Nigel Gregory Scullion (born 4 May 1956) is a former Australian politician who was a Senator for the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

from 2001 to 2019. He was a member of the

Country Liberal Party The Country Liberal Party of the Northern Territory (CLP) is a centre-right political party in Australia's Northern Territory. In local politics it operates in a two-party system with the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It also contests federal ...

(CLP) and sat with the National Party in federal parliament. He held ministerial office under four prime ministers. Scullion was a professional fisherman prior to entering politics. He was first elected to the Senate at the 2001 federal election, and briefly served as Minister for Community Services in the Howard Government in 2007. He was deputy leader of the National Party from 2007 to 2013, the first senator to hold the position, and served two terms as the party's Senate leader (2007–2008 and 2013–2019). In 2013, Scullion was appointed Minister for Indigenous Affairs in the Abbott Government. He held the same position in the Turnbull and

Morrison Government The Morrison government was the federal executive government of Australia, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison of the Liberal Party of Australia, between 2018 and 2022. The Morrison government commenced on 24 August 2018, when it was sworn ...

s before retiring from parliament at the 2019 election. He was the only minister to hold the same portfolio in those three governments.

Early life

Scullion was born in London, England, then lived in Deakin, Canberra, during high school. He is married with three children. Before entering the Senate he was a professional fisherman and graduated from the Australian Rural Leadership Program.

Career

Scullion received media attention early in his career when questions arose over how his business relationships with government bodies might have affected his eligibility to sit in parliament. Investigations continued for some time, but in the end did not affect his membership of Parliament. On 30 January 2007, he was appointed Minister for Community Services in the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government ...

. He held office for only 10 months before the Howard Government was defeated in an election. In February 2007, Scullion was elected to the position of deputy Senate leader of the federal National Party and was subsequently promoted to the positions of deputy parliamentary leader of the National Party and leader of the party in the Senate on 3 December 2007, following the coalition's defeat. On 6 December 2007 he was named as Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in the shadow ministry chosen by new Opposition Leader

Brendan Nelson Brendan John Nelson (born 19 August 1958) is a business leader and former Australian politician. He served as the federal Leader of the Opposition from 2007 to 2008, going on to serve as Australia's senior diplomat to the European Union and NA ...

. In 2008, he was defeated by Barnaby Joyce for the Senate leadership, but retained the deputy leadership of the National Party. Scullion was re-elected at the 2010 election and appointed Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs by Opposition leader, Tony Abbott. In February 2012, Scullion appeared in the second episode of ''

Kitchen Cabinet Kitchen cabinets are the built-in furniture installed in many kitchens for storage of food, cooking equipment, and often silverware and dishes for table service. Appliances such as refrigerators, dishwashers, and ovens are often integrated ...

'' with

Annabel Crabb Annabel Crabb (born 1973) is an Australian political journalist, commentator and television host who is the ABC's chief online political writer. She has worked for Adelaide's '' The Advertiser'', ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', ''The Age'', the ...

, when they went into the mud flats for

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...

s, which she has recalled as the most memorable show. Following Joyce's move to the House of Representatives in 2013, Scullion reclaimed his position of Senate leader but lost the deputy parliamentary leadership to Joyce. On 11 February 2016 Joyce was elected leader of the Nationals with Fiona Nash as his deputy. As Nash was also a Senator, Scullion had to relinquish the Senate leadership to Senator Nash. In fact, Senator Nash had been Senator Scullion's Senate deputy prior to her election as deputy leader of the parliamentary party. After the High Court ruled that Joyce and Nash were ineligible during the

2017 Australian parliamentary eligibility crisis Seventeen or 17 may refer to: *17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines *Seventeen (American magazine), ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazi ...

, Scullion was appointed interim parliamentary leader of the National Party. On 26 January 2019 he announced he would not recontest his Senate seat at the forthcoming election.

References

External links

Nigel Scullion, Senate BiographyNigel Scullion's personal home page

Summary of parliamentary voting for Senator Nigel Scullion on TheyVoteForYou.org.au
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scullion, Nigel 1956 births Living people Abbott Government Members of the Australian Senate Members of the Australian Senate for the Northern Territory English emigrants to Australia People who lost British citizenship Naturalised citizens of Australia People from Canberra Country Liberal Party members of the Parliament of Australia Australian monarchists Members of the Cabinet of Australia Government ministers of Australia Turnbull Government 21st-century Australian politicians Morrison Government National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia