THIS EVENT IS BY INVITATION. Club operations will close from 5pm in preparation for the debate. DEBATE RULES - *click here* The Leaders Debate will be moderated by National Press Club of Australia President, Sabra Lane. The event will be broadcast live by the ABC & SkyNews.
The Hon Scott Morrison MP was sworn in as Australia's 30th Prime Minister on 24 August 2018. He has previously served as Treasurer, Minister for Social Services, Minister for Border Protection and was first elected to Parliament as the Federal Member for Cook in 2007.
During his more than ten years in the parliament, the Prime Minister has established a reputation as a passionate advocate for his local community as well as a proven fixer for difficult policy problems in senior Cabinet portfolios.
As Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, he successfully stopped the boats. As Social Services Minister, he reduced abuse of the welfare system and put Australia’s social safety net on a more sustainable footing.
As Treasurer, his achievements include reducing the deficit, getting debt under control, maintaining Australia's AAA credit rating, record jobs growth, cutting corporate and personal income taxes, ensuring multinationals pay their fair share of tax and reforming Australia's banking and financial system.
The Prime Minister has represented the electorate of Cook in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire since 2007. He and his wife Jenny have two young daughters.
Bill Shorten is the Leader of the Opposition and Federal Member for Maribyrnong.
Bill joined the Labor Party during his last year of high school aged 17 and has since devoted his entire adult life to serving the labour movement.
He is a passionate advocate for rights of workers, protecting the fair go and the power of education to change lives.
Bill’s love and faith in the Labor Party are rooted in his family’s story. Bill and his twin brother Robert grew up in Hughesdale, in the south eastern suburbs of Melbourne.
Bill’s parents worked hard to give him and his brother the best start in life. Bill attended the Jesuit School Xavier College, completed a Bachelors degree in Arts and Law from Monash University, as well as an MBA from the Melbourne Business School.
Bill has since worked as a union organiser, union secretary, as a member of the ACTU executive, a director of AustralianSuper, Australia’s largest superannuation fund and a director of the Victorian Funds Management Corporation.
He was first elected as the Member for Maribyrnong at the 2007 Federal Election. Before his promotion to the Ministry, Bill was the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities, Children’s Services and Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction where he worked hard to ensure people with disability and their carers aren’t treated like second class citizens.
Bill was first and sworn into the Labor Ministry in September 2010 and promoted to Cabinet in December 2011. Bill played a key role in securing a number of historic Labor reforms including establishing the National Disability Insurance Scheme and increasing universal superannuation to 12 per cent ensuring that Australians don’t work hard their whole lives only to retire poor.
As Minister for Workplace Relations, Bill continued the Labor Government’s ongoing commitment to a fair and productive workplace relations system and during his time as Minister for Education, he helped secure Labor’s Better Schools reforms to deliver more individual attention and more resources for students in every school. Bill is married to Chloe, a former resources industry manager. Together, they have supported disability reform, science and medical research, and maternal and child health organisations and share an enduring interest in social justice issues such as preventing domestic violence and equal opportunity at work.
As a father of three children and a stepdad, Bill has a strong interest in the increasing diversity of families in Australia.
Bill and Chloe live in his electorate of Maribyrnong with their children and dogs Theodore and Matilda.
