The Honourable
Luke Howarth
MP
Shadow Minister for Defence Industry and Shadow Minister for Defence Personnel
In office
5 June 2022 – current
Assistant Minister for Youth and Employment Services
In office
22 December 2020 – 23 May 2022
Assistant Minister for Community Housing, Homelessness and Community Services
In office
29 May 2019 – 22 December 2020
Member of Parliament
for Petrie
Assumed office
7 September 2013
Preceded byYvette D'Ath
Personal details
Born (1972-06-06) 6 June 1972
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Political partyLNP
OccupationPolitician

Luke Ronald Howarth (born 6 June 1972) is an Australian politician who has been a member of the House of Representatives since the 2013 federal election, representing the Division of Petrie. He is a member of the Liberal National Party of Queensland and sits with the Liberal Party in federal parliament.[1]

Early life and education

Howarth was born in Brisbane, Queensland in 1972, to Ron and Denise Howarth, and grew up in Bracken Ridge. Howarth has one sister.[2][3]

He married his wife Louise in 1999, and they have three sons.[2]

Career

After leaving school, Howarth's first job was working at Barry Bull's Toombul Music.[2] He worked at Sony Australia as a sales rep from 1993 to 2001.[4] In 2002, Howarth joined his family's pest control business, alongside his mother, father and wife.[2]

Political career

Luke Howard aboard USS Ronald Reagan in 2017, alongside General Robert B. Brown, U.S. Consul General Valerie Fowler; Vice Admiral David Johnston and Admiral Scott H. Swift.

Howarth joined the Liberal Party when he was 19 years old.[2] In 2004, he ran in the Queensland state election in the electoral district of Sandgate against the incumbent Labor MP Gordon Nuttall, however was unsuccessful despite a 10% swing to him.[2][5]

At the 2013 federal election, Howarth won the seat of Petrie with a 3.04% swing[6] to him, defeating the sitting ALP member, Yvette D'Ath, who had held the seat since the 2007 federal election.[7] He was reelected at the 2016 federal election, with an increased 1.6% margin. In line with other Liberal National Party candidates in Queensland, there was a significant swing in the 2019 election, increasing the margin to 8.4%.[8][9] In May 2022, Howarth won despite a 3.96% swing against him[10] margin and became the first opposition MP to hold the seat in 35 years.

In August 2018, Howarth played a key role in the leadership spill which removed Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull from his position.[11]

In July 2019, Howarth spoke to ABC Radio National in his newly appointed role as the Assistant Minister for Community Housing, Homelessness and Community Services. Howarth announced he wanted to "put a positive spin on [homelessness][12]". He claimed that homelessness had reduced in the area of rough sleeping over the past 15 years from 8,926 people in 2001 to 8,200 people in 2016 despite a 20% increase in the population. However, this claim has mixed verdicts, as the figures disguise a sharp rebound in the number of rough sleepers over the most recent five-year period, where the 2011 census put the number of rough sleepers at 6,810 (a rate of 3.2 people per 10,000 of population) and risen by 20% to 8,200 (a rate of 3.5 per 10,000) by 2016.[13][14]

Howarth served as the Assistant Minister for Youth and Employment Services from December 2020[15] until May 2022. Following the Liberal government's defeat in the 2022 election, Howarth was appointed as the Shadow Minister for Defence Industry and the Shadow Minister for Defence Personnel.[16]

Howarth is a member of the National Right faction of the Liberal Party.[17][18]

References

  1. ↑ "Luke Howarth Candidate for Petrie". Liberal Party of Australia. 23 July 2013. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Moore, Tony (25 October 2013). "Luke, not Clive, Queensland's newest conservative MP". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  3. ↑ "ParlInfo - GOVERNOR-GENERAL'S SPEECH : Address-in-Reply". parlinfo.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  4. ↑ "Hon Luke Howarth MP". Senators and Members of the Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  5. ↑ "Sandgate - 2004 - Election Archive - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". www.abc.net.au. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  6. ↑ Commission, Australian Electoral. "House of Representatives Division First Preferences". results.aec.gov.au. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  7. ↑ "Petrie - Australia Votes | Federal Election 2013 (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". ABC News. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  8. ↑ "Electorate: Petrie". Australia Votes. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  9. ↑ "Petrie (Key Seat) - Federal Election 2019 Electorate, Candidates, Results | Australia Votes - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". ABC News. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  10. ↑ scheme=AGLSTERMS. AglsAgent; corporateName=Australian Electoral Commission; address=50 Marcus Clarke Street, Canberra. "House of Representatives division information". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 21 June 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ↑ Koziol, Michael (14 April 2019). "The battle for Petrie: Labor smells blood, but One Nation could be kingmakers". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  12. ↑ Henriques-Gomes, Luke (9 July 2019). "Community housing minister Luke Howarth wants a 'positive spin' on homelessness". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  13. ↑ "Minister for Housing Luke Howarth wants a 'positive spin' on homelessness". www.msn.com. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  14. ↑ Check, RMIT ABC Fact (15 July 2019). "Why Luke Howarth's claims on homelessness in Australia get mixed verdicts". ABC News. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  15. ↑ "Media Statement 18 Dec Prime Minister". Prime Minister of Australia. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  16. ↑ corporateName=Commonwealth Parliament; address=Parliament House, Canberra. "Shadow Ministry". www.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 21 June 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. ↑ Massola, James (20 March 2021). "Who's who in the Liberals' left, right and centre factions?". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  18. ↑ Massola, James. "How Morrison's shattering defeat gave Dutton a seismic shift in factional power". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.