Nick Goiran

Nicolas Pierre Goiran (born 15 October 1977) is an Australian politician who has been a member for the South Metropolitan Region of the Western Australian Legislative Council (MLC), the upper house of the Parliament of Western Australia, since 22 May 2009.

A member of the Liberal Party, Australia's major centre-right political party, Goiran is a conservative Christian.

He is pro-life, and opposes same-sex marriage, euthanasia and surrogacy.

He has been outspoken on the issue of elder abuse, and he supports COVID-19 vaccinations but opposes COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Nicolas Pierre Goiran was born on 15 October 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

He is the son of French immigrants Gerard and Madeleine Goiran; his father worked in the finance industry and his mother as a French teacher.

His parents were both officeholders and parliamentary candidates for the Christian Democratic Party.

Goiran attended Rehoboth Christian Primary School and Rehoboth Christian High School in the southern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, where he graduated as dux.

Goiran studied at Murdoch University, graduating with a Bachelor of Law and Bachelor of Commerce double degree, majoring in banking and finance.

From 1998 to 2009, Goiran worked for several different law firms, and in December 2000, he was admitted to the Supreme Court of Western Australia as a barrister and solicitor.

He eventually rose to equity partner at Bruce Havilah & Associates, where he specialised in civil litigation.

He was a board member of the Association for Christian Education (the operator of the Rehoboth schools) from October 2001 to March 2007 and from March 2009 onwards, serving as president from April 2005 to March 2007.

He married on 6 January 2001 in Bull Creek and he has one son and four daughters.

Prior to entering parliament, Goiran was a member of the Christian Democratic Party.

From November 2005, he was a director of Christian Education National Ltd. From October 2008, he was a board member of the Citizens Advice Bureau.

By 2006, Goiran had joined the Liberal Party with the goal of being elected to parliament.

He unsuccessfully sought preselection for the safe Labor seat of Peel for the 2007 Peel state by-election.

In February 2008, the Liberal Party preselected him as the second candidate on their ticket for the South Metropolitan Region of the Western Australian Legislative Council, replacing the retiring Barbara Scott.

At the 2008 Western Australian state election, he was elected as a member of the Legislative Council (MLC), with his term commencing on 22 May 2009.

In 2014 Goiran began to gain power within the Liberal Party by building support within the southern suburbs of Perth.

In February 2016, Goiran replaced Simon O'Brien as the top candidate on the Liberal's South Metropolitan Region ticket for the 2017 election.

On 23 September 2016, Goiran became the first parliamentary secretary to the minister for mental health and minister for child protection.

By 2016, he had become a key powerbroker alongside fellow MLC Peter Collier and Senator Mathias Cormann, and he had become the leader of the "evangelical right" of the WA Liberal Party.

From March 2017 to February 2023, he was the secretary of the parliamentary Liberal Party.

In March 2017 he obtained three roles: the secretary of the parliamentary Liberal Party, shadow minister for child protection, and shadow minister for the prevention of family and domestic violence.

Goiran has twice been accused of filibustering: he spoke for over 22 hours in total over a surrogacy bill in 2019, delaying it; and he proposed 357 amendments to a voluntary assisted dying bill and spoke on every clause of the bill.

Goiran, alongside fellow MLC Peter Collier, is a Liberal Party power broker.

After the March 2021 election, ABC News said that it was unrealistic to achieve preselection in the Perth metropolitan area for the Liberal Party without the support of Goiran or Collier.

In August 2021, it was revealed that Goiran was part of a WhatsApp group called "The Clan", whose purpose it was to discuss branch stacking and the preselection of candidates.

Following the reveal of that group, Goiran has faced calls for his resignation or to be expelled from the Liberal Party.

From February 2020, Goiran was also the shadow minister for commerce.

From April 2021 to February 2023, Goiran was the shadow minister to the attorney general, shadow minister for child protection, and shadow minister for industrial relations.

Following the resignation of Liberal Party leader Liza Harvey on 22 November 2020, Goiran and Collier backed Zak Kirkup over Dean Nalder to replace Harvey as leader.

As a result, Kirkup won the resulting leadership vote.

Following this, Nalder criticised Goiran and Collier, saying they are not good for the party.

After the March 2021 election, ABC News said that it was unrealistic to achieve preselection in the Perth metropolitan area for the Liberal Party without the support of Goiran or Collier.

At the March 2021 election, the Labor Party won a majority in the Legislative Council for the first time ever.

In May 2021, before the new Legislative Council was sworn in, Goiran introduced a motion to establish a select committee into the transparency and accountability of government.

The committee was to be composed mostly of non-Labor MLCs and have a member of the opposition as its chair.

Instead, the government and the opposition reached a compromise: two existing committees were to be chaired by Liberal MLCs and one existing committee was to be composed of mostly non-Labor MLCs.