Jamie Briggs

Jamie Edward Briggs (born 9 June 1977) is an Australian politician. He has been the Liberal Party of Australia member for the Division of Mayo since the 2008 Mayo by-election. Briggs has been the Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development in the Abbott Government since 18 September 2013.^[1]

Background

Jamie Briggs grew up in the River Murray town of Mildura, where his father was a local bank teller and his mother volunteered in the canteen at the Sacred Heart Catholic primary school.^[2] He attended St Joseph's college where he excelled in cricket before moving to Adelaide to pursue his dreams of playing for Australia. At 22, Briggs worked for Business SA, assisting South Australian businesses in managing their workplaces. It was around this time that he joined the Liberal Party. In 2001, he started working for the then South Australian Treasurer, Rob Lucas before moving to Canberra in 2003 to work for a Minister in the Howard Government. Following the 2004 election, he was moved to Prime Minister John Howard's office as an adviser, and in early 2006, he was appointed to a senior adviser role.^{[citation needed]}

Political career

Briggs was pre-selected as the Liberal candidate for the 2008 Mayo by-election to replace former Liberal leader and minister Alexander Downer. He won the seat, but with a significant swing against the Liberals compared to the 2007 federal election.^[3] However, Briggs received a strong result in the 2010 federal election, receiving 57.35% of the two party preferred vote.^[4]

After the 2010 federal election, Briggs was given the position of Chairman of the Coalition’s Scrutiny of Government Committee as part of the Tony Abbott led opposition.^[5] In September 2012, Briggs was appointed to the Opposition frontbench as the Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Supporting Families.^[6] As part of his role as the Chairman of the Coalition's Scrutiny of Government Committee, Briggs ghosted The Little Book of Big Labor Waste alongside the Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, and the Shadow Treasurer, Joe Hockey on 13 May 2013.^[7] Briggs has also pursued the Gillard Government over a Freedom of Information decision to refuse access to The Greens policy costings.^[8]

References

External links

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