Kevin Andrews

Kevin James Andrews (born 9 November 1955) is an Australian former politician and member of the Liberal Party of Australia.

Andrews was born on 9 November 1955 in Sale, Victoria, the son of Roy Gebhardt Andrews and Sheila Rosina O'Connor.

Andrews was a racing commentator in the 1970s and 80s, calling various sporting events including athletics, cycling and motor sports, and writing for a number of publications, including Australian Auto Action.

He was also secretary of the Melbourne University Athletics Club, and a director of the Victorian Amateur Athletics Association.

At Melbourne University, he trained with the legendary coach, Franz Stampfl.

He was educated at the Rosedale Primary School, St Patrick's College, Sale, and the University of Melbourne, where he resided at Newman College and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1979 and a Bachelor of Arts in 1980.

At university, he was President of the Newman College Students' Club and the National Association of Australian University Colleges.

After graduation, he worked for the Law Institute of Victoria from 1980 to 1983, as a research solicitor and co-ordinator of Continuing Legal Education.

From 1983 to 1985, he served as associate to Sir James Gobbo, Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, and subsequently the Governor of Victoria.

He practised as a barrister from 1985 until his election to Parliament in 1991.

While practising law he specialised in health law and bioethics and was involved with the St Vincent's Bioethics Centre, the Mercy Hospital for Women, the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the Lincoln School of Health Sciences.

He was also a board member of Caritas Christi Hospice.

He later completed a Master of Laws degree at Monash University in 1986.

Although Warren Snowdon was first elected in 1987, Andrews was the longest continuously serving member, because Snowdon was out of the House between 1996 and 1998.

Andrews was one of three parliamentary survivors of the Hawke government, the others being Snowdon and Russell Broadbent.

Andrews was a member of the Lyons Forum, a socially conservative Christian group within the Coalition that was disbanded in the mid-1990s.

Andrews served as the Forum Secretary and is credited with suggesting the name for the group.

He was the Member of House of Representatives for the seat of Menzies from a by-election in 1991 until the 2022 Australian federal election.

Andrews is a conservative and a Catholic.

Andrews was elected to the House of Representatives for the Liberal Party at the 1991 Menzies by-election in Victoria.

Andrews has never lived in his electorate but in the neighbouring Jagajaga.

Andrews was shadow minister for schools but was removed from the position when Alexander Downer replaced John Hewson as Liberal leader in May 1994.

As a backbencher, Andrews chaired the House of Representatives Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee.

He presented a private member's bill, the Euthanasia Laws Bill 1996, which was passed in 1997 and overrode the Northern Territory's legislation, the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995, that legalised euthanasia in the Territory.

After the Coalition's third victory in 2001, Andrews was brought into the outer ministry as Minister for Ageing, a portfolio in which he served from 26 November 2001 to 7 October 2003.

In taking a stance against stem cell research in 2002, he stated that it was the "first time" that "human beings can be treated as a commodity".

He was subsequently appointed to Cabinet as the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and was responsible for introducing the Howard government's major changes to industrial relations law in 2005, commonly known as WorkChoices, which introduced a national system of workplace relations in Australia.

Andrews called for an end to trials of the RU-486 drug, and voted against a bill in 2006 that took away the Health Minister's power to veto applications to allow the drug to be used.

He also took a stance against stem cell research during a debate in 2006, which resulted in the overturning of a previous ban on the research.

Previously, Andrews served in the Howard government as the Minister for Ageing, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, and then the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship until the 2007 election, at which his party lost government.

In a reshuffle in early 2007, Andrews was made Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, a position which he held until the swearing-in of the First Rudd Ministry on 3 December 2007, following the defeat of the Howard government in the 2007 election.

During 2008 and 2009, he served as Chairman of the Coalition's Policy Review Committee, reviewing and developing the Opposition's policies, until he was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet (to the position of Shadow Minister for Families, Housing and Human Services) in December 2009 by the newly elected Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott.

He was also appointed Deputy Chairman of the Coalition Policy Development Committee.

Following the 2009 Liberal leadership ballot, Andrews served in the Shadow Cabinet of Tony Abbott as shadow minister for Families, Housing and Human Services until the 2013 election where his party won government.

In the Abbott government, Andrews served in the cabinet as Minister for Social Services and later Minister for Defence.

At the September 2015 Liberal leadership ballot, Andrews unsuccessfully contested for the Liberal deputy leadership against Julie Bishop, while supporting Tony Abbott against Malcolm Turnbull as Liberal leader.

Upon the ascension of the Turnbull government Andrews was dropped from the new Ministry and moved to the backbench.

With the retirement of Philip Ruddock at the 2016 federal election, Andrews became the Father of the House.

From 2019 until his retirement in 2022, Andrews was the "Father of the Parliament", the currently longest, continuously serving member of the Australian Parliament.

On 31 January 2021, Andrews lost the Liberal Party's endorsement in a preselection challenge to barrister Keith Wolahan (181 votes to 111).