Richard Donald Marles (born 13 July 1967) is an Australian politician and lawyer serving as the 19th and current

deputy prime minister of Australia The deputy prime minister of Australia is the deputy Chief executive officer, chief executive and the Deputy prime minister, second highest ranking officer of the Australian Government. The office of deputy prime minister was officially creat ...

and the minister for Defence since May 2022. He has been the deputy leader of the Labor Party since 2019, and has served as a member of Parliament (MP) for the

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

division of Corio since 2007. He grew up in

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

, Victoria, and is a lawyer by profession. He was assistant secretary of the

Australian Council of Trade Unions The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), originally the Australasian Council of Trade Unions, is the largest peak body representing workers in Australia. It is a national trade union centre of 46 affiliated trade union, unions and eight t ...

from 2000 to 2007. He was elected to 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 ...

at the 2007 federal election, after defeating incumbent Labor MP Gavan O'Connor for preselection in the seat of Corio. Marles was made a parliamentary secretary in 2009 and briefly served as Minister for Trade in 2013, having supported

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 ...

's return as prime minister. He was appointed to shadow cabinet after the ALP's defeat at the 2013 election and became a senior figure in the

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 ...

faction. Marles was elected deputy leader to

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 ...

after the 2019 election, becoming deputy

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 ...

. Following the ALP's victory at the 2022 election he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister.

Early life

Marles was born on 13 July 1967 in

, Victoria. He is the son of Donald Marles, a former headmaster of Trinity Grammar School, and

Fay Marles Fay Surtees Marles (née Pearce; 3 January 1926 – 1 November 2024) was an Australian public servant. She served as Victorian Commissioner of Equal Opportunity from 1977 to 1987 and Chancellor of the University of Melbourne from 2001 to 2004. ...

(), Victoria's first Equal Opportunity Commissioner and later

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

of 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 ...

. Marles was educated at

Geelong Grammar School Geelong Grammar School is a private Anglican co-educational boarding and day school. The school's main campus is located in Corio on the northern outskirts of Geelong, Victoria, Australia, overlooking Corio Bay and Limeburners Bay. Establ ...

, where his father had been a house master, and the

, where he was a resident of

Ormond College Ormond College is the largest of the residential colleges of the University of Melbourne located in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is home to around 350 undergraduates, 90 graduates and 35 professorial and academic residents. H ...

. He joined the Melbourne University Labor Club in his first week at university and served as president of the Melbourne University Student Union in 1988. He was also the general secretary of the National Union of Students in 1989. He graduated with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

and

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 ...

with Honours and began his career as a solicitor with Melbourne industrial law firm Slater and Gordon. In 1994, he became legal officer for the Transport Workers Union (TWU) and was elected TWU national assistant secretary four years later. In 2000, he joined Australia's peak union body, the

, as assistant secretary, remaining in the position until 2007.

Politics

Early career

In March 2006, Marles nominated for Labor preselection against the sitting member for Corio, Gavan O'Connor, as part of a challenge to several sitting members organised by the right-wing Labor Unity faction of the party. In the local ballot Marles polled 57% of the vote, and his endorsement was then confirmed by the party's public office selection committee. Marles was elected member for Corio on 24 November 2007 in the election that returned the Labor Party to office under the leadership of Kevin Rudd. From February 2008 to June 2009 he was chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs.

Parliamentary secretary and Minister for Trade

In June 2009 Marles was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Innovation and Industry. He retained his seat in the 2010 election and was sworn in as Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs in the First Gillard Ministry on 14 September 2010. In July 2011, Marles became the first Australian member of parliament to visit

Wallis and Futuna Wallis and Futuna, officially the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands (), is a French island territorial collectivity, collectivity in the Oceania, South Pacific, situated between Tuvalu to the northwest, Fiji to the southwest, Tonga t ...

. Marles arrived in Wallis and Futuna to attend a ceremony with King Kapiliele Faupala in

Mata-Utu Mata Utu (; , ) is the capital (political), capital city of Wallis and Futuna, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located on the island of Wallis Island, Uvéa (Uvea), in the district of Hahake District, Hahake, of which it is also the cap ...

marking the 50th anniversary of the islands' status as a French

Overseas collectivity The French overseas collectivities ( abbreviated as COM) are first-order administrative divisions of France, like the French regions, but have a semi-autonomous status. The COMs include some former French overseas colonies and other French ...

. Marles had previously visited

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

in October 2010 and

French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...

in March 2011. In the ministerial reshuffle of 2 March 2012, Marles was given the additional role of Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs. On 21 March 2013 he resigned these roles after expressing support for

to challenge Julia Gillard for the leadership; a challenge that did not eventuate. In June 2013, he was appointed the Minister for Trade and a member of the Cabinet, succeeding Craig Emerson, who resigned following the June 2013 leadership spill that saw Kevin Rudd defeat Julia Gillard for leadership of the Labor Party.

Shadow minister

After the ALP's defeat at the 2013 federal election, Marles was appointed Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection under opposition leader

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 ...

. In February 2016, he began co-hosting the weekly television program '' Pyne & Marles'' on Sky News Live with Liberal MP

Christopher Pyne Christopher Maurice Pyne (born 13 August 1967) is a retired Australian politician. As a member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Liberal Party, he held several ministerial positions in the Howard government, Howard, Abbott government, Abbott, ...

. Marles had his portfolio changed after the 2016 election, becoming Shadow Minister for Defence. He has been cited as holding pro-U.S. views and as "somewhat of a

hawk Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are very widely distributed and are found on all continents, except Antarctica. The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks, and others. This ...

Deputy Leader of the Opposition

In May 2019, after Labor lost the 2019 federal election, it was reported that Marles would stand for the deputy leadership of the party, and would likely be elected unopposed following

Clare O'Neil Clare Ellen O'Neil (born 12 September 1980) is an Australian politician who is the Minister for Housing and Minister for Homelessness since July 2024, Minister for Cities since May 2025 and was the Minister for Home Affairs and Minister f ...

's decision not to run. He was formally endorsed as deputy to

on 30 May, and selected the portfolio of Defence in the shadow cabinet. Following a shadow cabinet reshuffle in January 2021, Marles was placed in charge of a new "super portfolio" relating to recovery from the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, encompassing a "broad brief across national reconstruction, jobs, skills, small business and science".

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister

Two days after the 2022 federal election, Albanese had himself, Marles and three other senior Labor frontbenchers sworn in as an interim five-person government. Although counting was still underway, it was apparent by this time that no other party could realistically form even a minority government. As Albanese flew to Tokyo to take part in the Quad soon after being sworn in, Marles served as Acting Prime Minister until Albanese returned to lead the nation full-time. He continues to return to the role whenever Albanese leaves the country. On 1 June 2022, Marles was sworn in as

Deputy Prime Minister of Australia The deputy prime minister of Australia is the deputy Chief executive officer, chief executive and the Deputy prime minister, second highest ranking officer of the Australian Government. The office of deputy prime minister was officially creat ...

and Minister for Defence. One of his early decisions was relocating 500 Australian troops to

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

over the course of six years from 2025 to strengthen the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia. It is a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army ...

's ability to conduct operations missions in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

. This announcement was criticised by the city's mayor Jenny Hill who claimed that Townsville City Council was not consulted about military personnel's housing. On 29 September 2023, Marles announced that the

Australian Defence Force The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the Armed forces, military organisation responsible for the defence of Australia and its national interests. It consists of three branches: the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army and the Royal Aus ...

would retire its fleet of MRH-90 Taipan helicopters following a fatal crash during Exercise Talisman Sabre in July 2023 which killed four military personnel. In early February 2024, Marles and

Foreign Minister In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

Penny Wong Penelope Ying-Yen Wong (born 5 November 1968) is an Australian politician who is serving as the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Government in the Senate in the Albanese government since 2022. A member of the Australian Labor Pa ...

hosted New Zealand

Winston Peters Winston Raymond Peters (born 11 April 1945) is a New Zealand politician. He has led the political party New Zealand First since he founded it in 1993, and since November 2023 has served as the 25th Minister of Foreign Affairs (New Zealand), ...

and

Defence Minister A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

Judith Collins Judith Anne Collins (born 24 February 1959) is a New Zealand politician who has served as the attorney-general and minister of defence since 27 November 2023. She served as the leader of the Opposition and leader of the New Zealand National P ...

at a joint bilateral meeting of foreign and defence ministers 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 ...

. Marles confirmed that Australia would send officials to brief their New Zealand counterparts about

AUKUS AUKUS ( ), also styled as Aukus, is a trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States intended to "promote a free and open Indo-Pacific that is secure and stable." Initially announced on 15 September ...

Pillar Two, which would focus on advanced military technology including quantum computing and artificial intelligence. New Zealand is not expected to join AUKUS Pillar One due to its nuclear-free policy. The two governments also agreed to deepen bilateral security and military cooperation. On 6 May 2024, Marles denounced an incident in which a Chinese J-10 fighter jet dropped flares in close proximity to an Australian MH60R Seahawk helicopter. The helicopter had been operating off in international waters in the

Yellow Sea The Yellow Sea, also known as the North Sea, is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea. Names It is one of four ...

while enforcing

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

-mandated sanctions against

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

. On 19 June 2024, Marles, Wong and

Minister for International Development and the Pacific The Minister for International Development is the Minister of the Crown, minister of state of the Australia, Commonwealth of Australia charged with oversight of government policy related to international development. It is currently held by Ann ...

Pat Conroy Donald Patrick Conroy (October 26, 1945 – March 4, 2016) was an American author who wrote several acclaimed novels and memoirs; his books ''The Water Is Wide (book), The Water is Wide'', ''The Lords of Discipline'', ''The Prince of Tides (no ...

attended the 30th Australia-Papua New Guinea Ministerial Forum in

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...

. During the visit, Marles acknowledged the

2024 Enga landslide On 24 May 2024, a landslide occurred in Maip Muritaka Rural LLG, Mulitaka, Papua New Guinea. By 7 June, 12 bodies had been recovered, with thousands more buried and presumed dead, though estimates of the death toll vary greatly, with some estim ...

that occurred in late May 2024 and confirmed that the Australian delegation would travel there. The Albanese government also confirmed plans to sign a bilateral security agreement with

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

. On 11 July 2024, Marles announced that Australia would provide Ukraine with $250 million in military assistance, the largest single military package from Australia to Ukraine since the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

in 2022. On 12 September 2024, Marles stripped nine commanding officers who served in the

War in Afghanistan War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC), the conquest of Afghanistan by the Macedonian Empire * Muslim conquests of Afghanistan, a series of campaigns in ...

of their distinguished service medals, implementing the final recommendation of the Brereton Report which had found "credible evidence" that Australian soldiers had unlawfully killed 39 people. On 20 February 2025, Marles and his New Zealand counterpart Collins confirmed that the Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships that were sailing through Australia's exclusive economic zone near Sydney. After the Chinese warships commenced live-fire exercises in the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, who in 1642 wa ...

, Marles criticised the Chinese government for not giving the Australian government prior notice of the first live fire exercise, describing them as "disconcerting for planes that were in the air." Australian civil aviation and defence authorities had only learnt about the exercise ten minutes after initial contact between the Chinese warships and a

Virgin Australia Virgin Australia, formerly known as Virgin Blue, is an Australian airline based in Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of two active airlines (the other being Virgin Atlantic) to use the Virgin Group, Virgin brand, as well as the larger by fleet ...

pilot nearby.

Political positions

Marles is a senior figure in his state's

faction.

Refugees and asylum seekers

Marles supports the turning back of asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat and a Pacific Solution for the resettlement of refugees. Marles was supportive of an

Australian War Memorial The Australian War Memorial (AWM) is a national war memorial, war museum, museum and archive dedicated to all Australians who died as a result of war, including peacekeeping duties. The AWM is located in Campbell, Australian Capital Territory, C ...

commemorating

Operation Sovereign Borders Operation Sovereign Borders (OSB) is a border protection operation led by the Australian Border Force, aimed at stopping maritime arrivals of asylum seekers to Australia. The operation is the outcome of a 2013 Australian federal election, 2013 f ...

navy personnel who undertook activities to stop asylum seekers coming to Australia by boat. That position was criticised by several

Labor Left The Labor Left (LL), also known as the Progressive Left, Socialist Left or simply the Left, is one of the two major political factions within the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It is nationally characterised by social progressivism and democra ...

MPs as well as the Greens.

National defence

In 2020, as shadow defence minister, Marles was critical of the Morrison government's handling of the programme to purchase French submarines, which, he said, had "profoundly compromised" Australia's national security. Marles otherwise supported the bipartisan consensus on national defence matters.

Fossil fuels and energy

On an interview on Sky News on 20 February 2019, Marles stated that it would be "a good thing" if the thermal coal market in Australia collapsed. He later back-tracked on this statement, saying that his "attack on coal was tone-deaf". Following the 2019 Federal Election, Marles maintained that public funds should not be used to subsidise coal, saying "a Labor government is not going to put a cent into subsidising coal-fired power", and the market should be allowed to make its own decisions, while also saying that if a private company decided to push forward with a mine and gained the necessary approvals that Labor would not stand in its way.

Personal life

Marles lives in Geelong with his wife Rachel Schutze. He has three children from his current marriage and one from his first marriage to Lisa Neville, who was elected to 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 ...

in 2002 and later became a state minister. Marles is a supporter and member of the

Geelong Football Club The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based at Kardinia Park in South Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier comp ...

References

;Notes ;Footnotes

External links

* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Marles, Richard 1967 births 20th-century Australian lawyers Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Australian republicans Australian trade unionists People educated at Geelong Grammar School Politicians from Geelong Living people Members of the Cabinet of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Corio Members of the Australian House of Representatives University of Melbourne alumni Labor Right politicians Sky News Australia reporters and presenters 21st-century Australian lawyers Australian MPs 2007–2010 Australian MPs 2010–2013 Australian MPs 2013–2016 Australian MPs 2016–2019 Australian MPs 2019–2022 Australian MPs 2022–2025 Deputy prime ministers of Australia Australian solicitors