Brad Rowswell (born 1986) is an Australian politician and the current Shadow Treasurer of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. He has been a

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

member of the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presidin ...

since November 2018, representing the seat of

Sandringham Sandringham can refer to: Places * Sandringham, New South Wales, Australia * Sandringham, Queensland, Australia * Sandringham, Victoria, Australia **Sandringham railway line **Sandringham railway station **Electoral district of Sandringham * Sand ...

. He was for a time the Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition and Secretary to the Shadow Cabinet; however, he was removed from this role on

Matthew Guy Matthew Jason Guy (born 6 March 1974) is an Australian politician. He has been a Liberal Party of Australia Member of the Parliament of Victoria since 2006, representing Northern Metropolitan Region in the Legislative Council (2006–2014) ...

's return to the Liberal Party leadership in September 2021.

Early life and career

Rowswell was born at the Sandringham Hospital and grew up in the suburb of

Beaumaris Beaumaris ( ; cy, Biwmares ) is a town and community on the Isle of Anglesey in Wales, of which it is the former county town of Anglesey. It is located at the eastern entrance to the Menai Strait, the tidal waterway separating Anglesey from th ...

. He was educated at St Bede's College in Mentone. Rowswell once studied to be a Catholic priest. Prior to his election to parliament, Rowswell worked as a political advisor and a communications manager for the defense contractor

Raytheon Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitali ...

Politics

Rowswell was preselected as the Liberal candidate for the seat of Sandringham in 2018 over former councillor Felicity Frederico. He suffered a 9.5% swing against him, but won the election by slightly over 500 votes. While campaigning in 2017, a fundraiser for his campaign included former tennis player and anti-

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

campaigner

Margaret Court Margaret Court (''née'' Smith; born 16 July 1942), also known as Margaret Smith Court, is an Australian retired former world No. 1 tennis player and a Christian minister. Considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time, her 24 maj ...

. Rowswell was appointed Shadow Minister for Energy in March 2021 by Michael O'Brien. When O'Brien was subject to a

leadership spill In Australian politics, a leadership spill (or simply spill) is a colloquialism referring to a declaration that the leadership of a parliamentary party is vacant and open for contest. A spill may involve all or some of the leadership positions (l ...

and replaced by

in September 2021 Rowswell was removed from the shadow cabinet. Rowswell was re-elected at the

2022 Victorian state election The 2022 Victorian state election was held on Saturday, 26 November 2022 to elect the 60th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Legislative Assembly (lower house) and all 40 seats in the Legislative Council (upper house) were up for el ...

. After the election he ran in the 2022 Victorian Liberal Party deputy leadership election, losing to

David Southwick David James Southwick (born 31 March 1968) is an Australian Liberal Party of Australia, Liberal politician, and has been the member for Electoral district of Caulfield, Caulfield in the Victorian Legislative Assembly since 2010. Southwick has be ...

, and was subsequently appointed Shadow Treasurer. Rowswell voted to expel Moira Deeming from the parliamentary Liberal Party in May 2023.

References

Living people Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly 21st-century Australian politicians 1986 births Politicians from Melbourne People from Beaumaris, Victoria {{Australia-Liberal-politician-stub