Clare Ellen O'Neil (born 12 September 1980) is an Australian politician who is the
Minister for Housing and
Minister for Homelessness since July 2024,
Minister for Cities since May 2025
and was the
Minister for Home Affairs and
Minister for Cyber Security from June 2022 to July 2024.
She is a member of the
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...
(ALP) and has been a member of the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...
since 2013, representing the Victorian seat of
Hotham.
O'Neil became mayor of the
City of Greater Dandenong in 2004, aged 23, becoming the youngest female mayor in Australian history. Before entering federal parliament she worked as a manager at
McKinsey & Company. O'Neil was elected to parliament at the
2013 federal election. In 2016, she was appointed as a
shadow minister by opposition leader
Bill Shorten. She continued in the shadow ministry after
Anthony Albanese succeeded Shorten as ALP leader in 2019.
Early life
O'Neil was born in
Melbourne, Australia
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung/ or ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second most-populous city in Australia, after Sydney. The city's name generally refers to a metropolitan area also known ...
in 1980, the daughter of prolific Australian publishers
Lloyd O'Neil and Anne O'Donovan. She undertook her
VCE at
Loreto Mandeville Hall in
Toorak, where she later served on the school council. She then undertook further education at
Monash University, studying a Bachelor of Arts (History), and then a
Bachelor of Laws
A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...
, graduating with honours in both fields.
["Senators and Members: Ms Clare O'Neil MP"](_blank)
Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 3 June 2014. In 2006, she was awarded a
Fulbright Scholarship to undertake a
Master of Public Policy at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
's
John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Early career
O'Neil joined the Australian Labor Party at 16 and soon met
Simon Crean, former party leader and her predecessor as the member for the division of Hotham. In her
maiden speech, she described Crean as one of her "Labor heroes" and "a person in whose footsteps I am honoured to walk".
["First Speech: Clare O'Neil MP"](_blank)
Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
In
March 2003, O'Neil ran as a candidate for
Springvale South Ward on the
City of Greater Dandenong and was subsequently elected.
[George Negus (2006)]
Clare O'Neil
Retrieved 22 April 2006. After one year in the position, she was also elected by fellow councillors as
mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...
, becoming the youngest female mayor of a
local government area
A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...
in Australian history.
In 2007, while studying in the United States, O'Neil worked as an intern on the
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...
; and in 2008 returned to Australia to serve briefly as an adviser to the Office of the
Commonwealth Treasurer.
She later worked at management consulting firm
McKinsey & Company from 2009 to 2013 as an engagement manager.
Political career
O'Neil was endorsed as a late replacement candidate for the Australian Labor Party in Hotham at the
2013 Australian federal election, following the disendorsement of her friend Geoff Lake. She retained the seat for Labor and was quickly flagged by political commentator
Peter van Onselen as a future
front bencher.
O'Neil is a member of the
Labor Right faction. From 2013 to 2016, she served on the House of Representatives
standing committees on Agriculture and Industry and Tax and Revenue.
Following the
2016 election, O'Neil was appointed to the
shadow ministry under opposition leader
Bill Shorten, becoming Shadow Minister for Justice. She was additionally made Shadow Minister for Financial Services in June 2018.
[ After Labor lost the 2019 election, O'Neil considered standing for the deputy leadership of the party, but subsequently announced that she did not have enough support from her colleagues and would not contest the position. ]ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to:
* ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
* ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company
ABC News may a ...
reported that she was persuaded to drop out in order to make way for fellow Victorian Right MP Richard Marles.
In 2022, O'Neil was appointed as Minister for Home Affairs and Cyber Security, being the first Cabinet Minister responsible for Cyber Security.
In 2024, O'Neil was removed from her role as Minister for Home Affairs and Cyber Security, and was moved to the portfolio of Minister for Housing and Homelessness.
Following the 2025 Australian federal election in which the Labor government was re-elected, O'Neil retained the portfolios of Housing and Homelessness, and was appointed Minister for Cities in the second Albanese ministry.
Cabinet minister
O'Neil has stated that Home Affairs must evolve to protect Australia's domestic security. As Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Cyber Security, O'Neil's focuses include improving Australia's response to natural disasters from climate change, improving Australia's cyber security, countering foreign interference, reforming Australia's migration system, national resilience and strengthening Australia's democracy.[Clare O'Neil National Press Club Address](_blank)
homeaffairs.gov.au She has stated that Australia's migration system is broken and is not serving the needs of Australia, business or migrants. On 2 September 2022, she announced a comprehensive review of Australia's migration system to address existing challenges and set a new direction for the coming decades. This review is scheduled to report their results in early 2023.
In O'Neil's first six months as Minister for Cyber Security, Australia was subject to the Optus
Singtel Optus Pty Limited is an Australian Telecommunications in Australia, telecommunications company headquartered in Macquarie Park, a suburb in the Northern Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is a wholly owned subsidiar ...
and Medibank cyber attacks which were at the time Australia's largest cyber attacks in Australia's history, within three weeks of each other. As a result, from these cyber attacks, a new joint task force was created to "hack the hackers" and disrupt cyber attacks in Australia before they were committed. O'Neil has announced a comprehensive review of the Optus and Medibank cyber attacks to look at how Home Affairs can learn from these cyber attacks and what policy reform needs to be done. She has appointed a new expert advisory board to develop a new Cyber Security Strategy to improve Australia's national resilience to cyber threats and properly address the consequences of cyber incidents. O'Neil was praised for leading the Albanese Government's response to the Optus and Medibank cyber attacks and her efforts to reform cyber security in Australia. She was named 2022 Cybersecurity Person Of The Year by CyberCrime Magazine.
In March 2024, O'Neil was criticised for allegedly verbally abusing the secretary of her department, causing the secretary to leave her office in tears.
In May 2024, O'Neill faced calls to resign following the bashing of an elderly woman by a detainee released from immigration detention.[
]
Political positions
In a 2013 interview with Michelle Grattan
Michelle Grattan (born 30 June 1944) is an Australian journalist who was the first woman to become editor of an Australian metropolitan daily newspaper. Specialising in political journalism, she has written for and edited many significant List ...
, O'Neil nominated four key areas as priorities for her in politics: economics, child welfare, women's issues, and the welfare of Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...
.["Clare O'Neil & Angus Taylor"](_blank)
Politics with Michelle Grattan. Retrieved 10 June 2014. She has also spoken on issues such as human rights violations in Cambodia, primary, secondary, and higher education
Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education.
The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...
,["Education in Hotham"](_blank)
YouTube: Clare O'Neil MP. Retrieved 10 June 2014.["Abbotts' Budget punishes the poorest students"](_blank)
YouTube: Clare O'Neil MP. Retrieved 10 June 2014. asylum seeker policy, and Australian Labor Party reform.
Economics
In her maiden speech, O'Neil placed an emphasis on the importance of a strong economy in effecting a fair society and stemming disadvantage. She stated that while she believed "government should not be building great tariff walls or controlling the big macroeconomic levers", it did in practice provide "the platform on which our businesses compete – and win – globally" and that political leaders must therefore play a role in providing "good policy and clear communication" on the topic. O'Neil cites her family's history, work at McKinsey & Company, and experiences in indigenous communities as influential in shaping her views on the economy. O'Neil's economic judgement was called into question by international education sector peak bodies in 2024, where they described her management of the immigration system as 'causing severe economic damage, including loss of jobs, which could push Australia towards recession.'
Indigenous Australians
In 2011, O'Neil spent nine months living with her partner in North East Arnhem Land
Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territorial capital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compa ...
, one of the northernmost regions of the Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...
, fostering a child and assisting local women to establish small businesses. During her time in the region, she witnessed crises in health, housing, and employment; and she has since spoken in Parliament on her desire to see action taken to resolve them: "For many decades politicians have said it is shameful. I want my generation to be the last to have to say it."
Personal life
O'Neil lives with her partner Brendan, a medical practitioner who has completed further studies in psychology. O'Neil has two sons and a daughter. While living in the Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...
, O'Neil and her partner also cared for a child as foster parents.
O'Neil previously lived in East Melbourne, outside her electorate, but bought a house in Oakleigh in 2020.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oneil, Clare
1980 births
Living people
Mayors of places in Victoria (state)
Monash Law School alumni
Women mayors of places in Victoria (state)
Harvard Kennedy School alumni
Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia
Labor Right politicians
Members of the Australian House of Representatives
Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Hotham
Women members of the Australian House of Representatives
21st-century Australian women politicians
Albanese government
Politicians from Melbourne
People educated at Loreto Mandeville Hall
Australian MPs 2013–2016
Australian MPs 2016–2019
Australian MPs 2019–2022
Australian MPs 2022–2025
21st-century mayors of places in Australia