Christian Porter

Charles Christian Porter (born 11 July 1970) is an Australian politician who is the current Liberal Party member for the federal Division of Pearce, having previously also served at state level in the Parliament of Western Australia. From Perth, Western Australia, Porter attended the University of Western Australia and later the London School of Economics, and practised law before his election to parliament. He first entered the Legislative Assembly after winning the seat of Murdoch in a February 2008 by-election following the death of the sitting member, Trevor Sprigg, and he was subsequently elected to the new seat of Bateman at the September 2008 general election. After the Liberals formed government, Porter was appointed Attorney-General in the Barnett Ministry. In December 2010, he was also named Treasurer, and he held both portfolios until June 2012, when he resigned from the ministry in order to contest the 2013 federal election.

Political career

At the 2008 election, Porter contested and won the newly created seat of Bateman following the abolition of the seat of Murdoch in the 2007 redistribution. He was also appointed Attorney-General and Minister for Corrective Services after the election,^[2] having held the equivalent shadow portfolios prior to the election.^[3]

On 14 December 2010, Porter was sworn in as Treasurer of Western Australia. He retained the portfolio of Attorney General, while the Corrective Services portfolio was transferred to Terry Redman.

On 12 June 2012, he announced he was stepping down from his ministerial portfolios to contest the seat of Pearce at the 2013 Australian federal election.^[4]

Legal career

Prior to entering Parliament, Porter worked predominantly as a lawyer, starting as a commercial litigator at Clayton Utz before moving to public practice. He spent a year as an advisor to the Federal Minister for Justice and then began working for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions as a Senior State Prosecutor. Before his election in 2008, Porter was working as a lecturer at the University of Western Australia as well as retaining, part-time, his position as senior prosecutor at the DPP.^[5]

Education

Porter was educated at the University of Western Australia where he graduated Bachelor of Economics and Bachelor of Arts with first class honours in politics, before completing a Bachelor of Laws degree. Porter later studied at the London School of Economics for a Master of Science in Political Theory from which he graduated at the top of his class with distinction.

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