Hon Christian Porter MP

Attorney General of Australia

Christian Porter was sworn in as Attorney-General in December 2017 after serving as Minister for Social Services from September 2015.

As Attorney-General, Christian played a key role in the modernisation of Australia’s national security laws with the successful passage of the Espionage and Foreign Interference, and Foreign Influence and Transparency Scheme legislation, which represents the most substantial reforms to Australia’s national security legislation since the 1970’s.

Christian is also currently focused on reforming the federal court system to help families save time and costs in family law disputes.

In Social Services, Christian steered the critical transition of the National Disability Insurance Scheme from trial to National roll out and engaged in a suite of welfare reforms which combined with strong job growth to see 140,000 less people on welfare, resulting in the lowest level of welfare dependency in working age Australians since the 1980’s.

Prior to entering federal parliament, Christian was a Minister in the Western Australian State Government, variously holding the portfolios of Attorney General, Minister for Corrective Services and Treasurer. As WA Treasurer, Christian delivered successive budget surpluses, reduced recurrent expenditure growth by more than 6 per cent and was central to delivering funding for key projects such as the new Perth Stadium and Elizabeth Quay. As WA Attorney General, Christian reformed the jury system and pursued a range of legislative reforms that significantly reduced all reported crime.

He was born and raised in Western Australia and lives in Yanchep, on the north coast of his electorate of Pearce with his wife Jennifer, son Lachlan and daughter Florence.

Christian holds a Bachelor of Economics, a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Western Australia, as well as a Master of Science (Political Theory) from the London School of Economics.

Prior to politics, Christian worked as a lawyer in both the commercial and government settings; beginning his career at Clayton Utz and then later working as a Senior State Prosecutor for the Director of Public Prosecutions WA, where he prosecuted criminal trials for the State. He has also lectured at the University of Western Australia in law, public policy and economics and, immediately before entering Federal Parliament, Christian was a Professor of Law at Curtin University.