Australian politician
Madeleine Mary Harvie King
(nee
Morris
; born 31 March 1973) is an Australian politician. She is a member of the
Australian Labor Party
(ALP) and has been
Minister for Resources
and
Minister for Northern Australia
in the
Albanese government
since June 2022. She has represented the
Western Australian
seat of
Brand
in the
House of Representatives
since 2016. She worked as a lawyer and political adviser before entering politics.
Early life
[
edit
]
King was born on 31 March 1973 in
Calista, Western Australia
.
[2]
[3]
She is the youngest of five children born to Diana Eve Pizer and John Harvie Morris. Her father was born in England and served in the
Royal Navy
, moving to Australia to work at the
Kwinana Oil Refinery
. Her mother owned a drapery shop in
Rockingham
.
[4]
King grew up in the suburb of
Shoalwater
, attending Safety Bay Primary School, Rockingham Beach Primary School, and
Safety Bay Senior High School
.
[4]
She started an arts degree at the
University of Western Australia
(UWA), but subsequently moved to
Melbourne
to study aerospace engineering at
RMIT University
. She returned to Perth after a year and completed a
Bachelor of Laws
at UWA.
[5]
King worked as a commercial lawyer in private practice from 1997 to 2005,
[3]
working in England for a period following her marriage.
[5]
She then joined UWA's legal department as a research contracts lawyer (2005?2008), later working as chief of staff to the vice-chancellor Alan Robson (2008?2011) and principal advisor of strategic projects (2012?2013). She oversaw the university's centenary celebrations in 2013. Immediately prior to entering parliament she was the chief operating officer of the
Perth USAsia Centre
, a think tank based at UWA.
[3]
Politics
[
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King was a ministerial adviser to federal Labor MP
Gary Gray
from 2011 to 2012,
[3]
and also advised WA federal government ministers
Stephen Smith
and
Chris Evans
during the
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2011
in Perth.
[6]
In March 2016, King won ALP
preselection
unopposed for the
Division of Brand
, following Gray's retirement.
[7]
She retained the seat for the ALP at the
2016 federal election
, increasing the swing to Labor from a nominal 3.7 points to 7.7 points, making Brand one of Labor's safest federal seats in Western Australia.
[8]
She is a member of the
Labor Right
faction.
[9]
[10]
In June 2018, King was selected to fill a vacant place on the opposition frontbench, replacing
Tim Hammond
.
[11]
She was given the consumer affairs portfolio and also made an assistant minister in the small business and resources portfolios. After the
2019 election
she was appointed Shadow Minister for Trade and Shadow Minister for Resources.
[3]
In March 2021, King stated that the ALP would oppose a moratorium on new coal mines and that "so long as international markets want to buy Australian coal, which is high quality, then they will be able to".
[12]
Following the ALP's victory at the
2022 election
, King was appointed to cabinet as
Minister for Resources
and
Minister for Northern Australia
in the
Albanese government
.
[3]
Personal life
[
edit
]
King is married to Jamie King. She has represented Western Australia in Masters (older age)
hockey
.
References
[
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]