Matthew James Keogh (born 11 November 1981) is an Australian politician. He is 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 ...

(ALP) and has been Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Minister for Defence Personnel in the Albanese government since 2022. He has been a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

since 2016, representing the

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

n seat of

Burt Burt is a given name and also a shortened form of other names, such as Burton and Herbert, or a place name. Burt may refer to: People *Burt Alvord (1866–after 1910), American Old West lawman and outlaw *Burt Bacharach (born 1928), American com ...

. He worked as a lawyer before entering politics.

Early life

Keogh was born on 11 November 1981 in

Armadale, Western Australia Armadale is a suburb of Perth within the City of Armadale, located on the south-eastern edge of the Perth metropolitan region. The major junction of the South Western and Albany Highways, which connect Perth with the South West and Great South ...

. He is the son of Helen () and Colin Keogh. His paternal grandfather Peter Travers was "the first lawyer in the Armadale– Gosnells area". Keogh grew up in the Kelmscott Hills, attending Mazenod College. He went on to the

University of Notre Dame Australia The University of Notre Dame Australia (UNDA) is a national Roman Catholic private university with campuses in and in Western Australia and Sydney in New South Wales. The university also has eight clinical schools as part of its school of med ...

, completing a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

(

Hons. Honours degree has various meanings in the context of different degrees and education systems. Most commonly it refers to a variant of the Undergraduate education, undergraduate bachelor's degree containing a larger volume of material or a high ...

) in politics and history and a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

. While at university he worked as a custom service officer for

iiNet iiNet Limited is an Australian internet service provider that sells NBN plans and services on its ULTRA Broadband Cable, FTTB and VDSL2 networks. It was acquired by TPG Telecom in July 2020. iiNet was acquired by TPG in September 2015 for $1 ...

. He was also a clerk and bookkeeper at his mother's law firm Travers & Keogh, where he later worked as a solicitor from 2005 to 2006. Keogh was a policy officer at the state Department of Premier and Cabinet from 2003 to 2005. He joined the

Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions The Office of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions or, informally, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) is an independent prosecuting service and government agency within the portfolio of the Attorney-General of A ...

as a prosecutor in 2006, before moving to private practice in 2011 as a commercial lawyer with

Herbert Smith Freehills Herbert Smith Freehills is an international law firm with headquarters in London, United Kingdom and Sydney, Australia. It was formed on 1 October 2012 by a merger between the United Kingdom-based Herbert Smith, then a member of the "Silver Circl ...

. He served as president of the Law Society of Western Australia in 2015 and was a director of the

Law Council of Australia The Law Council of Australia, founded in 1933, is an association of law societies and bar associations from the states and territories of Australia, and the peak body representing the legal profession in Australia. The Law Council represents mo ...

Political career

Keogh joined the Australian Labor Party in 1997 and was state president of

Young Labor Australian Young Labor, also known as the Young Labor Movement or simply Young Labor, is the youth wing of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) representing all ALP members aged between 15 to 26. The organisation operates as a federation with independen ...

in 2007. He is a member of

Labor Right The Labor Right, also known as Modern Labor, is a political faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) at the national level that is characterised by being more economically conservative and, in some cases, more socially conservative. The Labor ...

. After being unsuccessful as Labor's candidate at the September 2015 federal by-election in

Canning Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container (jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although u ...

, which precipitated

Malcolm Turnbull Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Turnbull grad ...

deposing

Tony Abbott Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott was born in Londo ...

Prime Minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the Australian Government, federal government of Australia and is also accountable to Parliament of A ...

, Keogh ran successfully in the 2016 federal election for the electorate of Burt. The new seat included a third of Canning's old territory, and on paper was notionally Liberal. However, it included much of the more urbanised portion of the old Canning, and much of the seat's territory was represented by Labor at state level. Keogh won the seat on a swing of more than 13 points. Following his election in 2016, Keogh was elected the deputy chair of the Labor Caucus, appointed the Labor Opposition Waste Watch spokesperson and became a member of the House Economics Committee, which was tasked with inquiring into the Australian banks, as well as the House Agriculture & Water Committee and the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services. Keogh was re-elected in 2019. Following the 2019 election, Keogh was elected to the Labor

front bench In many parliaments and other similar assemblies, seating is typically arranged in banks or rows, with each political party or caucus grouped together. The spokespeople for each group will often sit at the front of their group, and are then kn ...

and allocated the portfolios of Shadow Minister for Defence Industry, Shadow Minister for WA Resources and Shadow Minister Assisting for Small and Family Business. After the ALP's victory at the 2022 election, Keogh was appointed Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Minister for Defence Personnel in the Albanese government.

Personal

Keogh met his wife at

law school A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, ...

: the two married in 2011. They have two sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keogh, Matt Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Burt 1981 births Living people 21st-century Australian politicians Politicians from Perth, Western Australia Labor Right politicians University of Notre Dame Australia alumni Australian lawyers