Alan Tudge

Tudge was one of seven Liberal MPs in the 46th Parliament of Australia who have obtained degrees at an Oxbridge or Ivy League university, the others being Josh Frydenberg, Angus Taylor, Andrew Laming, Dave Sharma, Greg Hunt and Paul Fletcher.

Tudge obtained an MBA from Harvard University.

Alan Tudge (born 24 February 1971) is an Australian former politician.

Tudge was born on 24 February 1971 in Pakenham, Victoria.

His parents were veterinarians who met at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and arrived in Australia as Ten Pound Poms.

He attended a local primary school, then completed his secondary education at Haileybury, Melbourne, graduating in 1988.

Tudge attended the University of Melbourne, completing the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws (Hons.).

He served as president of the Melbourne University Student Union, replacing Andrew Landeryou, in what he described as "the first time a non-Left president had won for many, many years".

Tudge worked as a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) from 1996 to 2001.

He was initially based in Melbourne and later in New York, and during this time completed a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at Harvard University.

He was also seconded to indigenous leader Noel Pearson's Cape York Institute through Jawun, as the organisation's first corporate secondee.

In 2002, Tudge became a senior adviser to federal education minister Brendan Nelson.

He later worked for foreign minister Alexander Downer.

Tudge joined the Liberal Party in 2002 and was the convenor of its Education Policy Forum.

Before entering politics he was a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group and deputy director of the Cape York Institute (2006–2009).

Tudge later rejoined the Cape York Institute as deputy director from 2006 to 2009.

He was a founding board member of Teach For Australia, established in 2009 by his former BCG colleague Melodie Potts Rosevear.

He subsequently ran his own policy advisory firm from 2009 until his election to parliament.

In September 2009, he won preselection for the Division of Aston as one of 11 candidates, defeating Neil Angus on the final ballot.

He was a Liberal Party member of the House of Representatives between 2010 and 2023.

He was elected to federal parliament in 2010, representing the Victorian seat of Aston.

He was born a British citizen by descent, but renounced his dual citizenship before standing for parliament in 2010.

His mother was born in Scotland and his father in England, while his maternal grandfather was born in Canada.

Tudge's parents separated when he was around six years old, after which he was raised by his mother on a small farm near Pakenham.

He retained Aston for the Liberals at the 2010 federal election, succeeding the retiring MP Chris Pearce.

Tudge is a member of the National Right faction of the Liberal Party.

Tudge became a parliamentary secretary after the 2013 election.

Following the 2013 federal election and the formation of the Abbott Ministry, Tudge was appointed as parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

On the day of the 2015 leadership spill which saw Abbott replaced by Malcolm Turnbull, he publicly described himself as "a very strong supporter of the prime minister".

He was nonetheless retained as assistant minister to Turnbull and also made an assistant minister to social services minister Christian Porter.

He was a government minister from 2016 to 2022 under Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison, serving as Minister for Human Services (2016–2017), Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs (2017–2018), Population, Cities and Urban Infrastructure (2018–2020), and Education and Youth (2020–2022).

During his time as Minister for Human Services, he oversaw the implementation of the unlawful Robodebt debt recovery scheme.

He took leave from the ministry in 2021 following allegations of bullying from a former staffer with whom he had an extramarital affair.

After the Coalition's defeat at the 2022 election, he was appointed to Peter Dutton's shadow cabinet.

Tudge resigned from parliament on 17 February 2023.

In February 2016 Tudge was appointed Minister for Human Services in the Turnbull government.

He oversaw the implementation of the Cashless Welfare Card, a scheme by which 80% of welfare payments are placed on a debit card.

By 2016, Tudge was seen to be a rising star in the Liberal government.

He was a cabinet minister in the Morrison government from 2019 to 2022.

Tudge grew up in Pakenham, Victoria.