Susan Elizabeth Close (born 12 November 1967) is an Australian politician, who is currently the Deputy Premier of South Australia since March 2022. She also holds the ministerial portfolios of Minister for Climate, Environment and Water, Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science and Minister for Defence and Space Industries while as Deputy Premier. Close is a member of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms ...

, serving as the deputy leader following the 2018 State election. She was first elected to the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assembly was crea ...

seat of

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...

at the 2012 by-election, and held

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

portfolios in the Weatherill Ministry from 2014 to 2018.

Background

Close earned a PhD in political science at

Flinders University Flinders University is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across 11 locations in South Australia and the Northern Territory. Founded in 1966, it was named in honour of British navigator ...

where she had studied French, Italian and biology as well as politics in her BA. She graduated from Blackwood High School in 1984 in French, German, Modern History, Classics and Biology. Her parents were academics at Flinders University (father in History, mother in French) and her only sibling, brother Stephen, works in international development and aid. Her parents met at Oxford University and migrated to Australia to work at Flinders University in its early days. She was active in the environment movement during her university years, including roles with Greenpeace, the Wilderness Society SA and the SA Conservation Council. She participated in the establishment of both the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary and International Bird Sanctuary in the Port River estuary. She worked as a public servant from 2003 to 2011, largely in the

Department for Environment and Heritage The Department for Environment and Water (DEW) is a department of the Government of South Australia. Created on 1 July 2012 by the merger of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department for Water as the Department of ...

. She previously was the head of student services at the University of Adelaide. Close has two children with her partner Declan.

Parliament

Close retained the

seat of

for Labor at the 2012 by-election with a 42.3 per cent primary and a 52.9 per cent two-candidate-preferred vote.State election results: ECSA
/ref> The by-election was held after the resignation of the previous Labor incumbent Kevin Foley. She was re-elected with

two-party-preferred vote In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP ...

s above 60 per cent at the 2014 election and the

2018 election The following elections are scheduled to occur in 2018. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. Africa *2018 Djiboutian parliamentary election 23 February 2018 *2018 Sierra Leonean general elect ...

. Close has chaired two parliamentary committees: Sustainable Farming Practices, and Dogs and Cats as Companion Animals. She has also been a member of two other parliamentary committees: Port Augusta Power Stations, and Aboriginal Lands. She introduced a private members bill for equal marriage in 2013 but was unsuccessful. Close entered the Weatherill Ministry in March 2014, initially as the Minister for Manufacturing, Innovation and Trade and the Minister for the Public Sector. After Martin Hamilton-Smith joined the cabinet she served as the Minister for Automotive Transformation and the Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation. She was the Minister for Education and Child Development from 2015 to 2018, and the Minister for Higher Education and Skills from 2016 to 2018.

Deputy Labor leadership

After the

, Peter Malinauskas became

Leader of the Opposition 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 ...

and succeeded Jay Weatherill who had resigned as Labor leader, with Close as deputy, following a Labor caucus meeting on 9 April 2018. Close is the Labor spokesperson for Climate Change, Environment and Water, Higher Education and Industry. She holds adjunct professorships with both Flinders University in the College of Business, Government and Law, and the University of South Australia. Following her party's victory at the 2022 state election, she was sworn in as Deputy Premier and Minister for Environment and Water on 21 March 2022. She was further sworn in as Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science and Minister for Defence and Space Industries on 24 March 2022, and her Environment and Water portfolio becoming the Minister for Climate, Environment and Water.

References

External links

Parliamentary Profile: SA Labor website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Close, Susan Members of the South Australian House of Assembly Living people Flinders University alumni Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of South Australia Labor Left politicians 21st-century Australian politicians Women members of the South Australian House of Assembly 1967 births Women deputy opposition leaders 21st-century Australian women politicians