, stating that the idea of him joining another party was "preposterous".^[14]

Pyne was re-elected at the 2010 federal election, receiving a primary vote swing of 0.9 percent and a two-party swing of 2.5 percent, to finish with 53.4 percent of the two-party vote.^[15] In September 2010 he was re-appointed to the Tony Abbott Shadow Ministry as Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training and Manager of Opposition Business in the House of Representatives.^[16]

Personal life

Christopher Pyne and his wife, Carolyn, have four children, two boys and two girls.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} "Costello backer gets his reward". Melbourne: The Age. 19 March 2007. http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/costellobacker-pyne-gets-his-reward/2007/03/18/1174152881566.html. Retrieved 3 December 2007. 
2. ^ "The Hon Christopher Pyne MP, Member for Sturt (SA)". Parliament of Australia. http://www.aph.gov.au/house/members/biography.asp?id=9V5. Retrieved 3 December 2007. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d} "Christopher Pyne Online". http://www.pyneonline.com.au/?id=aboutchristopherpyne. Retrieved 3 December 2007. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "Christopher Pyne Online - Biography". http://www.pyneonline.com.au/?id=biography. Retrieved 20 October 2009. 
5. ^ "Christopher Pyne is member for whatever it takes", The Australian, 4 July 2009
6. ^ [1] Pyne discusses political background, including the selection battle in 1993 in which he defeated incumbent Ian Wilson
7. ^ Political debate on ABC between Pyne, Mark Latham and moderator Tony Jones
8. ^ "Government defends drugs policy". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 28 September 2006. http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2006/s1751374.htm. Retrieved 3 December 2007. 
9. ^ "Nelson's victory puts Turnbull on deck". Sydney Morning Herald. 20 November 2007. http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/nelsons-victory-puts-turnbull-on-deck/2007/11/29/1196037074481.html?page=fullpage. 
10. ^ "Brendan Nelson announces shadow ministry". The Courier Mail. 6 December 2007. http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22880030-953,00.html. Retrieved 3 December 2008. 
11. ^ "SA's Chris Pyne named Education Spokesman in new Coalition frontbench". The Advertiser. http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,24383178-5006301,00.html. Retrieved 22 September 2008. ^{[dead link]}
12. ^ "Turnbull sacks SA Senator Bernardi". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 19 February 2009. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/19/2496186.htm. Retrieved 8 June 2009. 
13. ^ Coorey, Phillip (19 February 2009). "Turnbull sacks frontbencher for turning on Pyne". Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/national/turnbull-sacks-frontbencher-for-turning-on-pyne-20090219-8c7r.html. Retrieved 8 June 2009. 
14. ^ ^{a b} "Turnbull sacks frontbencher over blog". The Canberra Times. 20 February 2009. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/national/national/general/turnbull-sacks-frontbencher-over-blog/1439188.aspx. Retrieved 8 June 2009. 
15. ^ Sturt results - 2010 federal election: AEC
16. ^ http://www.aph.gov.au/Library/parl/43/Shadow/index.htm

Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Ian Wilson	Member for Sturt 1993 – present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Santo Santoro	Minister for Ageing 2007	Succeeded by Justine Elliot

Persondata
Name	Pyne, Christopher
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	13 August 1967
Place of birth	Adelaide, South Australia
Date of death
Place of death