Representative Brendan O'Connor Contact information

Brendan Patrick O’Connor is an Australian politician and member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) who has served as Minister for Skills and Training since 2022. He was born on March 2, 1962, in London, England, to Irish parents Michael and Philomena O’Connor, and arrived in Australia at the age of six. He attended Aquinas College in Melbourne before completing a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws at Monash University. O’Connor also completed a diploma at Harvard University through the Harvard Trade Union Program.

Before entering politics, O’Connor worked as a researcher for the Municipal Employees Union while studying at university. He later became the assistant national secretary of the Australian Services Union from 1993 to 2001. O’Connor has long been associated with the Labor Left and is a member of the National Left faction of the Australian Labor Party and the Socialist Left faction of the Victorian branch of the party.

In 2001, O’Connor was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Member for Burke. When the division was abolished by the 2003 redistribution, he successfully contested the new electoral division of Gorton at the 2004 election. In December 2005, he was elected to the position of Chair of the Federal Labor Industrial Relations Taskforce, which investigated the adverse effects of the Howard Government’s WorkChoices legislation.

Following the Labor victory at the 2007 federal election, O’Connor served in the government of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard from 2007 to 2013. He held ministerial office during this time, including as a member of cabinet from 2012 to 2013. In his various roles, O’Connor enacted several key policy reforms, including introducing tougher laws to protect children from being procured and groomed online, achieving consensus for an R18+ video game classification after 10 years of debate, and introducing significant reforms to the anti-dumping regime. He was also instrumental in introducing the first Australian Small Business Commissioner in 2013 and proposing reforms to increase housing affordability in Australia.

After the Labor Party’s defeat at the 2013 federal election, O’Connor was included in Bill Shorten’s shadow cabinet. He held several portfolios over the years, including employment and workplace relations, special minister of state, employment and industry, science, and small and family business. In January 2021, he succeeded Richard Marles as shadow minister for defence. He remained in the shadow cabinet under Anthony Albanese’s leadership until 2022 when he was appointed as Minister for Skills and Training.