Stuart Rowland Robert (born 11 December 1970) is an Australian
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.
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politician who served as
Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business from 2021 to 2022, following his appointment as
Minister for Government Services
The Minister for Government Services is the minister in the Government of Australia responsible for Services Australia. The current minister since 1 June 2022 is the Hon Bill Shorten MP, who also serves as Minister for the National Disability In ...
and
Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme
The Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme is an Australian Government cabinet position which is currently held by Bill Shorten following the swearing in of the full Albanese ministry on 1 June 2022.
In the Government of Austra ...
in 2019. He was also appointed Acting Minister for Education and Youth in December 2021 and is a
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MP) for
Fadden, since
2007
File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...
.
Robert served in the
Abbott Ministry as the
Assistant Minister for Defence from 18 September 2013
until 21 September 2015. Following a leadership spill in the preceding week, new Prime Minister
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 ...
appointed Robert to the roles of
Minister for Veterans' Affairs
The Minister for Veterans' Affairs is an Australian Government position. In the Government of Australia, the minister oversees income support, compensation, care and commemoration programs for more than 400,000 veterans and their widows, widower ...
,
Minister for Human Services
The Minister for Government Services is the minister in the Government of Australia responsible for Services Australia. The current minister since 1 June 2022 is the Hon Bill Shorten MP, who also serves as Minister for the National Disability In ...
and
Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC. Following an investigation into a possible conflict of interest, Robert announced his resignation from the Ministry on 12 February 2016.
In August 2018,
Peter Dutton
Peter Craig Dutton (born 18 November 1970) is an Australian politician who has been leader of the opposition and leader of the Liberal Party since May 2022. He has represented the Queensland seat of Dickson in the House of Representatives sinc ...
unsuccessfully challenged Malcolm Turnbull for the leadership of the Liberal Party. Leadership tension continued to build, and the party voted to hold a second ballot on 24 August, with Turnbull choosing not to stand. During this time Robert is widely reported to have worked to support for the candidacy of
Scott Morrison
Scott John Morrison (; born 13 May 1968) is an Australian politician. He served as the 30th prime minister of Australia and as Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia from 2018 to 2022, and is currently the member of parliament (MP) for t ...
for the leadership of the Liberal party. Robert was later appointed as Assistant Treasurer in the first Morrison Ministry.
Robert is regarded as one of former Prime Minister Morrison's closest confidants. He also sat on a number of Cabinet committees.
Background and early years
Robert was born in
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 ...
and spent his early years growing up on a sugar cane farm in
Bundaberg
Bundaberg is a city in the Bundaberg Region, Queensland, Australia, and is the tenth largest city in the state. Bundaberg's regional area has a population of 70,921, and is a major centre of the Wide Bay–Burnett geographical region. The Bun ...
, Queensland.
He was educated at
Rockhampton Grammar School
, motto_translation=Grow in character and scholarship
, established = 1881
, type = Independent, day & boarding
, gender = Co-educational
, head = Dr Phillip Moulds
, city = Rockhampton
, state = Queensland
, c ...
where he secured a scholarship to the
Australian Defence Force Academy
The Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) is a tri-service military Academy that provides military and academic education for junior officers of the Australian Defence Force in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army and Royal Aus ...
as an Army Officer Cadet at the age of 17. Following the Academy, Robert attended the
Royal Military College Duntroon
lit: Learning promotes strength
, established =
, type = Military college
, chancellor =
, head_label = Commandant
, head = Brigadier Ana Duncan
, principal =
, city = Campbell
, state ...
.
He completed a
Masters in Business Administration
A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...
at
Central Queensland University
Central Queensland University (alternatively known as CQUniversity) is an Australian public university based in central Queensland. CQUniversity is the only Australian university with a campus presence in every mainland state. Its main campus ...
, a
Masters in Information Technology at the
Queensland University of Technology
Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public research university located in the urban coastal city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. QUT is located on two campuses in the Brisbane area viz. Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove. The univ ...
and graduated from the
University of New South Wales
The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...
with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours.
Early career
Military career
Robert's professional career began in the military where he served for twelve years in units including the
3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment and the
51st Battalion, The Far North Queensland Regiment. The latter, based on
Thursday Island
Thursday Island, colloquially known as TI, or in the Kawrareg dialect, Waiben or Waibene, is an island of the Torres Strait Islands, an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait. TI is located approximately north of Cape ...
, was at the time the largest indigenous unit in the Defence Force.
It was also during this time that Robert completed his master's degrees, mostly part-time.
A vast majority of Robert's military career was spent working within military intelligence and security, and he worked his way to the rank of
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
. That included a four-month tour of duty with the peace monitoring force in
Bougainville following the
civil war
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
.
Business career
After leaving the army in 1999, Robert founded the IT services firm GMT Recruitment, with colleague Andrew Chantler. GMT Recruitment subsequently grew to be a nationwide company and was named a ''
Business Review Weekly
''BRW'' (formerly ''Business Review Weekly'') was an Australian business magazine published by the Fairfax Media group. The magazine was headquartered in Melbourne. It regularly compiled lists which rank corporations and individuals according to ...
'' "Fast 100" award winner in 2006. The list, which recognised the fastest-growing 100 companies in Australia, again featured GMT Recruitment in both 2007 and 2008.
Political career
In 1991, Robert joined the Liberal Party. As he later explained to parliament, "I was motivated to action as I witnessed the diabolical consequences of the recession which, apparently, 'we had to have', the crippling interest rates and the very high level of industrial disputes which so adversely impacted on my family and many surrounding families. Through all of this turbulence, the urgency to ensure that this place
asgoverned for all Australia and not just for sectional interests became self-evident."
[ In 2007 Robert was elected to 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 ...
representing the seat of Fadden. Two years later, on 8 December 2009, he was appointed Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence. On 14 September 2010 he was promoted to Shadow Minister for Defence Science, Technology and Personnel.
After the 2013 federal election Robert was appointed the Assistant Minister for Defence in the Abbott Government. After the change of prime minister in September 2015, he was appointed to Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Minister for Human Services and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC with effect from 21 September 2015.
Following his support for Scott Morrison’s successful bid to become Prime Minister in August 2018 Robert was appointed as Assistant Treasurer in the first Morrison Ministry.
Following the Coalition’s re-election in May 2019 Robert was promoted to Cabinet and appointed as Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme
The Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme is an Australian Government cabinet position which is currently held by Bill Shorten following the swearing in of the full Albanese ministry on 1 June 2022.
In the Government of Austra ...
and Minister for Government Services
The Minister for Government Services is the minister in the Government of Australia responsible for Services Australia. The current minister since 1 June 2022 is the Hon Bill Shorten MP, who also serves as Minister for the National Disability In ...
- two areas identified as key priorities by Prime Minister Morrison for his Government.
In March 2021 Robert was promoted to the role of Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business. He also retained responsibility for whole-of-government technology through the Digital Transformation Agency.
When asked why Robert had been promoted the Prime Minister cited his successful tenure in his previous role.
National Disability Insurance Scheme
In June 2019, in response to delays and backlogs for children with disability in accessing Early Childhood Early Intervention (ECEI) supports through the NDIS, Robert directed the National Disability Insurance Agency to provide standardised interim plans to children who have been found eligible for the NDIS, but who are likely to experience a wait time of greater than 50 days.
News coverage in January 2021 noted that "NDIS waiting times have dropped after concerted efforts from the Federal Government and the National Disability Insurance Agency". The report found 85 per cent of NDIS participants rating their planning experience as “very good” or “good”. A spokesman for the government said the Federal Government had made improving access and planning decision timeframes a priority, and had made “significant improvements since May 2019”.
In February 2021, Robert pressed ahead with introducing legislative amendments to parliament after a court ruled sex services were not excluded under law from being taxpayer funded through the NDIS saying: ''“NDIS participants can still freely use their own money, whether that is through government support or earned income, to spend on whatever they want. All we are saying is taxpayer NDIS funds were never intended to be used in this way and we’ll be ensuring this does not happen again.”''
Government Services
Establishing Services Australia
At the outset of his role as Minister for Government Services Robert established Services Australia. In July 2019 he appointed Martin Hoffman to lead a taskforce to develop a strategic plan to deliver the reform to government service delivery.
While announcing the taskforce, Robert said: ''“In those important moments when Australians reach out for government services they rightly expect a simple and seamless interaction. Services Australia will be outcomes focused and will put in place the right structure needed to deliver that experience.‘Whether Australians are accessing government services digitally, in person or over the phone, in the future I want Services Australia to deliver a similar experience to what Australians are used to when dealing with everyday services, such as banking and shopping"''
Minister Robert appointed Rebecca Skinner as CEO of Services Australia in March 2020.
Support for Black Summer Bushfires
Services Australia staff deployed as part of the emergency response to the 2019-20 Black Summer Bushfires. Minister Robert told Parliament that Services Australia had provided support deploying more than 20 mobile support teams into dozens of hard-to-reach communities, and delivered millions of dollars via thousands of disaster payments to fire-affected residents. He noted Services Australia also successfully trialed facial verification technology to provide support to those who had lost identity documents.
Government Services Response to COVID-19 Pandemic
As Minister for Government Services Minister Robert led Services Australia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In March 2020 the National Cabinet closed large sections of the Australian economy driving a high demand for social supports and saw thousands of people queue outside Centrelinks to apply for government payments.
Following a surge of 12,000 staff drawn from across the Australian Public Service and service partners Services Australia processed as many JobSeeker claims within roughly 50 days as it normally would in two years. Thanks to help from staff from across the Australian Public Service, the agency has granted financial assistance to over 800,000 Australians who have lost their jobs.
On Sunday 7 February 2021 Minister Robert announced Services Australia would ensure Australians would be able to tap and display COVID-19 “proof of vaccination” certificates on their phones or carry hard copies with them.
Future of Government Services
In December 2020 Minister Robert announced a refurbished Services Australia Service Centre in Western Australia would be used to trial a “new era” of government service delivery. The Perth City Service Centre would offer a new “welcoming environment” that has been designed specifically to help older Australians who need additional support. Minister Robert said the new centre would offer upgraded self-service facilities and digital support, appointment-based services, and specialist services made available through video chat.
Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business
In March 2021 Robert was promoted to the role of Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business. He also retained responsibility for whole-of-government technology through the Digital Transformation Agency.
Previous Policy stances
Robert is a member of the Centre-Right faction of the Liberal Party,and is an advocate of reforming the indexation rules surrounding military superannuation in both the Defence Force Retirements Benefits scheme and the Defence Force Retirement & Death Benefits scheme. He has spoken in Parliament on a number of occasions to argue that indexation rules should reflect the "unique nature of military service". He has also stated that such service deserves a superannuation scheme with fair indexation that is "indexed in the same way as the age pension and service pensions for those aged 55 and over". He has also criticised 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 labour ...
and the Australian Greens
The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, are a confederation of Green state and territory political parties in Australia. As of the 2022 federal election, the Greens are the third largest political party in Australia by vote and th ...
for their lack of policy in this area.
In 2012, he argued against removing the entitlement from currently serving single members of the Australian Defence Force to a free annual trip home after an effort to scrap it by Labor.
He believes that the realities of war pose different kinds of physical challenges "On a route fitness assessment you may be forced to carry 25 kg"..."But can you carry that weight when you haven't slept for days? Can you carry that weight after parachuting in the rain and landing in the mud?"
He has rejected comparisons from critics who point to countries like Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, which has women in frontline roles, stating that Israel has regional threats that cannot be translated to Australia. He further said that women in such positions pose a security risk as hostages, stating that male soldiers would react to female soldiers being tortured differently, potentially endangering troops or causing them to reveal state secrets. "The attitude with men n captureis just 'Suck it in and welcome to captivity,' but if they watching a woman suffer like that, it's a whole different ball game."
Controversies
China trip and resignation from ministry
On 18 August 2014, Robert attended an event in Beijing, China, at which a mining deal between Australian company Nimrod Resources and Chinese state-controlled corporation China Minmetals
China Minmetals Corporation is a Chinese metals and mineral Trader (finance), trading company headquartered in Beijing. It is a state-owned enterprise, state-owned corporation under direct supervision of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Adm ...
was signed. In February 2016, when details of the trip were released, the Opposition called Robert's presence at the signing "inappropriate", because Nimrod chairman Paul Marks was both a friend of his and a substantial donor to the Liberal Party. Robert claimed that the trip was in a "private capacity", and not official government business.
In a subsequent Senate Estimates Committee hearing, officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is the department of the Australian federal government responsible for foreign policy and relations, international aid (using the branding Australian Aid), consular services and trade and inv ...
(DFAT) stated that the department had not been informed of the trip until Robert had returned, and that it appeared that Chinese officials at the event were under the impression that Robert was present as an Australian government minister. Prime Minister Turnbull asked his department secretary, Martin Parkinson
Martin Lee Parkinson (born 26 September 1958) is a senior Australian public servant. He was Secretary of the Department of the Treasury between March 2011 and December 2014. On 3 December 2015 it was announced that he would return to the publi ...
, to investigate and report on the circumstances of Robert's visit to China to determine if he had breached ministerial standards of conduct.
On 12 February 2016, Robert announced his resignation from the First Turnbull Ministry
The first Turnbull ministry (Liberal–National Coalition) was the 69th ministry of the Government of Australia, led by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. It succeeded the Abbott ministry after a leadership spill that took place on 14 September ...
as part of a broader reshuffle triggered by the resignation of Andrew Robb
Andrew John Robb (born 20 August 1951) is a former Australian politician. He was a member of the House of Representatives from 2004 to 2016, representing the Liberal Party. He served as Minister for Trade and Investment (2013–2016) in the ...
and Warren Truss
Warren Errol Truss, (born 8 October 1948) is a former Australian politician who served as the 16th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development in the Abbott Government and the Turnbull Governm ...
.
Robodebt
Robert was criticised for his involvement in establishing the controversial Robodebt scheme during his time as minister for government services. The scheme saw hundreds of thousands of people issued with computer-generated debt notices, some of which made demands for payment from people who did not owe the Government any money, and led to a $1.23 billion refund and compensation settlement in November 2020.
Robert defended Robodebt until in 2020 it was found unlawful by Australian courts, which ordered the government to return $721 million in returned welfare payments.
Crime and Corruption Commission – Operation Belcarra
In March 2017, it was revealed that Robert would appear at a public hearing of the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission
The Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) is an independent Queensland Government entity created to combat and reduce the incidence of major crime and to continuously improve the integrity of, and to reduce the incidence of misconduct in, the Q ...
named Operation Belcarra, inquiring into the possibly illegal conduct of candidates in some local government
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...
elections. It was alleged that some candidates had formed an undeclared group, and provided an electoral funding and financial disclosure return that was false or misleading. The Crime and Corruption Commission found it would "not be in the public interest" to take any further action.
Possible breaches of Constitution and company law
In 2017, it was revealed that GMT Group, a company that Robert had founded, had been awarded government contracts worth millions of dollars. This meant that, he had been ineligible for election to Parliament under Section 44 of the Constitution of Australia
Section 44 of the Australian Constitution lists the grounds for disqualification on who may become a candidate for election to the Parliament of Australia. It has generally arisen for consideration by the High Court sitting in its capacity as the ...
; Robert's situation had similarities to that of Bob Day
Robert John Day (born 5 July 1952) is an Australian former politician and businessman who was a Senator for South Australia from 1 July 2014 to 1 November 2016. He is a former federal chairman of the Family First Party. Before entering po ...
, who had been disqualified under s. 44. However, because Robert had been re-elected to Parliament after relinquishing his interests in the company, there was no possibility of the previous elections being challenged in the High Court.
It has also been reported that Robert's parents were listed as the directors of his company for six years without their knowledge. Australian Securities and Investments Commission
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is an independent commission of the Australian Government tasked as the national corporate regulator. ASIC's role is to regulate company and financial services and enforce laws to pro ...
investigated the claims.
Internet usage
In October 2018, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that he had asked the Special Minister of State, Alex Hawke, to investigate Robert's internet bills. Concerns were raised about excessive use of taxpayer money to fund his Internet bills
Although the plan had been approved by the Department of Finance, the Department said that they had warned Robert 'multiple times' about the unusually high costs of his home internet. Robert voluntarily repaid $37,975 of claimed allowance.
Incorrect claims of cyberattack on the MyGov system
In March 2020, during the Australian coronavirus pandemic, the government's digital welfare platform, MyGov, experienced an outage as thousands of people were logging on to register for welfare services. Robert claimed in a press conference that it was not due to the large number of people who are unemployed and trying to log into MyGov to register for Centrelink, but was due to a DDoS attack
In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyber-attack
A cyberattack is any offensive maneuver that targets computer information systems, computer networks, infrastructures, or personal computer devices. An attacker is a p ...
. “MyGov has not been offline, it’s simply suffered from a distributed denial of service attack this morning,” he said. Later he corrected the claim following further advice, with commentators incredulous that the Minister had said "my bad" during the retraction.
Business connection with Cryo Australia
In October 2018, a newspaper revealed Robert had joined a business selling cryotherapy
Cryotherapy, sometimes known as cold therapy, is the local or general use of low temperatures in medical therapy. Cryotherapy may be used to treat a variety of tissue lesions. The most prominent use of the term refers to the surgical treatment, s ...
devices. The business founder, was a convicted rapist who at the time was before Queensland’s highest court on appeal against the conviction. Robert said he did not realise the background of the company’s founder until contacted by the media. Robert resigned his director's position after two and a half weeks. Cryo Australia was liquidated shortly thereafter and Robert reportedly lost a huge sum of money.
ARC grants vetoed
In the 2021 round, for projects to begin in 2022, the research grant fund ARC approved nearly 600 grants. Stuart Robert, as acting education minister, vetoed six grants in the humanities as, in his own view, failing the national interest tests for the grant. He was criticised by academics and politicians for interference with expert evaluation, adelay in making his decision, and announcing it "under cover" of Christmas Eve.
Personal life
Robert has been married since 1996 to his wife Chantelle and has three sons.
References
External links
* - Stuart Robert's political website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robert, Stuart
1970 births
Living people
Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia
Liberal National Party of Queensland members of the Parliament of Australia
Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Fadden
Members of the Australian House of Representatives
Queensland University of Technology alumni
University of New South Wales alumni
Government ministers of Australia
Australian Army officers
Graduates of the Australian Defence Force Academy
Royal Military College, Duntroon graduates
Abbott Government
Turnbull Government
21st-century Australian politicians
Morrison Government
Australian Pentecostals