John Joseph McVeigh (born 13 May 1965) is a former Australian politician. He 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 ...

at the 2016 federal election, representing the

Division of Groom The Division of Groom is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. Groom is an agricultural electorate located on the Darling Downs in southern Queensland. It includes the regional city of Toowoomba and rural communities to the west an ...

. He was 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 ...

and sat in the

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

party room. During the Turnbull Government he served in cabinet as Minister for Regional Development, Territories and Local Government from 2017 to 2018. He previously served in the

Legislative Assembly of Queensland The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembl ...

from 2012 to 2016 and was Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry under Premier Campbell Newman.

Early life

McVeigh was born on 13 May 1965 in

Allora, Queensland Allora is a rural town and locality in the Southern Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Allora had a population of 1,223 people. Geography Allora is on the Darling Downs in south-eastern Queensland, Australia, by ro ...

. His father

Tom McVeigh Daniel Thomas McVeigh (born 7 May 1930) is a former Australian politician. He served in the House of Representatives from 1972 to 1988, representing the National Party (previously the National Country Party). He held ministerial office in the ...

was a federal Nationals MP from 1972 to 1988 for Groom and its predecessor,

Darling Downs The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. The Downs are to the west of South East Queensland and are one of the major regions of Queensland. The name was general ...

, and served as a minister in the Fraser Government. McVeigh grew up on a grain farm on the

, and was educated at Jondaryan State School, St Joseph's College, and

Downlands College , motto_translation = Strong in Faith , city = Toowoomba , state = Queensland , country = Australia , coordinates = , type = Private, secondar ...

. He holds the degrees of

Bachelor of Business A Bachelor of Business (BBus, BBus (Major)) is a three to four year undergraduate degree in the field of business offered by traditional and newer universities from the post-Dawkins era in Australia, New Zealand and Ireland. It is similar in form ...

from the

University of Southern Queensland The University of Southern Queensland (branded as UniSQ and formerly branded as USQ) is a medium-sized, regional university based in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, with three university campuses at Toowoomba, Springfield and Ipswich. It offe ...

Master of 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 accoun ...

from Bond University and

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

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 ...

. He began his PhD in 2005 through the Cooperative Research Centre for Irrigation Futures and was awarded the degree in 2012, by which time he had become state agricultural minister. His thesis was titled "Influencing sustainable water use in Australian irrigated agriculture: a value chain management approach". Prior to entering politics McVeigh worked in agribusiness. He entered the Bank of Queensland's graduate program as an executive trainee in 1986. He later worked as a sales representative for Elders Pastoral (1986–1988), marketing coordinator for Cargill Seeds Australia (1988–1990), and market development officer for the state Department of Primary Industries (1990–1992). He then co-founded a

management consulting Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultan ...

firm, Ellis Foster McVeigh, and served as managing director from 1992 to 2008. McVeigh was president of the

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 ...

branch of the Young Nationals from 1987 to 1988. He served on the

Toowoomba Regional Council The Toowoomba Region is a local government area located in the Darling Downs part of Queensland, Australia. Established in 2008, it was preceded by several previous local government areas with histories extending back to the early 1900s and bey ...

from 2008 to 2012.

State politics

McVeigh served as a member of the

for Toowoomba South between 2012 and 2016; and served as the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended f ...

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry from 3 April 2012 until 14 February 2015. After the LNP lost the 2015 state election he served as Shadow Minister for Science, Information Technology and Innovation. On 9 April 2016, the LNP announced that McVeigh had been preselected to contest Groom at the 2016 federal election. His resignation from the Queensland Parliament on 29 April 2016 triggered a by-election in the district of Toowoomba South.

Federal politics

In April 2016, McVeigh 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

, which his father had held 30 years earlier. He was endorsed by the retiring member, Ian Macfarlane. He retained the seat for the LNP at the 2016 federal election and sat with the

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 ...

. Following a ministerial reshuffle in December 2017, McVeigh was promoted to cabinet as Minister for Regional Development, Territories and Local Government. He said that 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 ...

was looking to increase the representation of regional Queensland. He and

David Littleproud David Kelly Littleproud (born 4 September 1976) is an Australian politician who has been the leader of the National Party since May 2022. He has represented the Queensland seat of Maranoa since the 2016 federal election and was a cabinet mini ...

were the first MPs elected in 2016 to be promoted to cabinet. McVeigh did not retain his position when

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 th ...

succeeded Turnbull as prime minister in August 2018. In the two leadership spills, he supported Turnbull against Dutton in the first vote and Dutton against Morrison in the second. On 18 September 2020, McVeigh announced his immediate resignation from parliament. He said that he needed to concentrate on caring for his wife Anita, who was suffering from a major illness.

Personal life

McVeigh has one son and five daughters with his wife Anita, whom he married in 1987.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McVeigh, John 1965 births Living people Liberal National Party of Queensland members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Queensland local councillors University of Southern Queensland alumni Bond University alumni University of Queensland alumni Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Groom 21st-century Australian politicians Members of the Cabinet of Australia Turnbull Government Government ministers of Australia