Terri Megan Butler (born 28 November 1977) is an Australian public servant and former politician. She was 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 ...

from 2014 to 2022, representing the seat of

Griffith Griffith may refer to: People * Griffith (name) * Griffith (surname) * Griffith (given name) Places Antarctica * Mount Griffith, Ross Dependency * Griffith Peak (Antarctica), Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Glacier, Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Ridge, ...

for 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). She worked as an industrial lawyer prior to entering parliament and in 2024 was appointed as a deputy president of the

Fair Work Commission The Fair Work Commission (FWC), until 2013 known as Fair Work Australia (FWA), is the Australian industrial relations tribunal created by the ''Fair Work Act 2009'' as part of the Rudd Government's reforms to industrial relations in Austral ...

Early life

Butler was born on 28 November 1977 in

Cairns, Queensland Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after Sir William Welling ...

, the daughter of Allison and Larry Butler. She holds the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and

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 ...

( Hons.) 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 ...

. She also studied at

James Cook University James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cair ...

. As a student she worked for an engineering firm, at an aluminium factory and for the

Australian Services Union The Australian Services Union (formally registered as the Australian Municipal, Administrative, Clerical and Services Union) is a trade union representing workers in a variety of industries. The ASU is affiliated with the Australian Council ...

. Butler completed her

articles of clerkship Articled clerk is a title used in Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries for one who is studying to be an accountant or a lawyer. In doing so, they are put under the supervision of someone already in the profession, now usually for two ye ...

in 2003 and subsequently worked as an industrial lawyer. Prior to her election to parliament, she was a principal at Maurice Blackburn and led the firm's employment and workplace relations division in Queensland. She undertook further study at

Melbourne Business School Melbourne Business School (MBS) is the graduate business school of the University of Melbourne, located in Victoria, Australia. The School offers a range of programs, including an MBA, specialist Masters programs, a doctoral program, and various ...

and had begun a

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is a postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in another subject. In many jurisdi ...

degree at the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

Political career

Prior to her election to parliament Butler held senior positions in the

Australian Labor Party (Queensland Branch) The Queensland Labor Party, officially known as the Australian Labor Party (State of Queensland) and commonly referred to as Queensland Labor or simply Labor, is the branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in the state of Queensland. It has ...

. She was secretary of the party's Yeronga branch, chair of the state party's rules committee, a member of the National Policy Forum, and a delegate to state and national conference.

Parliament

Butler was elected to the

at the

2014 Griffith by-election A by-election for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Division of Griffith, Griffith occurred on Saturday 8 February 2014. Terri Butler retained the seat for Australian Labor Party, Labor with a 51.8 (−1.2) percent Two-party-prefer ...

, caused by the resignation of former prime minister

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

. She won the seat with a 51.8 percent two-party vote against Liberal National Party candidate

Bill Glasson Bill Glasson may refer to: * Bill Glasson (golfer) (born 1960), American golfer * Bill Glasson (politician) (1925–2012), Australian politician * Bill Glasson (surgeon) (born 1953), Australian ophthalmologist {{hndis, Glasson, Bill ...

, a swing against the ALP of 1.2 points. She is a member of the

Labor Left The Labor Left (LL), also known as the Progressive Left, Socialist Left or simply the Left, is one of the two major political factions within the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It is nationally characterised by social progressivism and democra ...

faction, unlike Rudd who was from the Labor Unity. Butler was re-elected at the 2016 and 2019 federal elections. She was promoted to shadow parliamentary secretary in October 2015 and to shadow minister in July 2016. Under opposition leaders

Bill Shorten William Richard Shorten (born 12 May 1967) is an Australian former politician and trade unionist. He was the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and Leader of the Opposition (Australia), Leader of the Opposition from 2013 to 2019. He also ...

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 the Leaders of the Australian Labor Party#Leader, leader of the Labor Party si ...

, she held the portfolios of preventing family violence (2016–2018); employment services, workforce participation and future of work (2018–2019); young Australians and youth affairs (2018–2019); and the environment and water (2019–2022). In July 2015, Butler along with Labor colleague Laurie Ferguson, Liberal MPs Warren Entsch and Teresa Gambaro, independents

Andrew Wilkie Andrew Damien Wilkie (born 8 November 1961) is an Australian politician and independent federal member for Division of Clark, Clark (previously Division of Denison, Denison). Before entering politics Wilkie was an infantry officer in the Austr ...

and Cathy McGowan and Greens MP

Adam Bandt Adam Paul Bandt (born 11 March 1972) is an Australian former politician and industrial lawyer who was the leader of the Australian Greens from 2020 to 2025. He previously served as the member of parliament (MP) for the Victoria (state), Victori ...

, co-sponsored a bill to introduce

same-sex marriage in Australia Same-sex marriage has been legal in Australia since 9 December 2017. Legislation permitting same-sex marriage, the '' Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017'', became law on 8 December 2017 and came into effect the nex ...

. In September 2015, Butler led public opposition to anti-abortion activist Troy Newman entering Australia. She wrote to Immigration Minister

Peter Dutton Peter Craig Dutton (born 18 November 1970) is an Australian former politician who served as the Leader of the Opposition (Australia), Leader of the Opposition and the Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party from 2 ...

and requested he ask his department to consider cancellation of Newman's visa, which was revoked. Newman flew to Australia without a visa and was then deported after losing a High Court appeal. In 2016, Butler was sued for defamation after an appearance on '' Q&A'' in which she implied Calum Thwaites, a

(QUT) student, had used a racial slur in a Facebook post. The allegations were first made by a third party in an earlier ''

Racial Discrimination Act 1975 The ''Racial Discrimination Act 1975'' (Cth). is an Act of the Australian Parliament, which was enacted on 11 June 1975 and passed by the Whitlam government. The Act makes racial discrimination in certain contexts unlawful in Australia, and al ...

'' case against Thwaites which had been dismissed. Butler and Thwaites settled out of court, as a result of which she offered "my unreserved apology for enabling those meanings about you to be conveyed, and for the distress and damage to your reputation caused as a consequence". At the 2022 federal election, Butler lost her seat of

to Max Chandler-Mather of the

Australian Greens The Australian Greens, commonly referred to simply as the Greens, are a Left-wing politics, left-wing green party, green Australian List of political parties in Australia, political party. As of 2025, the Greens are the third largest politica ...

, despite the ALP receiving a nationwide positive swing and forming a majority government. Unusually, despite being an incumbent, she was not one of the final two candidates in the two-candidate-preferred count for the seat; her preferences helped the Greens beat Olivia Roberts of the Liberal National Party.

Post-politics

On 21 December 2023, the Queensland Government announced that Butler had been appointed as a Commissioner of the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission. In August 2024, Butler was appointed by the

Albanese government The Albanese government is the current federal executive government of Australia, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of the Labor Party. The Albanese government was sworn in on 23 May 2022 by the Governor-General of Australia, David Hurl ...

as a deputy president of the

Personal life

Butler has two children with her husband Troy Spence, a former

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 ...

organiser.

References

External links

*
Summary of parliamentary voting for Terri Butler MP on TheyVoteForYou.org.au
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Terri 1977 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Griffith Women members of the Australian House of Representatives People from Cairns Queensland University of Technology alumni Labor Left politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians 21st-century Australian women lawyers Members of the Fair Work Commission Australian MPs 2013–2016 Australian MPs 2016–2019 Australian MPs 2019–2022