Brendan O'Connor MP

Brendan O'Connor MP

Brendan O'Connor was sworn in as Minister for Immigration and Citizenship on 4 February 2013.

At the 2004 federal election, Brendan was elected to the newly created electoral division of Gorton. He was re-elected at both the 2007 and 2010 elections.

Brendan has served as Deputy Chair of the Public Works Committee and the Employment and Workplace Participation Committee. From January 2006 he chaired Labor's Industrial Relations Taskforce enquiring into the Work Choices legislation.

Brendan served as the Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Industrial Relations from December 2006 until December 2007, when he was appointed as Minister for Employment Participation. In June 2009, Brendan became Minister for Home Affairs.

Following the 2010 federal election, Brendan gained the further responsibilities of privacy and freedom of information to his portfolio. In December 2011, he was appointed as the Minister for Human Services and Minister Assisting for School Education—a position he held until early March 2012 when he entered Cabinet as Minister for Small Business and Minister for Housing and Homelessness.

Prior to entering Parliament, Brendan was a union official from 1986 to 2001 and assistant national secretary of the Australian Services Union from 1993 to 2001.

Brendan holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws from Monash University, and a Harvard trade union program diploma from Harvard University.