David Ian Feeney (born 5 March 1970) is a former Australian politician. He was 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 the
division of Batman
The Division of Batman was an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian Electoral Division in the States and territories of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It took its name from John Batman, one of the ...
in 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 7 September 2013 to 1 February 2018. Before that, he was a member of the
Australian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives.
The powers, role and composition of the Senate are set out in Chap ...
for
Victoria from 2008 until his resignation to contest Batman. Feeney resigned as a member of Parliament on 1 February 2018 as he was unable to produce any documentary evidence disproving he was a
dual citizen
Multiple citizenship (or multiple nationality) is a person's legal status in which a person is at the same time recognized by more than one sovereign state, country under its nationality law, nationality and citizenship law as a national or cit ...
, which is a breach of
section 44 of the Constitution of Australia
Section 44 of the Constitution of Australia, Australian Constitution lists the grounds for disqualification on who may become a candidate for election to the Parliament of Australia. It has generally arisen for consideration by the High Court of ...
.
Background and early career
Feeney was born in
Adelaide
Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...
,
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
in 1970, his father having emigrated from
Belfast
Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
. Raised as a Roman Catholic, Feeney attended
Mercedes College, Adelaide, before moving to
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
in 1987, where he attended the
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...
.
He later completed post-graduate study at
Monash University
Monash University () is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Named after World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the ...
, with a Masters in Public Policy and Management (MPPM).
Feeney worked in the National Office of the Transport Workers Union (TWU) as a Federal Industrial Officer from 1994 to 1999.
At the TWU, Feeney served as a union advocate before the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC).

Feeney served as Victorian State Secretary of the Labor Party and State Labor Campaign Director from March 1999 to December 2002,
where he had considerable success as a fund-raiser and campaign director. At the
2002 state election,
Victorian Labor won 20 seats, holding 62 seats in the parliament of 88—the largest majority in Victorian history. Following that election, he joined the private staff of Premier
Steve Bracks
Stephen Phillip Bracks (born 15 October 1954) is a former Australian politician and was the 44th Premier of Victoria. He first won the electoral district of Williamstown in 1994 for the Labor Party and was party leader and premier from 1999 t ...
as his Director of Strategy.
In 2005, Feeney returned to his home state of South Australia to become Labor's Assistant National Secretary
and campaign director for
SA Labor at the
March 2006 state election.
Feeney helped SA Labor win six seats previously held by the opposition Liberal Party.
Feeney served as Assistant National Secretary and Deputy National Campaign Director of the Australian Labor Party between 2005 and June 2008.
Political career
Senate
In March 2006, Feeney was placed third on the Australian Senate from Victoria ballot paper as the Labor Party's candidate. Winning against lead candidate from the Australian Greens,
Richard Di Natale, Feeney entered the Senate on 1 July 2008.
During his period in the Senate, he sat on the Senate Select Committee on Climate Policy.
In 2010, Feeney was one of the key MPs (along with
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 ...
,
Mark Arbib
Mark Victor Arbib (born 9 November 1971) is an Australian sports administrator and executive, a former Australian Labor Party, Labor Party politician and trade unionist.
In 2015, he joined Australian Athletics, Athletics Australia where he se ...
, and
Don Farrell) who convinced their colleagues to support
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 calling for
a leadership spill against sitting 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 ...
.
When Gillard was sworn in as Prime Minister, Feeney was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary for Defence in her
first ministry,
and was reappointed to this role in the
second Gillard ministry.
He maintained this position in the reshuffle when Rudd regained the Prime Ministership in June 2013.
As Parliamentary Secretary, Feeney commissioned the report into Unresolved Recognition for Past Acts of Naval and Military Gallantry and Valour, and was responsible for the Australian Government's Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal.
His responsibilities included ADF Reserves, ADF force structure (especially Plan BEERSHEBA in the Army),
the Pacific Maritime Security Plan (PMSP) and liaison with Pacific Island Countries, participating in the first meeting of South Pacific Defence Ministers Meeting (SPDMM) in Tonga.
Feeney also commissioned the Department of Defence workforce review, known as Plan Suakin, in 2010.
House of Representatives
Feeney was elected as the member for Batman in 2013, succeeding the retired
Martin Ferguson. His switch to nominating for the House of the Representatives came after he was preselected to the third spot on the Victorian Senate ticket. Although it was the same ticket position from which he had been elected in 2007, the state of Labor's polling in 2013 made the prospects of holding his Senate seat unlikely, with Feeney admitting that this made his position in the Senate, "very, very marginal."
At the 2013 election Labor Leader Bill Shorten appointed Feeney as Shadow Minister for Justice and Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence. After 1 July 2014 the portfolio of Veterans Affairs and Centenary of ANZAC were added to his responsibilities. As a local MP, Feeney campaigned for schools funding, healthcare and public transport. He also worked to promote the Anzac Centenary in his Batman electorate, and to secure grants for local projects to commemorate the service of Australian service-men and women in the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
.
Feeney sought to promote causes in parliament including recognition of same-sex marriage, needs-based school funding, and various environmental concerns, particularly marine parks and fisheries protection. In 2017, Feeney was one of a small number of Labor MPs to express opposition to the
Carmichael coal mine
The Carmichael coal mine is a coal mine in Queensland, Australia, owned by the Adani Group's Australian subsidiary Bravus Mining & Resources. It was approved by the government in 2014 and has been operational since December 2021. The mine was i ...
proposed by the
Adani Group
Adani Group (, ) is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate, headquartered in Ahmedabad. Founded by Gautam Adani in 1988 as a commodity trading business, the Group's businesses include port, sea ...
, saying the project didn't "stack up" and calling the cost to the environment and climate "too high".
Feeney is a regular commentator on strategic and defence matters, was a regular contributor to ADM magazine, and Deputy Chair of the Defence sub-committee of the Joint Standing Committee of Defence, Foreign Affairs and Trade (JSCDFAT). He also served as a contributing author to The Long Road': Australia's train, advice and assist mission'' and ''Australia's American Alliance: Towards a New Era?''
David Feeney was keenly interested in the Australian Antarctic Territory, commenting on its importance to Australia's strategic outlook and travelling there in 2017.
At the 2016 federal election the Australian Greens focused their campaign effort against several inner urban electorates with sitting Labor MPs, including Feeney's seat of Batman. Feeney attracted controversy when it was revealed he had failed to disclose an investment property he owned in Northcote (valued at $2.3 million) on the Parliamentary Register of Interests. While Feeney claimed that he had gained no financial advantage from his mistake, accusations that he had "forgotten his house" caused significant damage to his re-election campaign, which had focused on Labor's policy to abolish
negative gearing. His campaign in Batman was described by the ''Herald Sun'' as "tumultuous", with Feeney also leaving confidential Labor briefing notes in a TV studio after an interview on Sky News. On 2 July 2016, Feeney was narrowly re-elected with 51.03% of the two-candidate-preferred vote against the Greens.
Feeney was referred to the
High Court of Australia
The High Court of Australia is the apex court of the Australian legal system. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified in the Constitution of Australia and supplementary legislation.
The High Court was establi ...
on 6 December 2017, over concerns he was
in breach of section 44 of the
Australian Constitution
The Constitution of Australia (also known as the Commonwealth Constitution) is the fundamental law that governs the political structure of Australia. It is a written constitution, which establishes the country as a Federation of Australia, ...
. Feeney claimed he had taken the steps required of him to relinquish any British and Irish citizenship by descent in 2007, but was unable to produce documentation confirming the British renunciation had taken place.
On 1 February 2018, accordingly, Feeney announced his resignation as a member of Parliament, and revealed he would not stand as a candidate for the
Batman by-election later that year.
Personal life

Feeney is married to Liberty Sanger, principal of law firm Maurice Blackburn.
They have a son, Ned (2014), and a daughter, Matilda (2019).
Career after politics
David Feeney was appointed a Senior Fellow to the
Australian Strategic Policy Institute
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) is a defence and strategic policy think tank based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, founded by the Australian government, and funded by the Australian Department of Defence along with o ...
(ASPI) in August 2018. He has served as a regular guest lecturer at the Australian War College in Canberra since 2018. In 2019, he was appointed to the advisory board of
NIOA.
In December 2018, Feeney wrote a paper advocating for Australia's need to develop a comprehensive grand strategy for the ''Centre of Gravity'' journal of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre of the Australian National University (ANU).
In 2021, Feeney wrote a further paper for ''Centre of Gravity'' entitled "SEA 5000 Future Frigate program: continuous shipbuilding under the spotlight".
Since 2019, Feeney has been a postgraduate student at the University of Melbourne.
In 2020 he completed a Graduate Diploma in Arts (Advanced). His thesis entitled ''Second Punic War: the contest for the central Mediterranean, Hannibal and Carthaginian grand strategy 218–210 BC'' won the 2020 William Culican Memorial Award. In 2021, Feeney commenced PhD studies in classical and ancient studies.
In October 2021 David Feeney became a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
References
External links
The Hon David Feeney profileat
Parliament of Australia
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 ...
.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Feeney, David
Living people
1970 births
Australian people of Northern Ireland descent
Monash University alumni
Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia
Labor Right politicians
Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Batman
Members of the Australian House of Representatives
Members of the Australian Senate for Victoria
Australian Roman Catholics
Politicians from Adelaide
Australian MPs 2013–2016
Australian MPs 2016–2019