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Jamie Edward Briggs (born 9 June 1977) is an Australian politician, who represented 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 ...
seat of Mayo for the
Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia (LP) is the prominent centre-right political party in Australia. It is considered one of the two major parties in Australian politics, the other being the Australian Labor Party (ALP). The Liberal Party was fo ...
from the 2008 Mayo by-election to the 2 July 2016 federal election. Briggs was promoted from a shadow parliamentary secretary role to the outer ministry upon the 2013 election of the
Abbott government The Abbott government was the federal executive government of Australia led by the 28th Prime Minister Tony Abbott. The government was made up of members of the Liberal–National Coalition. The Leader of The Nationals, Warren Truss, served ...
. He remained in the outer ministry, though with a change in portfolio in the
Turnbull government The Turnbull government was the federal executive government of Australia led by the 29th prime minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull, from 2015 to 2018. It succeeded the Abbott government, which brought the Coalition to power at the 2013 Au ...
; however, he quit the ministry and moved to the
backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of t ...
in late 2015 following inappropriate conduct during an official overseas trip. Briggs lost his seat in the 2016 federal election to
Nick Xenophon Team Centre Alliance (CA), formerly known as the Nick Xenophon Team (NXT), is a centrist Australian political party based in the state of South Australia. It currently has one elected representative, Rebekha Sharkie in the House of Representative ...
candidate
Rebekha Sharkie Rebekha Carina Sharkie ( Che; born 24 August 1972) is an Australian politician and member of the Centre Alliance party. She is a member of the Australian House of Representatives, representing the Division of Mayo in South Australia. At the 2 ...
. Since 2024 Briggs has worked as a political advisor.


Background

Briggs grew up in the River Murray town of
Mildura Mildura ( ) is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura had a population of 34,565 at the 2021 census. When nearby Wentworth, Irymple, Nichols Point, Merbein and Red ...
, where his father was a local bank teller and his mother volunteered in the canteen at the Sacred Heart Catholic primary school. He attended St Joseph's College where he excelled in cricket before moving to
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 ...
to pursue his dreams of playing for Australia. Briggs became a member of the Liberal Party in 1999 and was on the Liberal Party State Council from 2000 to 2002. He was an employment relations adviser for Business SA from 2000 to 2002. In 2002, he started working for the then South Australian Treasurer,
Rob Lucas Robert Ivan Lucas (born 7 June 1953) is an Australian former politician and a former member of the South Australian Legislative Council between the 1982 election and the 2022 election, representing the South Australian Division of the Libera ...
, before moving to Canberra in 2003 to work for Kevin Andrews in the
Howard government The Howard government refers to the Government of Australia, federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister John Howard between 11 March 1996 and 3 December 2007. It was made up of members of the Liberal Party of Australia, Li ...
. From 2004 to 2007 he was a senior advisor for
WorkChoices WorkChoices was the name given to changes made to the federal industrial relations laws in Australia by the Howard government#Fourth term: 2004–2007, Howard government in 2005, being amendments to the ''Workplace Relations Act 1996'' by the '' ...
to the Prime Minister,
John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. His eleven-year tenure as prime min ...
.


Political career

Briggs was pre-selected as the
Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia (LP) is the prominent centre-right political party in Australia. It is considered one of the two major parties in Australian politics, the other being the Australian Labor Party (ALP). The Liberal Party was fo ...
candidate for the 2008 Mayo by-election to replace former Liberal leader and minister
Alexander Downer Alexander John Gosse Downer (born 9 September 1951) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who was leader of the Liberal Party from 1994 to 1995, Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1996 to 2007, and High Commissioner to the United Ki ...
. In the absence of a
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 ...
candidate, Briggs won the seat with a reduced 53.03 percent two-candidate vote against the Greens, in comparison to the 2007 election with a 57.1 percent two-party vote against Labor. The Liberal two-party vote was increased to 57.4 percent at the 2010 election and to 62.5 percent at the 2013 election. After the 2010 election Briggs was given the position of chair of the Coalition's Scrutiny of Government Waste Committee as part of the opposition led by
Tony Abbott Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is an Australian former politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia and was the member of parli ...
. In September 2012, Briggs was appointed to the Opposition frontbench as the Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Supporting Families. As part of his role as the Chairman of the Coalition's Scrutiny of Government Committee, Briggs wrote ''The Little Book of Big Labor Waste'' with the
Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...
, Tony Abbott, and the Shadow Treasurer,
Joe Hockey Joseph Benedict Hockey (born 2 August 1965) is an Australian former politician and diplomat. He was the Member of Parliament for Division of North Sydney, North Sydney from 1996 Australian federal election, 1996 until 2015. He was the Treasurer ...
. It was published on 13 May 2013. Briggs has also pursued the Gillard government over a Freedom of Information decision to refuse access to Greens policy costings.


Ministry promotion and resignation

After the 2013 election of the
Abbott government The Abbott government was the federal executive government of Australia led by the 28th Prime Minister Tony Abbott. The government was made up of members of the Liberal–National Coalition. The Leader of The Nationals, Warren Truss, served ...
, Briggs, an Abbott loyalist, was appointed promoted from a shadow parliamentary secretary position to the outer ministry as Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development. Briggs was on crutches with an injured leg after a failed crash tackle on Abbott at a boisterous late-night party in Abbott's office on the night he was deposed as Prime Minister in September 2015. For the next two months, Briggs insisted that he had damaged his
anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...
while jogging the following morning, and had not been not involved in shattering an expensive Italian marble table in Abbott's office. It was expected that the damage to the table would be repaired at the taxpayer's expense, but Abbott later said he would pay for it. On 20 September 2015, in the incoming
Turnbull government The Turnbull government was the federal executive government of Australia led by the 29th prime minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull, from 2015 to 2018. It succeeded the Abbott government, which brought the Coalition to power at the 2013 Au ...
, Briggs' portfolio in the outer ministry was changed to Minister for Cities and the Built Environment. Turnbull had initially dumped Briggs from the ministry, but when
Bruce Billson Bruce Fredrick Billson (born 26 January 1966) is an Australian former politician. A member of the Liberal Party, he was a member of the House of Representatives for Dunkley, a Melbourne seat, from 1996 to 2016 and held ministerial office in the ...
declined to remain, Briggs was reinstated. Following a late-night incident in a
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
bar, involving Briggs and a female DFAT staffer, during an official visit in November,
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 ...
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 ...
asked Briggs to "consider his position". On 29 December 2015, Briggs quit the First Turnbull Ministry and moved to the
backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of t ...
. Briggs acknowledged that his behaviour had not met the "particularly high standards required of ministers", although he said that nothing illegal had occurred. According to ''
The Australian Financial Review The ''Australian Financial Review'' (''AFR'') is an Australian compact daily newspaper with a focus on business, politics and economic affairs. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and has been published continuously since its foun ...
'', "government sources" claimed Briggs was accused of
sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment based on the sex or gender of a victim. It can involve offensive sexist or sexual behavior, verbal or physical actions, up to bribery, coercion, and assault. Harassment may be explicit or implicit, wit ...
. According to ''
The Adelaide Advertiser ''The Advertiser'' is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format newspaper based in the city of Adelaide, South Australia. First published as a broadsheet named ''The South Australian Advertiser'' on 12 July 1858,
'': "It is understood Mr Briggs told her she had piercing eyes, then later put his arm around her. As the trio was leaving, Mr Briggs gave the female public servant a kiss on the cheek". Other reports suggested the kiss was on the neck. Briggs' wife Estée, a former Liberal staffer, responded hours later on
Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
by posting a family picture of the two along with their three young children, and reportedly said the scandal was a "complete exaggeration and over-reaction". With Turnbull becoming aware of the incident on 5 December, questions were raised over the "unusually long time" between the complaint and the resignation, as well as the timing of the announcement during the holiday period. Minutes after Briggs' press conference,
Mal Brough Malcolm Thomas Brough ( ; born 29 December 1961) is an Australian former politician. He represented the Liberal Party in the House of Representatives (1996–2007, 2013–2016) and held ministerial office in the Howard and Turnbull governments. ...
also stood aside from the First Turnbull Ministry due to an investigation by the Australian Federal Police over the alleged copying of the diary of former speaker
Peter Slipper Peter Neil Slipper (born 14 February 1950) is an Australian former politician and bishop who served as the 27th speaker of the Australian House of Representatives from 2011 to 2012. A member of the Liberal Party of Australia for most of his ca ...
. The two resignations led to a ministerial re-shuffle. Briggs announced that he intended to re-contest the Liberal seat of Mayo at the 2016 federal election and to return to the ministry one day. Following the announcement of his resignation, despite claiming that he would not identify her, Briggs distributed a photograph of the complainant to some colleagues. The photograph later appeared in a national newspaper, along with sufficient detail to identify the woman. In April 2016, Briggs supported calls from two state Liberal parliamentarians for
seal culling in South Australia Seal culling in South Australia has particularly targeted Arctophoca forsteri, ''Arctophoca'' ''forsteri'', the indigenous (ecology), indigenous long-nosed fur seal (also known as the New Zealand fur seal). Beginning in the last years of the 18th ...
, after witnessing a "massacre" of dozens of fairy penguins on
Kangaroo Island Kangaroo Island (, ) is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island, Northern Territory, Melville Island. It lies in the state of South Australia, southwest of Adelaide. Its closest point to the mainland is Snapper Poi ...
.


2016 election

Briggs was beaten at the 2016 federal election by his former staffer
Rebekha Sharkie Rebekha Carina Sharkie ( Che; born 24 August 1972) is an Australian politician and member of the Centre Alliance party. She is a member of the Australian House of Representatives, representing the Division of Mayo in South Australia. At the 2 ...
, who successfully contested Mayo for the
Nick Xenophon Team Centre Alliance (CA), formerly known as the Nick Xenophon Team (NXT), is a centrist Australian political party based in the state of South Australia. It currently has one elected representative, Rebekha Sharkie in the House of Representative ...
. He lost over 16 percent of his primary vote from 2013, and finished just three percent ahead of Sharkie on the first count. Ultimately, Sharkie defeated Briggs after the distribution of preferences. In September 2024 Briggs was hired as a political advisor to opposition leader
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 ...
. He served in this role during the
2025 Australian federal election The 2025 Australian federal election was held on Saturday, 3 May 2025, to elect members of the 48th Parliament of Australia. All 150 seats in the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives were up for election, along with 40 ...
.


Personal life

Briggs is married to former Liberal staffer Estée Fiebiger and has three children. He lives in
Aldgate Aldgate () was a gate in the former defensive wall around the City of London. The gate gave its name to ''Aldgate High Street'', the first stretch of the A11 road, that takes that name as it passes through the ancient, extramural Portsoken ...
, South Australia.


References


External links


JamieBriggs.com.au

Summary of parliamentary voting for Jamie Briggs MP on TheyVoteForYou.org.au
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Briggs, Jamie 1977 births Living people Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Mayo Members of the Australian House of Representatives Government ministers of Australia Abbott government Turnbull government Australian MPs 2007–2010 Australian MPs 2010–2013 Australian MPs 2013–2016