Michael Sukkar

Michael Sven Sukkar (born 11 September 1981) is an Australian politician. He has been a member of the House of Representatives since September 2013, representing the Division of Deakin in Victoria for the Liberal Party.^[1] He has served as the Assistant Minister to the Treasurer since 24 January 2017.^[2]

Early life and background

Michael Sukkar was born in Ringwood, Victoria. His father was a Lebanese migrant; his mother's father was a Norwegian migrant. Sukkar grew up in Ringwood and attended primary school at Sacred Heart in Croydon and then secondary school at Aquinas College in Ringwood. He completed a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce at Deakin University in 2004 and Master of Laws at the University of Melbourne in 2010.^[3][4]

Sukkar married Anna Duthie in 2010.^[5]

Preparliamentary Career

In 2005 Sukkar worked as a Senior Consultant with accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers where he specialised in taxation. From 2006 Sukkar spent seven years working as a tax lawyer with the firm Ashurst Australia (then known as Blake Dawson Waldron), where he was a Senior Associate.^[4]

Parliamentary career

The seat of Deakin was held by the Liberal Party from 1984-2007 but was lost by Phil Barresi to Labor's Mike Symon in 2007. In 2012, Sukkar was endorsed as the Liberal Party candidate for the seat of Deakin. He won Deakin, then the second most marginal seat in Australia, at the 2013 election with a swing to the Liberal Party of 3.8%.^[6]

In his maiden speech, Sukkar declared "strength in our local community is not achieved through government mandate, regulation or handouts, but from the principles of looking after your neighbour and doing unto others as you would have them do unto you."^[4]

At the 2016 federal election, Sukkar increased his margin by 2.5% and had the Liberal Party's best result in Victoria.^[3]

On 24 January 2017, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull appointed Sukkar to the Ministry as Assistant Minister to the Treasurer.^[2] Sukkar has previously served on a number of parliamentary committees, including being the Chairman of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.^[4]

Sukkar was also given responsibility for addressing housing affordability.^[7]

In June 2017 Sukkar, Greg Hunt, and Alan Tudge faced the possibility of being prosecuted for contempt of court after they made public statements criticising the inadequate sentencing of terrorist offenders in Victoria.^[8][9] They avoided prosecution by, eventually, making an unconditional apology to the Victorian Court of Appeal.^[10]

Political views

In his maiden speech, Sukkar categorised himself as an "economic liberal", with "strong conservative foundations". He credited his Catholic faith as being one of the two most significant influences in his life, with family being the other.^[4] Sukkar made an election promise in 2013 not to vote for same-sex marriage.

References