Susan Eileen McDonald (born 7 February 1970) is an Australian politician who has been a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

for

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

since 2019. She is a member of the

Liberal National Party of Queensland The Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP) is a major political party in Queensland, Australia. It was formed in 2008 by a merger of the Queensland divisions of the Liberal Party and the National Party. At a federal level and in most other ...

(LNP) and sits with the National Party in federal parliament. She has a background in

agribusiness Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy, in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit w ...

Early life

McDonald was born in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. Her father Don McDonald served as state and federal president of the National Party during the 1990s. The family company MDH Pty Ltd was established by her grandfather Jim McDonald in the 1940s and runs numerous cattle stations across

, spanning over as of 2013. McDonald grew up on Devoncourt Station, located in the locality of Kuridala outside of

Cloncurry Cloncurry is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia. In the the locality of Cloncurry had a population of 2,719 people. Cloncurry is the administrative centre of the Shire of Cloncurry. Cloncurry is known as ...

. She began her schooling through the

School of the Air School of the Air is a generic term for correspondence schools catering for the primary and early secondary education of children in remote and outback Australia where some or all classes were historically conducted by radio, although this is n ...

based in

Mount Isa Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive single mines in world history, bas ...

before boarding at

Stuartholme School , motto_translation = One Heart , established = , founder = Archbishop James Duhig , type = Independent secondary day and boarding school , gender = Girls , religion = Catholicism , denomination = Society of the Sacre ...

in Brisbane. She later completed the degrees of

Bachelor of Commerce A Bachelor of Commerce (abbreviated BComm or BCom; also, ''baccalaureates commercii'') is an undergraduate degree in business, usually awarded in Canada, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ireland, New Zealand, Ghana, South Africa, Myanmar, ...

and

Bachelor of Economics The Bachelor of Economics (BEc or BEcon), or the "Bachelor of Applied Economics", is a bachelor's degree awarded by many universities and colleges for completion of an undergraduate program in economics, econometrics, or applied economics; the ...

from the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

Career

McDonald is a chartered accountant. From 2014 to 2019 she served as managing director of Super Butcher, a subsidiary of her family business MDH which had five stores and employed 80 people as of 2016. She was appointed to the board of

Beef Australia Beef Australia is an international exposition held triennially in Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia. The week-long expo has been held in the city during the month of May triennially since the inaugural event in 1988. The event is promoted and use ...

in 2016. She joined the council of the Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland in the same year.

Politics

McDonald joined the

National Party of Queensland The National Party of Australia – Queensland (NPA-Q), commonly known as Queensland Nationals, or the National Party of Queensland, was the Queensland-state branch of the National Party of Australia (NPA) until 2008. Prior to 1974, it was known ...

at the age of 19. She served a term as state secretary beginning in 2003. When the party merged with the state

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 ...

in 2008, she became a founding trustee of the new

(LNP). She served as chief of staff to

Andrew Cripps Andrew Peter Cripps (born 5 February 1981) is an Australian politician who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 2006 to 2017 and served as Minister for Natural Resources and Mines. In October 2018 he was elected to the S ...

, the Queensland Minister for Natural Resources and Mines from 2012 to 2015.

Senate

In July 2018 McDonald won LNP

preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presele ...

for the Senate. She was elected to parliament at the 2019 federal election, to a term beginning on 1 July 2019, and sits in the Nationals partyroom. She serves on several Senate committees and is the chair of the rural and regional affairs and transport legislation committee. McDonald reportedly voted for

Barnaby Joyce Barnaby Thomas Gerard Joyce (born 17 April 1967) is an Australian politician who served as the 17th deputy prime minister of Australia under Malcolm Turnbull from 2016 to 2018 and under Scott Morrison from 2021 to 2022. He was the leader of the ...

in the 2021 Nationals leadership spill, despite having previously supported Michael McCormack. She was subsequently appointed as the

Morrison government The Morrison government was the federal executive government of Australia, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison of the Liberal Party of Australia, between 2018 and 2022. The Morrison government commenced on 24 August 2018, when it was sworn ...

's Special Envoy for Northern Australia, a non-ministerial position. During her time in 2021 the senate, McDonald supported an inquiry into Vegan

Food label The packaging and labeling of food is subject to regulation in most regions/jurisdictions, both to prevent false advertising and to promote food safety. Regulations by type Multi-faceted * Codex Alimentarius (international voluntary stand ...

. Following the Coalition's defeat at the 2022 federal election, McDonald was appointed to new opposition leader

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 ...

's shadow ministry, with responsibility for the resources and Northern Australia portfolios.

Political views

McDonald advocates the agricultural development of inland Australia. She has endorsed the assumptions of the

Bradfield Scheme The Bradfield Scheme, a proposed Australian water diversion scheme, is an inland irrigation project that was designed to irrigate and drought-proof much of the western Queensland interior, as well as large areas of South Australia. It was devis ...

and supports the construction of the Hell's Gate Dam on the upper

Burdekin River The Burdekin River is a river located in North and Far North Queensland, Australia. The river rises on the northern slopes of Boulder Mountain at Valley of Lagoons, part of the western slope of the Seaview Range, and flows into the Coral Sea at ...

as well as the expansion of the existing

Burdekin Dam The Burdekin Dam, officially the Burdekin Falls Dam, is a concrete gravity dam with an uncontrolled spillway across the Burdekin River, located south west of Ayr, and Home Hill in North Queensland, Australia. Built for the purpose of irrigatio ...

. In March 2019 ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'' described her as "avowedly pro-coal". McDonald has nominated

Lawrence Springborg Lawrence James Springborg (born 17 February 1968) is an Australian politician. He led the National Party in the Queensland Parliament from 2003 to 2006 and again in 2008, before becoming the first leader of the merged Liberal National Party ...

Tim Fischer Timothy Andrew Fischer (3 May 1946 – 22 August 2019) was an Australian politician and diplomat who served as leader of the National Party from 1990 to 1999. He was Deputy Prime Minister in the Howard Government from 1996 to 1999. Fischer ...

and

Joh Bjelke-Petersen Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen (13 January 191123 April 2005), known as Joh Bjelke-Petersen, was a conservative Australian politician. He was the longest-serving and longest-lived premier of Queensland, holding office from 1968 to 1987, during ...

as political role models.

Personal life

McDonald is a single mother to three children. She moved to

Townsville Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...

after her election to parliament, having previously lived in the Brisbane suburb of

Clayfield Clayfield is a suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Clayfield had a population of 10,555 people. Geography Clayfield is by road from the Brisbane GPO. Clayfield is bordered to the north by Nundah, to the east by A ...

. McDonald was diagnosed with

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

in March 2020. She was only the third North Queenslander to contract the virus. She described it as a "mild case" and said she was unsure how she became infected.

References

National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate for Queensland Living people Women members of the Australian Senate Liberal National Party of Queensland politicians People from Cloncurry, Queensland 21st-century Australian women politicians 21st-century Australian politicians 1970 births Australian food industry businesspeople University of Queensland alumni Australian accountants Australian women accountants {{Australia-bio-stub