Brian Keith Mitchell (born 16 July 1967) is an English-born Australian politician. He is the member for

Lyons Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of th ...

in the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...

after winning the seat at the 2016 federal election.

Early life and education

Mitchell was born in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

in the United Kingdom, and raised in

Perth, Western Australia Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. He attended Maddington Senior High School and Curtin University, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in English, Journalism and Politics in 1989. At university, he worked in various jobs as a kitchenhand, shelf stacker, bartender and fast food manager, was a member of the University Labor Society, and a councillor of the Curtin Student Guild.

Career

Mitchell started his career in print journalism for the ''

Fremantle Herald ''Fremantle Herald'' and similar names have been used for three different newspapers serving Fremantle, Western Australia: ''The Herald'' (1867–1886), ''Fremantle Herald'' (1913–1919) and a current publication, founded in 1989. Colonial ''H ...

'', where he worked as a journalist from 1989 to 1991, and then as editor from 1994 to 2007. From 1991 to 1992, he worked as publications officer for the ACT Council of Social Service, and then from 1992 to 1994 as adviser to the Federal Labor member for Chifley, Roger Price. After leaving the ''Fremantle Herald'' in 2007, he moved to Tasmania and worked as chief of staff for Tasmanian Labor member for Denison

Duncan Kerr Duncan James Colquhoun Kerr, SC (born 26 February 1952) is a barrister. He is a former justice of the Federal Court of Australia. He also served as President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal from 2012 to 2017. Kerr was previously a pol ...

. He then ran his own public relations and media consultancy firm from 2008 to 2016.

Political career

Mitchell has been a member of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

since 1988. Before election to parliament, he served as a member of Tasmanian Labor's Administrative Committee and secretary of the Southern Central Policy Branch. He was also secretary of the Lenah Valley Branch from 2009 to 2011, the Richmond Branch from 2011 to 2012, and the Sorell-Tasman Branch from 2012 to 2016. Mitchell was elected to the House of Representatives at the 2016 federal election, defeating the incumbent Liberal MP

Eric Hutchinson Eric Hutchinson (born September 8, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter best known for his songs " Rock & Roll", "OK, It's Alright with Me", "Not There Yet", "Watching You Watch Him", and "Tell the World". Hutchinson was named an AOL "About t ...

in the

Division of Lyons The Division of Lyons is an Australian electoral division in Tasmania. Geography Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Australian ...

. In December 2017, during the parliamentary eligibility crisis, Mitchell "tried to physically block an

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

cameraman" and reportedly then told reporter

Matt Wordsworth Matt Wordsworth is an Australian television presenter. Wordsworth is currently weeknight presenter of '' ABC News Queensland'' in Brisbane. Wordsworth attended Brisbane State High School. Career In January 2018, it was announced he was chose ...

to "go and do your research, maggot!". Mitchell says what he said was "go and do your research, Matt" but concedes the audio is indistinct and that Wordsworth genuinely thought he had said the former. Mitchell apologised personally and in the parliament to Wordsworth for what he has described as his "boofheaded intervention". Wordsworth had been attempting to question

Justine Keay Justine Terri Keay (born 18 March 1975) is a former Australian politician. She was the Labor member for Braddon in the House of Representatives, serving from the 2016 federal election held on 2 July 2016 until her resignation on 10 May 2018 as ...

about her citizenship status.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Brian 1967 births Living people Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Lyons Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Labor Left politicians Politicians from Coventry English emigrants to Australia English people of Irish descent Australian people of Irish descent 21st-century Australian politicians