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The Honourable
Brendan O'Connor
MP
The Honourable Brendan O'Connor MP
Minister for Skills and Training
	In office; 1 June 2022 – 29 July 2024
Prime Minister	Anthony Albanese
Preceded by	Stuart Robert
Succeeded by	Andrew Giles
	In office; 1 July 2013 – 18 September 2013
Prime Minister	Kevin Rudd
Preceded by	Craig Emerson
Succeeded by	Eric Abetz
Minister for Employment
	In office; 1 July 2013 – 18 September 2013
Prime Minister	Kevin Rudd
Preceded by	Bill Shorten
Succeeded by	Eric Abetz
Minister for Immigration and Citizenship
	In office; 4 February 2013 – 1 July 2013
Prime Minister	Julia Gillard; Kevin Rudd
Preceded by	Chris Bowen
Succeeded by	Tony Burke
Minister for Small Business
	In office; 5 March 2012 – 4 February 2013
Prime Minister	Julia Gillard
Preceded by	Mark Arbib
Succeeded by	Chris Bowen
Minister for Housing
	In office; 5 March 2012 – 27 June 2013
Prime Minister	Julia Gillard
Preceded by	Robert McClelland
Succeeded by	Julie Collins
Minister for Human Services
	In office; 14 December 2011 – 5 March 2012
Prime Minister	Julia Gillard
Preceded by	Tanya Plibersek
Succeeded by	Kim Carr
Minister for Home Affairs
	In office; 9 June 2009 – 14 December 2011
Prime Minister	Kevin Rudd; Julia Gillard
Preceded by	Bob Debus
Succeeded by	Jason Clare
Minister for Employment Participation
	In office; 3 December 2007 – 9 June 2009
Prime Minister	Kevin Rudd
Preceded by	Sharman Stone
Succeeded by	Mark Arbib
Member of the Australian Parliament; for Gorton
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 9 October 2004
Preceded by	Constituency established
Member of the Australian Parliament; for Burke
	In office; 10 November 2001 – 9 October 2004
Preceded by	Neil O'Keefe
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	Brendan Patrick O'Connor; 2 March 1962 (age 62); London, England
Political party	Labor
Spouse	Jodi Dack (d. 2018)
Children	1 daughter
Alma mater	Monash University; Harvard University
Signature
Website	brendanoconnor.com.au

Brendan Patrick O'Connor (born 2 March 1962) is an Australian politician who served as Minister for Skills and Training from 2022 to 2024 in the Albanese ministry after having served in the same portfolio in 2013 in the Second Rudd ministry. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has served in the House of Representatives since 2001. He held ministerial office in the governments of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard from 2007 to 2013, including as a member of cabinet from 2012 to 2013. He was a member of the shadow cabinet from 2013 to 2022.

O'Connor announced his retirement from Federal Parliament effective at the next election.^[1]

Early life

O'Connor was born on 2 March 1962 in London, England.^[2] He is the son of Michael and Philomena O'Connor.^[3] His parents were both born in Ireland, his mother in Thurles and his father in Tralee. O'Connor was born with both Irish and British citizenship, renouncing the latter in the early 1980s. He acquired Australian citizenship by naturalisation in 1995 and renounced his Irish citizenship in 2001 in order to stand for parliament.^[4]

O'Connor arrived in Australia when he was six years old.^[3] He attended Aquinas College, Melbourne,^[5] and subsequently completed the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws at Monash University. He also completed a diploma at Harvard University in the United States through the Harvard Trade Union Program.^[2]

Union movement

While at university, O'Connor worked as a researcher for the Municipal Employees Union.^[6] He was the assistant national secretary of the Australian Services Union from 1993 to 2001.^[2]

Early political involvement

A member of Labor Left,^[7] O'Connor is a member of the National Left faction of the Australian Labor Party and is a member of the Socialist Left faction of the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party. At the time of his endorsement for Burke in 2001 he was aligned with the 'Independent Left', a breakaway group from the Socialist Left.^{[citation needed]} This group included Julia Gillard. O'Connor has been a close ally of Julia Gillard since they were both involved in student politics during the 1980s along with Michael O'Connor.^{[citation needed]} In 2015, the Independent Left rejoined the Socialist Left.

Parliament

First terms (2001–2007)

At the 2001 election, O'Connor was elected as the Member for Burke, When the division was abolished by the 2003 redistribution, O'Connor successfully contested the new electoral division of Gorton at the 2004 election.

In December 2005, he was elected to the position of Chair of the Federal Labor Industrial Relations Taskforce in a caucus ballot. The Taskforce investigated the adverse effects of the Howard Government's WorkChoices legislation, a controversial package of industrial relations changes.

Shortly after the election of Kevin Rudd to the office of federal Labor leader and Leader of the Opposition on 4 December 2006, O'Connor was appointed Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Industrial Relations.

Government (2007–2013)

Following the Labor victory at the 2007 federal election, Prime Minister Rudd announced that O'Connor would serve as the Minister for Employment Participation from 29 November 2007.^[8] As Minister he reformed the Job Network, replacing it with Job Services Australia.^[9] This streamlined seven separate employment services programs into a 'one-stop-shop' to provide job seekers with a more personalised service.

On 6 June 2009, O'Connor was announced as the Minister for Home Affairs in the First Rudd ministry, replacing Bob Debus who retired at the 2010 election.^[10] Following Labor's narrow victory, Prime Minister Julia Gillard allocated increased responsibilities to O'Connor. He became Minister for Home Affairs, Minister for Justice and Minister for Privacy and Freedom of Information. In this portfolio, O'Connor enacted several key policy reforms including: new and tougher laws to protect children from being procured and groomed online,^[11] achieving consensus for an R18+ video game classification after 10 years of debate at Standing Committee of Attorney-General;^[12] and introducing significant reforms of the anti-dumping regime in 20 years.^[13]

In December 2011, O'Connor became the Minister for Human Services and Minister Assisting for School Education.^[14]

On 5 March 2012, O'Connor was sworn in as Minister for Small Business, Minister for Housing and Minister for Homelessness. He was also promoted to Cabinet for the first time,^[15] becoming the first small business minister in Cabinet for more than a decade.^[16] In this role O'Connor introduced the first Australian Small Business Commissioner, on 2 January 2013.^[17] On 30 August 2012, O'Connor and the Council of Australian Governments released the Housing Supply and Affordability Reform report, proposing reforms to increase housing affordability in Australia.

On 4 February 2013, O'Connor was sworn in as Minister for Immigration and Citizenship.^[18] Following the June 2013 Labor leadership spill, O'Connor was appointed Minister for Employment and Minister for Skills and Training in the Second Rudd ministry.^[19]

Opposition (2013–2022)

After the ALP's defeat at the 2013 federal election, O'Connor was included in Bill Shorten's shadow cabinet. He was retained in shadow cabinet when Anthony Albanese succeeded Shorten as opposition leader after the 2019 election. O'Connor has held the portfolios of employment and workplace relations (2013–2019), special minister of state (2016), employment and industry (2019–2021), science (2019–2021), and small and family business (2019–2021).^[2] He succeeded Richard Marles as shadow minister for defence following a reshuffle in January 2021.^[20]

Government (2022–present)

Following the 2022 federal election, O'Connor was appointed Minister for Skills and Training in the Albanese ministry.^[2]

O'Connor announced his retirement on 25 July 2024 effective at the next election. A cabinet reshuffle will occur on 28 July 2024 to select O'Connor's replacement as Minister for Skills and Training.^[1]

Personal life

O'Connor was married to Jodi Dack until her death from breast cancer in August 2018; she had first been diagnosed in 2012. The couple had one daughter together.^[21]

O’Connor lives in Keilor.

References

^ ^a ^b Evans, Jake (25 July 2024). "Linda Burney, Brendan O'Connor to retire from politics as Albanese reshuffles ministry". ABC News. Archived from the original on 25 July 2024. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Hon Brendan O'Connor MP". Senators and Members of the Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Maiden speech". Hansard. Parliament of Australia. 13 February 2002. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
^ "Citizenship Register: Members' statements in relation to citizenship" (PDF). Parliament of Australia. 5 December 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
^ Barber, Dylan (20 December 2013). "Labor's frontbench, too, is a mostly private-school affair". Crikey. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
^ Green, Antony. "Gorton". Australian Votes 2010. ABC News. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
^ "Labor's new-look shadow ministry". SBS News. Special Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
^ "Rudd drops six: report". The Sydney Morning Herald. 29 November 2007. Retrieved 29 November 2007.
^ "$4 billion new employment services: Job Services Australia". Media Release. 1 April 2009. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
^ "Kevin Rudd announces reshuffle". The Sydney Morning Herald. 6 June 2009. Retrieved 6 June 2009.
^ "Online sex offenders face more jail time". The Sydney Morning Herald. 4 February 2010. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
^ "After years of debate, R18+ games are getting closer". News.com.au. 22 July 2011. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
^ "ALP boosts anti-dumping laws". The Australian. 23 June 2011. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
^ "Gillard announces cabinet reshuffle". ABC News. Australia. 12 December 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
^ "Small business gets boost to cabinet". The Sydney Morning Herald. 5 March 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
^ "We put Small Business Minister Brendan O'Connor under the start-up spotlight". StartupSmart. 22 May 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
^ "First National Small Business Commissioner begins". Media Release. 2 January 2013. Archived from the original on 19 February 2013. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
^ Ireland, Judith (4 February 2013). "Dad duties done, ministers take the oath". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
^ "Rudd Ministry (2nd) (27.06.2013 to 18.09.2013)" (PDF). Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Commonwealth of Australia. 1 July 2013. Archived from the original on 25 July 2024. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
^ Snape, Jack (28 January 2021). "Labor set for climate change shift as architect of emissions target Mark Butler is moved on". ABC News. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
^ "Labor MP Brendan O'Connor's wife Jodi Dack dies after cancer battle". The Australian. 10 August 2018. Retrieved 9 October 2020.

External links

Official website

Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Neil O'Keefe	Member for Burke 2001–2004	*Constituency abolished*
New constituency	Member for Gorton 2004–present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Sharman Stone as Minister for Workforce Participation	Minister for Employment Participation 2007–2009	Succeeded by Mark Arbib
Preceded by Bob Debus	Minister for Home Affairs 2009–2011	Succeeded by Jason Clare
Preceded by Chris Ellison as Minister for Justice and Customs	Minister for Justice 2010–2011	Succeeded by Jason Clare
New office	Minister for Privacy and Freedom of Information 2010–2011	*Office abolished*
Preceded by Tanya Plibersek	Minister for Human Services 2011–2012	Succeeded by Kim Carr
Preceded by Mark Arbib	Minister for Small Business 2012–2013	Succeeded by Chris Bowen
Preceded by Robert McClelland	Minister for Housing 2012–2013	Succeeded by Mark Butler
Preceded by Robert McClelland	Minister for Homelessness 2012–2013	Succeeded by Mark Butler
Preceded by Chris Bowen	Minister for Immigration and Citizenship 2013	Succeeded by Tony Burke
Preceded by Bill Shorten as Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations	Minister for Employment 2013	Succeeded by Eric Abetz
Preceded by Craig Emerson as Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Science and Research	Minister for Skills and Training 2013	Succeeded by Office abolished
Preceded by Stuart Robert as Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business	Minister for Skills and Training 2022–present	Incumbent