Senator The Hon Simon Birmingham, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Senator for South Australia, will Address the National Press Club of Australia on "Friends, old & near: securing Australia’s interests in a contested world".
Senator the Hon. Simon Birmingham serves as Australia’s Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Opposition in the Australian Senate.
Elected as a Senator in 2007, Simon served as a minister between 2013 and 2022, including cabinet roles as Australia’s Minister for Education, Minister for Trade and Tourism, and Minister for Finance. Simon also served as Leader of the Government in the Australian Senate and on the cabinet’s National Security and Expenditure Review Committees.
As finance minister Simon was responsible for budgets that secured Australia’s Covid recovery and near 50-year low unemployment rates, along with the AUKUS defence agreement. In the trade portfolio he negotiated the world’s largest trade agreement with 13 other ASEAN and regional partner countries, commenced free trade agreement negotiations with the United Kingdom, secured a Digital Economy Agreement with Singapore and responded to China’s trade sanctions against Australia. While education minister Simon brought early reading skills checks to Australia and delivered needs-based funding reforms for both school education and childcare.
As the shadow foreign minister, Simon has strongly advocated for the defence of international rules, especially in response to autocratic threats posed by nations such as Russia and Iran. With experience engaging across the dynamic Indo-Pacific region, Simon pursues regional stability through effective use of deterrence and diplomacy, along with continued economic growth through open trade and investment.
Prior to his election as a Senator for South Australia, Simon worked as an executive in Australia’s world-renowned wine industry. Simon is married and the father of two girls.
