Speakers

The Hon. Michael Sukkar MP & Mr. Max Chandler-Mather MP, Shadow Minister for Housing and Shadow Minister for Homelessness & Federal MP for Griffith and the Australian Greens spokesperson for housing and homelessness will address the National Press Club of Australia for the 'Housing Policy Debate' 

Michael Sukkar was first elected to the Australian Parliament in 2013 as the Member for Deakin.

In 2022 he was sworn in as the Shadow Minister for Social Services; Shadow Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme; Shadow Minister for Housing and Shadow Minister for Homelessness, having previously served as the Assistant Treasurer; Minister for Housing and Minister for Homelessness, Social and Community Housing in 2020; Minister for Housing and Assistant Treasurer in 2019 and Assistant Minister to the Treasurer in 2017.

Michael has a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce from Deakin University and a Master of Laws from the University of Melbourne.

Prior to entering the Parliament, Michael spent seven years working as a lawyer with the firm Ashurst Australia (then known as Blake Dawson Waldron), where he was a Senior Associate. In this role, he advised many of Australia's most successful individuals and largest corporate groups. Before then he worked as a Senior Consultant with accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers where he also specialised in tax.

Michael has previously served on a number of parliamentary committees, including as Chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence & Security, as well as Chair of Parliamentary Joint committee on Corporations and Financial Services.

Michael is married to Anna and they have two children.

Max is the Federal MP for Griffith and the Australian Greens spokesperson for housing and homelessness. Prior to being elected, Max was the strategist for the Qld Greens, helping to elect the party’s first councillor and state MPs.

As the Australian Greens spokesperson for housing and homelessness, Max led the negotiations for the party on the Housing Australia Future Fund where they held the balance of power in the Senate. To support the negotiations, Max led a national housing campaign mobilising volunteers across the country who spoke with thousands of people to pressure the Labor government to directly invest in public housing and to coordinate a national freeze on rent increases.

From these negotiations the Greens were able to pass Labor’s bill after securing $3 billion in immediate investment into social housing, six times the original investment from Labor’s plan, and force a national conversation on rent controls.

A renter his entire adult life, Max currently rents in Greenslopes, Brisbane.