Anthony Stephen Burke (born 4 November 1969) is an Australian politician serving as
Leader of the House,
Minister for Home Affairs and
Minister for the Arts. 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 served as
member of parliament (MP) for
Watson since 2004. He held cabinet positions in the governments of
Kevin Rudd and
Julia Gillard from 2007 to 2013.
Burke is a graduate of the
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
, and worked as a political staffer, company director, and union organiser before entering politics. He was elected to the
New South Wales Legislative Council
The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. Along with the New South Wales Legislative As ...
in 2003, but resigned the following year to enter federal politics. He was included in the
shadow ministry immediately after winning a seat at the
2004 election. During the
first Rudd government, Burke held the position of
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, before being given the role of
Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water and Population in the
Gillard government, after Gillard replaced Rudd as prime minister. In June 2013, Rudd would in turn replace Gillard as prime minister, and appointed Burke as the
Minister for the Arts and
Minister for Immigration, Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship in his
subsequent government. He held these positions for less than three months, as Labor was defeated in the
2013 federal election.
In opposition, Burke served as the
Manager of Opposition Business under
Bill Shorten and
Anthony Albanese, and held various positions in the
shadow cabinet. After Labor's victory in the
2022 election, Burke would become Leader of the House, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for the Arts in the
Albanese government.
Early life
Burke was raised in a
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
family of Irish descent.
He attended Catholic schools, Regina Coeli (Beverly Hills, NSW) and
St Patrick's College (
Strathfield, NSW), where he was Vice-Captain. He attended the
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts 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 ...
. He was also awarded the Martin Sorensen Trophy for Best Speaker at the 1994
Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships.
From 1993 to 1995, Burke worked as a staffer to Labor senators
Graham Richardson and
Michael Forshaw.
In 1996, he and two friends from his university debating society established Atticus Pty Ltd., a business that provides training for "clients from the corporate and education sectors in advocacy and communication skills". It was named after the iconic fictional character
Atticus Finch from the novel ''
To Kill a Mockingbird
''To Kill a Mockingbird'' is a 1960 Southern Gothic novel by American author Harper Lee. It became instantly successful after its release; in the United States, it is widely read in high schools and middle schools. ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' ...
''.
He resigned his directorship of the company the following year to join the
Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association (SDA) as a union organiser.
He left the SDA in 2003 to run for the
New South Wales Legislative Council
The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. Along with the New South Wales Legislative As ...
.
State politics
At the
2003 state election, Burke was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council. He chaired the NSW State Development Committee, conducting inquiries into ports infrastructure and science commercialisation.
A view was gradually formed that his talents were being wasted in the New South Wales Legislative Council and he resigned from state parliament on 24 June 2004 to campaign for the New South Wales
division of Watson. He won the seat at the
2004 federal election.
Federal politics
A member of
Labor Right, Burke 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
2004 federal election, replacing the retiring
Leo McLeay in the safe Labor seat of
Watson. He and fellow Labor MP
Linda Burney are the only members of the Federal Parliament to have always served as a minister or shadow minister. He was immediately promoted to the
shadow ministry under
Mark Latham, as Shadow Minister for Small Business. He was promoted to Shadow Minister for Immigration in June 2005, by which time
Kim Beazley had replaced Latham as leader. After the
2006 leadership spill, the new leader
Kevin Rudd expanded Burke's portfolio to Immigration, Integration and Citizenship.
Rudd and Gillard governments

After the
2007 federal election, Burke was appointed
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in the new
Rudd government. He was sworn in by the
Governor-General on 3 December 2007.
Burke oversaw the abolition of the Australian bulk wheat export monopoly after the
AWB oil-for-wheat scandal. He oversaw the eradication of
the horse flu in Australia after the
2007 equine influenza outbreak.
On 2 April 2010, Rudd appointed Burke as
Minister for Population.
The appointment came after Rudd stated he was in favour of a "
big Australia" in response to demographic projections in the Government's Intergenerational Report showing the population of Australia would increase from 22 million in 2010 to 35 million in 2050. Burke's responsibilities included planning for the growth in Australia's population and coordinating the provision of services accordingly.
Following the
2010 federal election, Burke was appointed
Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. In March 2012, following the
ALP leadership spill, Burke was also appointed
Vice-President of the Executive Council.
As
Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, Burke established the Commonwealth Marine Reserve Network,
the largest network of marine protected areas anywhere in the World and the world's second largest conservation determination after the preservation of Antarctica.
Burke also added koalas to the threatened species list in Queensland, NSW and the ACT. He also placed a ban on a controversial Dutch "super trawler" fishing vessel operating in waters off Tasmania.
He acted as a mediator in the long-running dispute between environmental groups and the
Tasmanian forestry industry, culminating in the signing of the historic
Tasmanian Forests Intergovernmental Agreement in 2011.
Burke often cites Labor's environmental credentials and the campaign to protect the
Daintree Rainforest as the reason he got involved in politics.
In government, Burke pushed to protect large areas of the Tasmanian Wilderness and the
Ningaloo Reef by having them listed as
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
World Heritage Sites. In 2014, the
Abbott government’s application to undo Burke's Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage listing was rejected by the
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
World Heritage Committee
The World Heritage Committee is a committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization that selects the sites to be listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the World Heritage List and the List of World Her ...
.
The Portuguese delegation called the delisting attempt "feeble".
In early 2011, Burke gave approval for the 100 per cent plantation timber
Bell Bay Pulp Mill in the
Tamar Valley after imposing stricter environmental conditions on the applicant
Gunns Limited. Burke said many of the demands made by environmental groups opposed to the development had been addressed.
On 22 November 2012, Burke developed, negotiated and signed into law the
Murray Darling Basin Plan, a process more than 100 years in the making, after extensive consultation with irrigators, environmental groups and state governments.
On 25 March 2013, Burke was appointed
Minister for the Arts in the
Second Gillard Ministry, in addition to his existing responsibilities.
Burke took over the implementation of the Gillard government's Creative Australia policy after the former
Minister for the Arts,
Simon Crean, was sacked for his involvement in a failed attempt to return Kevin Rudd to the prime ministership. Following the
June 2013 Labor leadership spill, which saw Gillard lose the Labor leadership, Rudd rejected Burke's offer to resign from the ministry.
Burke, a Gillard supporter, had been critical of Rudd's performance during his previous tenure.
Rudd subsequently appointed Burke as
Minister for Immigration, Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship in the
Second Rudd Ministry. In this role he oversaw Rudd's resettlement plans with Papua New Guinea and Nauru, which saw an immediate and dramatic reduction in the number of people arriving by boat. During his short time as Minister for Immigration he also sought to release every unaccompanied minor who was in immigration detention.
Opposition (2013–2022)
Following Labor's
2013 election loss, Burke was appointed Shadow Finance Minister and
Manager of Opposition Business.
After the
2016 federal election, Burke was appointed Shadow Minister for Environment and Water, Shadow Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Australia, Shadow Minister for the Arts, in addition to his duties as the
Manager of Opposition Business.
In 2019, he became Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, ending his roles in Environment and Water, and Citizenship and Multicultural Australia, but retaining the Arts.
Albanese government (2022–present)
Following the
2022 federal election, Burke was appointed
Leader of the House,
Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and
Minister for the Arts in the
Albanese ministry.
On 28 July 2024 it was announced that Burke would become the
Minister for Home Affairs,
Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs and
Minister for Cyber Security, in addition to continuing as the
Minister for the Arts and
Leader of the House, but would leave the role of
Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations for
Murray Watt.
Following the
2025 federal election, it was announced that Burke would retain the Arts and Home Affairs portfolios, and would also take responsibility for the
Australian Federal Police and
ASIO
''Asio'' is a genus of typical owls, or true owls, in the family Strigidae. This group has representatives over most of the planet, and the short-eared owl is one of the most widespread of all bird species, breeding in Europe, Asia, North Ameri ...
.
Other political issues
Death penalty
While in opposition, Burke led an unsuccessful bipartisan appeal for
clemency to the Singapore High Commissioner to stop the execution of convicted Australian drug smuggler,
Van Tuong Nguyen.
Seven years after Nguyen was executed Burke spoke at the launch of the
SBS ''Better Man'' miniseries about Nguyen's case. At the launch, Burke referred to the meeting with the Singapore High Commissioner as "the worst day" of his political career and "potentially the most troubling day" of his life.
Racial Discrimination Act
Burke has been a vocal opponent of the Liberal National government's attempts to repeal Section 18C of the
Racial Discrimination Act.
In May 2014, Burke held a march against the changes to Section 18C in the Sydney suburb of
Lakemba. The event was attended by more than 1,000 people protesting against the changes, which were subsequently dropped by the Abbott government.
The "Walk for Respect" was held again in 2017 in Lakemba when the Turnbull government again sought to remove certain protections against speech potentially considered to be racially offensive. The Walk was held on the same day the senate rejected the government amendments, this time with 3000 in attendanc
Euthanasia
Burke is opposed to the legalisation of
Euthanasia in Australia, euthanasia. He has said his opposition stems from the case of a friend who was incorrectly diagnosed with a terminal illness. In the 1990s, Burke served as the executive director of Euthanasia No!, a group that lobbied state and federal governments against altering the ''status quo'' on euthanasia. In 1996, he and a pro-euthanasia campaigner,
Peter Baume, were invited to address the
New South Wales Legislative Assembly
The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...
before a debate on the subject, one of only a handful of occasions on which non-MPs have been invited to speak in parliament. He was later tasked with lobbying Labor senators to vote for what became the ''
Euthanasia Laws Act 1997'', which voided the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...
's euthanasia laws.
Same-sex marriage
Burke publicly announced his support of
marriage equality in May 2015, and voted in favour of the ''
Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017''. He had previously voted against the ''Marriage Amendment Bill 2012'', citing opposition within his constituency. His division had the second-highest percentage of "No" responses in the 2017
Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey, with 69.64% of the electorate's respondents to the survey responding "No".
Personal life
Burke married Cathy Bresnan in 1994; after commencing their relationship in 1989. She subsequently took the surname "Bresnan-Burke". The couple had three daughters together, but separated at the end of December 2012, the separation was not disclosed until the completion of the Federal Election in September 2013. In February 2014, ''
The Australian
''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...
'' reported that Burke had recently commenced a relationship with Skye Laris, his former chief of staff. Burke and Laris married in December 2015.
He is also known for his love of music and keeps musical instruments in his Parliament House office.
Burke has coeliac disease.
See also
* Rudd Government (2007–10)
* Gillard Government
* Rudd Government (2013)
* Albanese Government
References
External links
Tony Burke's personal website*
Australian Parliament Biography*
*
*
*
Summary of parliamentary voting for Tony Burke MP on TheyVoteForYou.org.au
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Burke, Tony
1969 births
Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia
Labor Right politicians
Living people
Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Watson
Members of the Australian House of Representatives
Members of the Cabinet of Australia
Leaders of the Australian House of Representatives
Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council
People educated at St Patrick's College, Strathfield
Politicians from Sydney
Sydney Law School alumni
Albanese government
Australian MPs 2004–2007
Australian MPs 2007–2010
Australian MPs 2010–2013
Australian MPs 2013–2016
Australian MPs 2016–2019
Australian MPs 2019–2022
Australian MPs 2022–2025