Jason Dean Clare (born 22 March 1972) is an Australian politician serving as Minister for Education since 1 June 2022. 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 t ...

(ALP) and has represented the

Division of Blaxland The Division of Blaxland is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. Blaxland runs from the North Shore and Western railway line in the north to Marion Street and the Bankstown railway line in the south, between Wood ...

in Western Sydney since 2007. Clare has been a member of the shadow cabinet from 2013-2022, under opposition leaders

Bill Shorten William Richard Shorten (born 12 May 1967) is an Australian politician currently serving as Minister for Government Services and Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme since 2022. He previously served as leader of the opposition ...

and

Anthony Albanese Anthony Norman Albanese ( or ; born 2 March 1963) is an Australian politician serving as the 31st and current prime minister of Australia since 2022. He has been leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since 2019 and the member of parlia ...

. He was a government minister under

Julia Gillard Julia Eileen Gillard (born 29 September 1961) is an Australian former politician who served as the 27th prime minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013, holding office as leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). She is the first and only ...

and

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...

from 2010 to 2013, serving as Minister for Defence Materiel (2010–2011, 2012–2013),

Home Affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

(2011–2013),

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

(2011–2013), and Cabinet Secretary (2013). He returned to the ministry as Minister for Education after the ALP's victory in the

2022 Australian federal election The 2022 Australian federal election was held on Saturday 21 May 2022 to elect members of the 47th Parliament of Australia. The incumbent Liberal/National Coalition government, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, sought to win a fourth cons ...

Early life and education

Clare was born and raised in

Western Sydney Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US * Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that i ...

and attended

Cabramatta Cabramatta ('Cabra') is a suburb in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Cabramatta is located south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Fairfield. Cabramatta ...

Public School and

Canley Vale High School Canley Vale High School (abbreviated as CVHS) is a government-funded co-educational comprehensive secondary day school, located in Canley Vale, a south-western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1965 in an area ...

. He was the dux of Canley Vale High School in 1989. When he left school he joined the Labor Party and was the secretary of the Cabramatta Branch for 10 years (1992 to 2002). He completed a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) 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 Ch ...

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-intensiv ...

. He was a senior adviser to former NSW Premier

Bob Carr Robert John Carr (born 28 September 1947) is an Australian retired politician and journalist who served as the 39th Premier of New South Wales from 1995 to 2005, as the leader of the NSW Branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He later en ...

and an executive at Transurban, one of Australia's Top 100 companies.

Political career

Preselection

Clare ran for Labor preselection in the division of Blaxland in 2007, challenging the incumbent 11-year Labor MP

Michael Hatton Michael John Hatton (born 28 August 1951, Sydney) is a former Australian politician who served as the Australian Labor Party member of the House of Representatives from June 1996 to October 2007, representing the Division of Blaxland, New Sout ...

. Clare won preselection in May 2007, defeating Hatton. He also competed for preselection against George Williams, who had been "anointed by the ALP executive", had the "blessing of former Prime Minister

Gough Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. The longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1967 to 1977, he was notable for being the h ...

" and whose chances had been "talked up" by ABC news reports. Clare retained Blaxland at the

2007 federal election This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not ...

, which saw Labor win government. Clare has been touted as a future ALP leader, but he has denied any interest in becoming leader, only wishing to reach the role of Minister for Education. He reached this aim on 1 June 2022.

Rudd-Gillard Governments (2007–2013)

Clare was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Employment in June 2009. Following the intra-party power struggle that saw

become Prime Minister, Clare was promoted into the Ministry and appointed Minister for Defence Materiel in September 2010. He retained Blaxland with a clear majority at the 2010 election. On 12 December 2011, Clare was appointed Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Justice and in the March 2012 reshuffle he again picked up the portfolio of Defence Materiel. On 4 February 2013, Clare replaced

Mark Dreyfus Mark Alfred Dreyfus (born 3 October 1956) is an Australian politician and lawyer who has been attorney-general of Australia and cabinet secretary since June 2022, having held both roles previously in 2013 and from 2010 to 2013 respectively. ...

as Cabinet Secretary, at the same time relinquishing the defence material portfolio. He retained the home affairs and justice portfolios through to the government's defeat at the 2013 federal election. However, on 1 July, following a

leadership spill In Australian politics, a leadership spill (or simply spill) is a colloquialism referring to a declaration that the leadership of a parliamentary party is vacant and open for contest. A spill may involve all or some of the leadership positions (l ...

that saw Kevin Rudd return as prime minister, he was replaced as Cabinet Secretary by Alan Griffin. Clare was a member of

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

from 25 March to 1 July 2013.

Opposition (2013–2022)

Clare was a senior member of the shadow cabinet after Labor's defeat in 2013, under opposition leaders

and

. He served as Shadow Minister for Communications (2013–2016), Resources and Northern Australia (2016–2019), Trade and Investment (2016–2019), Regional Services, Territories and Local Government (2019–2022), and Housing and Homelessness (2019–2022).

Albanese Government (2022–present)

Clare became Minister for Education on 1 June 2022 in the new Albanese Cabinet.

Political views

Following the 2013 election, Clare blamed the leadership tensions between Gillard and Rudd for the party's defeat, and stated it was time for "generational change" in the party's leadership. Clare is a member of the

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 ...

faction, and after Labor's defeat at the 2019 election initially supported

Chris Bowen Christopher Eyles Guy Bowen (born 17 January 1973) is an Australian politician who has been Minister for Climate Change and Energy in the Albanese government since June 2022. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and was first elec ...

to replace Shorten as leader. However, Bowen later withdrew from the race, allowing Albanese (a member of the Left faction) to win election unopposed. Clare supports same-sex marriage. Notably, his electorate had the highest percentage of "No" responses in the

Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey The Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey was a national survey designed to gauge support for legalising same-sex marriage in Australia. The survey was held via the postal service between 12 September and 7 November 2017. Unlike voting in ...

of 2017, with 73.9% of the electorate's respondents to the survey saying "No".

References

External links

Parliament of Australia profile
*
Profile at TheyVoteForYou.org.au
, - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Clare, Jason 1972 births Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Labor Right politicians Government ministers of Australia Living people Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Blaxland Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Cabinet of Australia University of New South Wales Law School alumni 21st-century Australian politicians Albanese Government