Andrew Henry George Charlton (born 26 September 1978) is an Australian politician and economist. A member of the Labor Party, he has been the Member of the

Australian Parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Parliament of the Commonwealth and also known as the Federal Parliament) is the federal legislature of Australia. It consists of three elements: the Monarchy of Australia, monarch of Australia (repr ...

for

Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

since the 2022 federal election. He was appointed to the

second Albanese ministry The second Albanese ministry is the 74th ministry of the Australian Government, Government of Australia. It is led by the country's 31st Prime Minister of Australia, Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. The second Albanese ministry succeeded the ...

Cabinet Secretary A cabinet secretary is usually a senior official (typically a civil servant) who provides services and advice to a cabinet of ministers as part of the Cabinet Office. In many countries, the position can have considerably wider functions and powe ...

and Assistant Minister for Science, Technology and the Digital Economy following the 2025 federal election. Charlton has been described in the media as a "

centrist Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...

, evidence-based, data-driven economist with

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

ial flair". He is the author of several books on economics including '' Fair Trade for All'' which he co-authored with

Joseph Stiglitz Joseph Eugene Stiglitz (; born February 9, 1943) is an American New Keynesian economist, a public policy analyst, political activist, and a professor at Columbia University. He is a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2 ...

. From 2007 to 2010, he worked as the chief economic adviser to 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 ...

, before founding his own consultancy firm which would later be acquired by

Accenture Accenture plc is a global multinational professional services company originating in the United States and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, that specializes in information technology (IT) services and management consulting. It was founded in 1 ...

Early life and education

Andrew Charlton was born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in 1978. He attended the

Knox Grammar School Knox Grammar School is an independent Uniting Church day and boarding school for boys, located in Wahroonga, New South Wales, an Upper North Shore suburb of Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1924 by the Presbyterian Church of Australia as an all- ...

Wahroonga Wahroonga is a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, 18 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of Ku-ring-gai Council and Hornsby Shire. ...

. Charlton then attended the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

to study economics, where he was a resident of St Paul's College. He was awarded the university medal for economics. He later won a

Rhodes Scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Established in 1902, it is ...

to attend the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, where he earned a DPhil in economics.

Career in economics

Economic adviser

From December 2007 to June 2010, Charlton served as the chief economic adviser to then-

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

. Charlton played a role alongside Rudd in overseeing Australia's response to the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

and the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

. Notably, Charlton was Australia's senior official sent to the

Copenhagen Climate Conference The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly known as the Copenhagen Summit, was held at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, between 7 and 18 December. The conference included the 15th session of the Conference of the Partie ...

in 2009 at the request of then-

Rudd ''Scardinius'' is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Leuciscidae, which includes the daces, Eurasian minnows and related species. The fishes in this genus are commonly called rudds. Locally, the name "rudd" without ...

. In 2009, Charlton made news after he was threatened by then-

Opposition Leader The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

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 Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party an ...

at the Midwinter Ball over the now disproven Utegate scandal. After Rudd was successfully challenged for the Labor leadership by

Julia Gillard Julia Eileen Gillard (born 29 September 1961) is an Australian former politician who served as the 27th prime minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013. She held office as the leader of the Labor Party (ALP), having previously served as the ...

in June 2010, Charlton ceased to be the Government's chief economic adviser.

Private business

In 2015, Charlton founded AlphaBeta Advisors, a consulting and technology firm and served as its director until it was acquired by

in February 2020. Charlton was subsequently named Accenture's Sustainability Services Lead for Growth Markets.

Political career

2022 federal election

Nomination as Labor candidate

In October 2021 then-Member for Parramatta Julie Owens announced she would not contest the next election, creating an open preselection for the seat. Owens declared her wish for a rank-and-file preselection to determine the candidate for the marginal seat. Several locals declared their intention to nominate, however the Labor Party instead continued 'shopping around' for a candidate. Charlton's eventual announcement as the candidate created a furore in local branches (although this is contested) and the media. Many questioned Charlton's capacity to represent the electorate. However, others declared Charlton was exactly the calibre of person needed in Parliament.

Labor leader A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

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 ...

supported Charlton's candidacy. He became the candidate on 1 April 2022 with only 50 days until the election.

Election result

With only 50 days as Labor's candidate until the election, Charlton secured more than 34,000 first preference votes at the 2022 Federal election. After preference flows, he secured 54.57% of the two-party-preferred vote, representing a 1.07% positive swing. He claimed victory on the night of the election following concession by his opponent,

Maria Kovacic Maria Kovacic (born 1970; ) is an Australian politician. She is a Senator for New South Wales representing the Liberal Party, succeeding Jim Molan after his death. She previously served as the President of the New South Wales Liberal Party. ...

2025 federal election

Charlton was re-elected in the 2025 federal election. He was appointed

and Assistant Minister for Science, Technology and the Digital Economy in the

Personal life

He is married to barrister Phoebe Arcus, with whom he has three children. Charlton moved from a $16 million home in Bellevue Hill and purchased a house in

North Parramatta North Parramatta is a suburb on the North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. North Parramatta is north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Parramatta. History T ...

in May 2022 to be more connected with the electors in the

division of Parramatta The Division of Parramatta is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. It was created in 1900 and was one of the List of Australian electorates contested at every el ...

. He later purchased a sub-penthouse in Parramatta when he was unable to renovate the previously purchased property. Charlton purchased a $12 million home in Palm Beach in 2024. Charlton's children continue to attend schools in the Eastern suburbs of Sydney.

Publications

Charlton has authored several books on economics:

''Fair Trade for All (2005)''

In ''Fair Trade for All'', lead author

and Charlton argue that it is important to make the trading world more development friendly. Stiglitz and Charlton advocate "a carefully managed trade liberalization agenda," and reject the

Washington Consensus The Washington Consensus is a set of ten economic policy prescriptions considered in the 1980s and 1990s to constitute the "standard" reform package promoted for Economic crisis, crisis-wracked developing country, developing countries by the Was ...

's "simple prescription of rapid liberalization and privatization of markets," arguing that this contributes to inequality . The idea is put forth that the present regime of tariffs and

agricultural subsidies An agricultural subsidy (also called an agricultural incentive) is a government incentive paid to agribusinesses, agricultural organizations and farms to supplement their income, manage the supply of agricultural products, and influence the ...

is dominated by the interests of former colonial powers and needs to change. The removal of the bias toward the developed world will be beneficial to both developing and developed nations. They note that the developing world suffers from many "pervasive market failures" inhibiting the effectiveness of trade liberalisation, including "a lack of credit and insurance markets and an undersupply of public goods" . The developing world is in need of assistance, and this can only be achieved when developed nations abandon mercantilist based priorities and work towards a more liberal world trade regime. However, they advocate limiting a "pro-development trade agenda" to poverty-reduction issues. Fundamentally, the central trade agenda they propose is that "all WTO members should provide free market access to all goods from developing nations poorer and smaller than themselves.".

''Ozonomics (2007)''

In ''Ozonomics'', Charlton examines the true accuracy of the mythology surrounding the economic management of the

Howard Howard is a masculine given name derived from the English surname Howard. ''The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names'' notes that "the use of this surname as a christian name is quite recent and there seems to be no particular reason for ...

- Costello years in Australia.

''Quarterly Essay 44 - Man-Made World (2011)''

''Quarterly Essay 54 - Dragon's Tail (2014)''

''Australia's Pivot to India (2023)''

On 27 September 2023 Charlton launched ''Australia's Pivot to India'' at Parramatta Riverside Theatre alongside

. The book examines Australian-Indian geopolitical relations, and how they can balance the Indo-Pacific Region.

References

External links

* __FORCETOC__ {{DEFAULTSORT:Charlton, Andrew 1978 births Australian economists Alumni of the University of Oxford Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Labor Right politicians Living people Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Parramatta Politicians from Sydney University of Sydney alumni Members of the Australian House of Representatives Australian MPs 2022–2025