Yvette Maree D'Ath (born 26 July 1970) is an Australian politician. She served as the

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 ...

member for Redcliffe 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 Assembly ...

from 2014 until her retirement in 2024. D'Ath served as Attorney-General and Minister for the Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence from 2023 to 2024. Prior to this she held an extensive list of various ministerial and other governmental positions, including Minister for Justice and Leader of the House. She was previously a

member of the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Australian Senate, Senate. Its composition and powers are set out in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. ...

representing the outer Brisbane seat of Petrie from

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

until her defeat at the

2013 Australian federal election The 2013 Australian federal election to elect the members of the 44th Parliament of Australia took place on Saturday, 7 September 2013. The centre-right Coalition (Australia), Liberal/National Coalition Opposition (Australia), opposition led by ...

Education and early career

D'Ath graduated from the

Queensland University of Technology The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It has two major campuses, a modern city campus in Gardens Point, Brisbane, Gardens Point ...

with 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 ...

, followed by a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

. After working as a waitress, she was appointed an associate to the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission, serving between 1992 and 1994. She then became a senior industrial advocate for the

Australian Workers' Union The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoralism, pastoral and mining industries in the late 1880s and it currently has approximately 80,000 ...

in Queensland.

Federal politics

D'Ath won the seat of Petrie for

from Liberal Teresa Gambaro at the 2007 election with a 2-point margin from a 9.5-point swing, before increasing it to 2.5 points at the 2010 election. D'Ath was narrowly defeated by 0.5 points at the 2013 election. Following the promotion of

Mark Dreyfus Mark Alfred Dreyfus (born 3 October 1956) is an Australian politician and lawyer. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), and has been the MP for Isaacs since the 2007 election. Dreyfus served as the attorney-general of Austral ...

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

in February 2013, D'Ath was promoted to replace some of Dreyfus' responsibilities as Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. Her responsibilities were altered and she became Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change, Industry, and Innovation in a rearrangement of the Second Gillard Ministry on 25 March 2013.

State politics

In December 2013, D'Ath was preselected to contest the state seat of Redcliffe at the

2014 by-election Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an unrel ...

. The seat of Redcliffe covered much of the same area as her former federal seat of Petrie. She won the seat with a 17.2-point

two-party A two-party system is a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually referre ...

swing to Labor. This increased Labor's representation in the Queensland Parliament from seven to eight seats. After the by-election victory D'Ath was made the Shadow Minister for Education and Training, Disability Services, Science, IT and Innovation. On 27 August 2014, D'Ath was made the Shadow Attorney-General, the Shadow Minister for Justice and the Shadow Minister for Training, Disability Services and Housing after a reshuffle prompted by the Labor victory in the Stafford by-election.

Palaszczuk government

After Labor's victory in the

2015 Queensland State Election The 2015 Queensland state election was held on 31 January 2015 to elect all 89 members of the unicameral Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The centre-right Liberal National Party (LNP), led by Premier Campbell Newman, attempted to win a seco ...

, D'Ath was sworn in as

, Minister for Justice and Minister for Training and Skills in the Palaszczuk Ministry on 16 February 2015. Following the

2017 Queensland State Election The 2017 Queensland state election was held on 25 November 2017 to elect all 93 members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland, the unicameral Parliament of Queensland. The first-term incumbent Labor government, led by Premier Annastacia Pal ...

, in which the Palaszczuk government was returned with a majority, D'Ath retained her position as Attorney-General and Minister for Justice. D'Ath retained her seat of Redcliffe in the

2020 Queensland state election The 2020 Queensland state election was held on 31 October to elect all 93 members to the 57th Parliament of Queensland, 57th Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The Queensland Labor, Labor Party was returned to government for a third-term, led ...

, becoming the Minister for Health and Ambulance Services. She was succeeded as Attorney-General and Minister for Justice by

Shannon Fentiman Shannon Maree Fentiman is an Australian politician. She has been the Labor member for Waterford in the Queensland Legislative Assembly since 2015. Fentiman has previously served as the Minister for Women and Minister for Health, Mental Health a ...

. After a

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 ...

reshuffle in May 2023, D'Ath reassumed her position as Attorney-General and Minister for Justice. Additionally, she became Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence (previously held by Fentiman) for the first time in her career.

References

External links