Michael Anthony O'Brien (born 5 August 1971) is an Australian politician. 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 presiding ...

since 2006, representing the electorate of

Malvern Malvern or Malverne may refer to: Places Australia * Malvern, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide * Malvern, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne * City of Malvern, a former local government area near Melbourne * Electoral district of Malvern, an e ...

and served as the leader of the party and opposition leader from December 2018 to September 2021. O'Brien served as Minister for Gaming, Minister for Consumer Affairs and Minister for Energy and Resources in the Baillieu government from 2010 to 2013, and was promoted to

Treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury o ...

in the 2013–2014 Napthine government. Following the defeat of the Napthine government at the 2014 state election, O'Brien contested the leadership of the Liberal Party, but was defeated by

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) an ...

. Guy resigned the party leadership following the party's defeat at the 2018 state election. Subsequently, on 6 December 2018, O'Brien was elected leader of the Liberal Party and became

opposition leader The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

. On 7 September 2021, Guy successfully challenged O'Brien for the party leadership, and returned to the role of opposition leader.

Education

O'Brien underwent secondary education at Marcellin College before completing a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and a Bachelor of Commerce from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

. He worked as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

at the

Victorian Bar The Victorian Bar is the bar association of the Australian State of Victoria. The current President of the Bar is Roisin Annesley KC. Its members are barristers registered to practice in Victoria. On 30 June 2020, there were 2,179 counsels ...

practising in the fields of trade practices and

commercial law Commercial law, also known as mercantile law or trade law, is the body of law that applies to the rights, relations, and conduct of persons and business engaged in commerce, merchandising, trade, and sales. It is often considered to be a branc ...

. With co-author Jamie Richardson, O'Brien won the

Law Institute of Victoria Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vari ...

's Rogers Legal Writing Award in 2006. While at the Bar he also lectured part-time in trade practices at the Leo Cussen Institute of Continuing Legal Education and performed pro bono work.

Political career

O'Brien served as a senior adviser to the former Federal Treasurer

Peter Costello Peter Howard Costello (born 14 August 1957) is an Australian businessman, lawyer and former politician who served as the treasurer of Australia in government of John Howard from 1996 to 2007. He is the longest-serving treasurer in Australia' ...

for five years. He stood for the

in the blue-ribbon seat of

at the 2006 state election, winning with over 60 per cent of second-preference votes. On 6 December 2006, he was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet by the State Opposition leader,

Ted Baillieu Edward Norman Baillieu (born 31 July 1953) is a former Australian politician who was Premier of Victoria from 2010 to 2013. He was a Liberal Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1999 to 2014, representing the electorate of ...

, to the position of Shadow Minister for Gaming. He was one of three newly elected Liberal MPs who were immediately promoted to Shadow Cabinet following the 2006 election, the others being

Mary Wooldridge Mary Louise Newling Wooldridge (born 29 July 1967) is a former Australian politician. She was a Liberal Party member of the Parliament of Victoria from 2006 to 2019. She was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, representing the seat ...

and

. In August 2007, he was promoted to Shadow Minister for Consumer Affairs—taking over from

Wendy Lovell Wendy Ann Lovell (born 11 August 1959) is an Australian politician. Born in Sydney, New South Wales, she was a newsagent before becoming involved in politics. She held numerous posts with the Liberal Party, and was eventually elected to the Vi ...

—in addition to his responsibilities for gaming. In April 2009, he called for the Brumby Government to change company share laws so that apartment owners could take consumer cases to the

Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) was formed by the ''Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act'' 1998 in the state of Victoria, Australia. As part of the Victorian Justice system the Tribunal sits 'below' the Magistrat ...

, instead of having to go the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

. In November 2009, O'Brien was promoted in a shadow cabinet reshuffle. He had been tipped to gain a "senior portfolio" but ended up in charge of three separate economic portfolios: infrastructure and public-private partnerships; energy and resources; and exports and trade. He told a local newspaper that he was "delighted with the changes" and was looking forward to "developing a better alternative to Labor's poor performance

n energy security and improved infrastructure N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

. He retained the gaming and consumer affairs portfolios. Following the election of the Victorian Liberal Nationals Coalition at the 2010 state election, O'Brien was sworn in on 2 December 2010 as Minister for Energy and Resources, Minister for Gaming and Minister for Consumer Affairs. In 2011 the Victorian Government proposed changing the Gaming Regulation Act to make it an offence to insult the Minister. The Opposition responded by calling him "Windscreens O'Brien – because this proves he's got a glass jaw". After the move of Liberal MP Geoff Shaw to the crossbenches and the resignation of Premier

in March 2013, O'Brien became Treasurer of Victoria in the ministry of the Napthine minority government.

was elected as leader of the Liberal Party in a leadership ballot contested on 4 December 2014, making him

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

after defeating Michael O'Brien for the position. Matthew Guy made O'Brien shadow treasurer in opposition. On 6 December 2018, O'Brien was elected the leader of the Liberal party after Guy resigned following the 2018 state election defeat. O'Brien's Chief of Staff Brett Hogan resigned from the position in 2021. In an Ipsos poll commissioned by The Age and Nine News in October 2020, only 15% of respondents approved of O'Brien's performance during the COVID-19 pandemic and 39% disapproved of his performance, with O'Brien trailing Daniel Andrews as preferred premier by 53% to 18%; among Coalition supporters, only 27% approved of his performance. Despite this negative polling, O'Brien stated that he was confident of remaining leader of the Victorian Liberals in 2022. On 7 September 2021, O'Brien was replaced by Guy as party leader and opposition leader in a leadership spill. Initially, he declined to be in Guy's shadow cabinet, but in February 2022, he was appointed as shadow attorney-general. O’Brien was re-elected in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

.https://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/vic/2022/guide/malv

Personal life

Michael O'Brien lives in his Malvern electorate with his wife and two children. O'Brien is a supporter of the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's top professional competition. Founded in 1864 in Carlton, an inner suburb of Mel ...

in the Australian Football League, a very keen golfer, and is a co-founder of the Spring Street Blues, a Victorian MP supporter group for Carlton.

Notes

References

;Bibliography * ;News articles * * * * * * * * * ;Online resources * *

External links

Liberal Party profileParliamentary Handbook profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Michael 1971 births Living people Leaders of the Opposition in Victoria (Australia) Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria Australian barristers Irish emigrants to Australia 21st-century Australian politicians People educated at Marcellin College, Bulleen