Luke Anthony Donnellan (born 26 March 1966) is a former Australian politician. He was a Labor Party member of the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the states and territories of Australia, state lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the state upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament H ...

between 2002 and his retirement in 2022, representing Narre Warren North. He was the Minister for Child Protection and the Minister for

Disability Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be Cognitive disability, cognitive, Developmental disability, d ...

Ageing Ageing (or aging in American English) is the process of becoming older until death. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi; whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biol ...

and Carers in the Second Andrews Ministry from December 2018 until October 2021. He also served as the Minister for Roads and Road Safety and Minister for Ports in the

First Andrews Ministry The First Andrews ministry was the 69th ministry of the Government of Victoria. The Labor Government, led by the Premier, Daniel Andrews, and Deputy Premier, James Merlino, was officially sworn in on 4 December 2014, following the 2014 sta ...

from December 2014 to December 2018. He was a key figure in the lease of the Port of Melbourne, and led negotiations with cross benchers to enable the legislation to pass through the Victorian Parliament. He is associated with the Labor Unity faction.

Political career

Entry into politics

In 2002, Donnellan was preselected as the Labor candidate for Narre Warren North, a new seat with a notional Liberal majority. He defeated the Liberal candidate and has held the seat since. In 2006, he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Treasury and Finance, and was promoted in August 2007 to Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier.

Andrews Government

Following Labor's win at the

2014 Victorian state election The 2014 Victorian state election, held on Saturday, 29 November 2014, was for the 58th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly and 40 seats in the Victorian Legislative Council were up for election. The incum ...

, Donnellan was appointed Minister for Roads and Road Safety and Minister for Ports by Premier

Daniel Andrews Daniel Michael Andrews (born 6 July 1972) is an Australian former politician who served as the 48th premier of Victoria from 2014 to 2023. He held office as the leader of the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 2010 and ...

. After Labor's reelection in 2018 Donnellan was appointed Minister for Child Protection and Minister for

and Carers. In an Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) hearing in October 2021, an admitted branch-stacker federal Labor MP Anthony Byrne claimed that Donnellan was involved in Byrne's activities. Subsequently, Donnellan resigned from the Victorian Cabinet. On 13 December 2021, Donnellan was not preselected again for Narre Warren North by the Socialist Left-dominated ALP National Executive and as a result will not run for re-election in the

2022 Victorian state election The 2022 Victorian state election was held on Saturday, 26 November 2022 to elect the 60th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly (lower house) and all 40 seats in the Victorian Legislat ...

Personal life

Donnellan was born in

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 ...

, and attended Xavier College 1977–84 where he was involved in sports, captaining the hockey team and competing in 1sts rowing. He received a

Bachelor of Commerce A Bachelor of Commerce (BCom or B Com) is an undergraduate degree in commerce, accounting, mathematics, economics, and management-related subjects. The degree is mainly offered in Commonwealth nations. Structure Bachelor of Commerce The Bac ...

from 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 ...

in 1987 and became a commercial real estate agent. After periods as a planning finance consultant and a client services manager, he became an advisor to various

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 ...

MPs, and was a member of the Administrative Committee from 1999. Donnellan lives in

Fitzroy North Fitzroy North is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-east of the Melbourne central business district, located within the Cities of City of Merri-bek, Merri-bek and City of Yarra, Yarra Local government areas of Victo ...

References

External links

Website

Member Profile

Facebook page
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Donnellan, Luke 1966 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Victoria Labor Right politicians Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly 21st-century Australian politicians People educated at Xavier College Politicians from Melbourne People from Fitzroy, Victoria Ministers for roads and road safety (Victoria) Ministers for disability (Victoria) Ministers for ageing (Victoria) Ministers for ports and freight (Victoria) University of Melbourne alumni