Christian Porter

He is the son of the 1956 Olympic silver medallist, Charles "Chilla" Porter and the grandson of Queensland Liberal politician, Charles Porter, who was a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1966 to 1980.

Before his election to the federal House of Representatives, Porter had served in the Parliament of Western Australia.

Porter's father was Charles "Chilla" Porter, who won the men's high jump silver medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics and was director of Western Australia's Liberal Party during the 1970s and 1980s.

Chilla's father, Charles Robert Porter, was a Queensland Liberal state MP between 1966 and 1980 and served in the ministry of Joh Bjelke-Petersen.

Porter was educated at Hale School, and was selected for Australia's national schools debating team.

Charles Christian Porter (born 11 July 1970) is an Australian former politician and lawyer who served as the 37th Attorney-General of Australia from 2017 to 2021 in the Turnbull government and the subsequent Morrison government.

From 1988 he attended the University of Western Australia where he graduated Bachelor of Economics and Bachelor of Arts with first-class honours in politics, before completing a Bachelor of Laws degree.

Porter later studied at the London School of Economics for a Master of Science in political theory, from which he graduated with distinction at the top of his class.

Prior to entering Parliament, Porter worked predominantly as a lawyer, starting as a commercial litigator at Clayton Utz before moving to public practice.

He spent a year as an advisor to the Federal Minister for Justice and then began working for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions as a senior state prosecutor.

He first entered the Legislative Assembly after winning the seat of Murdoch in a 2008 by-election following the death of the sitting member, Trevor Sprigg, and he was subsequently elected to the new seat of Bateman at the 2008 general election.

After the Liberals formed government, Porter was appointed Attorney-General in the Barnett Ministry.

Before his election in 2008, Porter was working as a lecturer at Curtin University and the University of Western Australia as well as retaining, part-time, his position as senior prosecutor at the DPP.

Porter was first elected to the Parliament of Western Australia in the now defunct seat of Murdoch in the February 2008 by-election following the death of the standing member Trevor Sprigg.

At the September 2008 election, Porter contested and won the newly created seat of Bateman following the abolition of the seat of Murdoch in the 2007 redistribution.

He was appointed Attorney-General and Minister for Corrective Services after the election, having held the equivalent shadow portfolios prior to the election.

In 2009, Porter proposed Western Australia follow the other states by introducing legislation that would prevent members of outlaw motorcycle gangs associating with each other.

In December 2010, he was also appointed Treasurer and held both portfolios until June 2012, when he resigned from the ministry to contest the 2013 federal election.

On 14 December 2010, Porter was sworn in as Treasurer of Western Australia.

He retained the portfolio of Attorney-General, while the Corrective Services portfolio was transferred to Terry Redman.

In 2011, Porter fought against a court decision to award a sexual assault victim compensation of A$40,000 as she was smoking amphetamines with her attacker when the offences occurred.

Following a decision by a district court judge, Porter took the matter to the Supreme Court where the judge granted his application to go the Court of Appeal.

Porter oversaw the planned introduction of the harshest organised crime laws in Australia in 2011 which would see stronger penalties for organised crime gang members, particularly outlaw motorcycle gangs, for all manner of crimes including associating with one another.

The bill that Porter planned to introduce, the Criminal Organisation Control Bill 2011, would see outlaw motorcycle gangs defined as Declared Criminal Organisations.

The Australian Lawyers Alliance described the proposal as "a desperate attempt at popularity" by the state government.

The laws were first read in the Legislative Assembly in November 2011 and debated multiple times until March 2012 when it passed onto the Legislative Council.

The court agreed with Porter and quashed the payout in 2012.

The bill was then passed in November 2012.

On 12 June 2012, he announced he was stepping down from his ministerial portfolios to contest the seat of Pearce at the 2013 Australian federal election.

He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Division of Pearce from 2013 to 2022 and a member of the Liberal Party of Australia.

At the 2013 election, Porter was elected to federal parliament with an 8% margin.

Before assuming his current position, Porter was Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister in the Abbott government from December 2014 to September 2015, and then Minister for Social Services in the Turnbull government from September 2015 to December 2017.

In March 2021 a historical rape allegation against Porter became public in the midst of the 2021 Australian Parliament House sexual misconduct allegations.

Porter denied the claim and launched a defamation case against the ABC.

The case was later dropped, with the ABC agreeing to pay all of Porter's mediation costs and appending an editor's note to the original article.

Porter resigned from the front bench in September 2021, after media reports revealed that he was a beneficiary of a blind trust relating to his legal action against the ABC.

Following much controversy and media scrutiny, in December of that year, Porter announced his retirement from politics.

He became parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister on 23 December 2014 and held that position until 21 September 2015.

Porter also served as Leader of the House and Minister for Industrial Relations from 2019 to 2021, and Minister for Industry, Science and Technology in 2021 following his resignation as attorney-general.

From Perth, Porter attended Hale School, the University of Western Australia and later the London School of Economics, and practised law at Clayton Utz and taught law at the University of Western Australia before his election to parliament.