Matthew James Keogh (born 11 November 1981) is an Australian politician. He is a member of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

(ALP) and has been

Minister for Veterans' Affairs The Minister for Veterans' Affairs is an Australian Government position. In the Government of Australia, the minister oversees income support, compensation, care and commemoration programs for more than 400,000 veterans and their widows, widowe ...

and Minister for Defence Personnel in the Albanese government since 2022. He has been a member of 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 ...

since 2016, representing the

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

n seat of Burt. He worked as a lawyer before entering politics.

Early life

Keogh was born on 11 November 1981 in

Armadale, Western Australia Armadale is a suburb of Perth within the City of Armadale, located on the south-eastern edge of the Perth metropolitan region. The major junction of the South Western and Albany Highways, which connect Perth with the South West and Great So ...

. He is the son of Helen () and Colin Keogh. His paternal grandfather Peter Travers was "the first lawyer in the Armadale– Gosnells area". Keogh grew up in the Kelmscott Hills, attending Mazenod College. He went on to the University of Notre Dame Australia, completing a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

( Hons.) in politics and history and a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

. While at university he worked as a customer service officer for

iiNet iiNet Limited is an Australian internet service provider and telecommunications company that sells NBN plans, 4G and 5G Home Wireless Internet and services on its ULTRA Broadband Cable, FTTB and VDSL2 networks. iiNet also sells mobile pho ...

. He was also a clerk and bookkeeper at his mother's law firm Travers & Keogh, where he later worked as a solicitor from 2005 to 2006. Keogh was a policy officer at the state Department of Premier and Cabinet from 2003 to 2005. He joined the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions as a prosecutor in 2006, before moving to private practice in 2011 as a commercial lawyer with Herbert Smith Freehills. He served as president of the Law Society of Western Australia in 2015 and was a director of the Law Council of Australia.

Political career

Keogh joined the Australian Labor Party in 1997 and was state president of Young Labor in 2007. He is a member of

Labor Right The Labor Right (LR), also known as Labor Forum, Labor Unity or simply Unity, is one of the two major political factions within the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It is nationally characterised by social democratic to Third Way economic policies ...

. After being unsuccessful as Labor's candidate at the September 2015 federal by-election in

Canning Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container (jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although under ...

, which precipitated

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 ...

deposing

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 ...

Prime Minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister is the chair of the Cabinet of Australia and thus the head of the Australian Government, federal executive government. Under the pr ...

, Keogh ran successfully in the 2016 federal election for the electorate of Burt. The new seat included a third of Canning's old territory, and on paper was notionally Liberal. However, it included much of the more urbanised portion of the old Canning, and much of the seat's territory was represented by Labor at state level. Keogh won the seat on a swing of more than 13 points. Following his election in 2016, Keogh was elected the deputy chair of the Labor Caucus, appointed the Labor Opposition Waste Watch spokesperson and became a member of the House Economics Committee, which was tasked with inquiring into the Australian banks, as well as the House Agriculture & Water Committee and the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services. Keogh was re-elected in 2019. Following the 2019 election, Keogh was elected to the Labor

front bench In many parliaments and other similar assemblies, seating is typically arranged in banks or rows, with each political party or caucus grouped together. The spokespeople for each group will often sit at the front of their group, and are then kno ...

and allocated the portfolios of Shadow Minister for Defence Industry, Shadow Minister for WA Resources and Shadow Minister Assisting for Small and Family Business. After the ALP's victory at the 2022 election, Keogh was appointed

and Minister for Defence Personnel in the Albanese government.

Personal

Keogh met his wife at

law school A law school (also known as a law centre/center, college of law, or faculty of law) is an institution, professional school, or department of a college or university specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for b ...

and the two married in 2011. They have two sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keogh, Matt Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Burt 1981 births Living people Politicians from Perth, Western Australia Labor Right politicians University of Notre Dame Australia alumni Western Australian lawyers Australian MPs 2016–2019 Australian MPs 2019–2022 Australian MPs 2022–2025