Christopher James Steel (born 15 May 1986) is an Australian politician. He has been a

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly since 2016, representing the electorate of Murrumbidgee and currently serves as a Cabinet Minister in the

ACT Government The Government of the Australian Capital Territory, also referred to as the Australian Capital Territory Government or ACT Government, is the executive authority of the Australian Capital Territory, one of the territories of Australia. The lea ...

. Before his election, Steel was an education advocate working in the early childhood sector.

Biography

Steel was born in

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area ...

before his family moved to Canberra in the 1980s. As a child he grew up on the Southside in Torrens attending the local public schools, Torrens Primary, Melrose High School and

Narrabundah College Narrabundah College is a government college that teaches the last two years of secondary education in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It was the first school in Australia to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB), starting the progr ...

. He completed his Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and Bachelor of Arts (BA) at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

(ANU). Prior to his election into the ACT Legislative Assembly, Steel worked as the Policy and Research Manager at peak education advocacy group Early Childhood Australia. He has also worked as a policy adviser for both the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government ...

and

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. I ...

Government. Prior to being elected to office, Steel volunteered as a Director on the Board of

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...

Canberra. Steel currently lives in Kambah with his partner Kurt.

Political career

On 16 October 2016 Steel was elected to the Ninth Assembly to represent the new electorate of Murrumbidgee receiving 9.1% of the vote. Steel was re-elected at the 2020 ACT Election with 13.8% of the vote. Steel was appointed to Ministry on 27 August 2018 as Minister for City Services, Minister for Roads, Minister for Community Services and Community Facilities, and Minister for Multicultural Affairs. On 1 July 2019 he took on responsibility for the Transport portfolio following

Meegan Fitzharris Meegan Fitzharris (born 1972) is a former Australian politician, who was a member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly for the Yerrabi electorate from October 2016 to July 2019, and before that, member for the electorate of ...

' resignation from the Ministry. Following the 2020 ACT Election Steel was subsequently re-appointed to the

Third Barr Ministry The Third Barr Ministry is the 15th ministry of the Government of the Australian Capital Territory, led by Labor Chief Minister Andrew Barr and his deputy Yvette Berry. It was appointed on 4 November 2020 to replace the Second Barr Ministry, f ...

as Minister for Transport and City Services, Minister for Skills, and as Special Minister of State.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steel, Chris Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly Members of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly Gay politicians LGBT legislators in Australia Australian LGBT rights activists People from Newcastle, New South Wales Australian National University alumni 21st-century Australian politicians 1986 births People educated at Narrabundah College YMCA leaders 21st-century LGBT people

Biography

Political career

See also

References