Murray Watt

Murray Watt
Senator; Murray Watt
Senator for Queensland
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 2 July 2016
Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly; for Everton
	In office; 21 March 2009 – 24 March 2012
Preceded by	Rod Welford
Succeeded by	Tim Mander
Personal details
Born	Murray Patrick Watt; 20 January 1973; Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Australian Labor Party
Alma mater	University of Queensland
Occupation	Public servant; Judge's associate; political advisor
Profession	Lawyer

Murray Patrick Watt (born 20 January 1973) is an Australian politician. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has been a Senator for Queensland since the 2016 federal election, He previously served in the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 2009 to 2012.

Early life

Watt was educated at Brisbane State High School where he was School Captain in 1989. In 1996 he graduated from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Laws. He was a solicitor (1997–2002) and judge's associate (1999–2000). He was a public servant in the Queensland Department of Premier and Cabinet and the Department of State Development (2007–09) and chief of staff to Anna Bligh (2002–07; 2008). He had long been active in the Australian Labor Party, serving as President of Queensland Young Labor in 1998 and delegate to various state conferences.[1]

Watt was also a senior associate with the Brisbane office of Maurice Blackburn.[2]

State politics

In 2009 Watt was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland for Everton, succeeding Rod Welford, who retired. He was defeated for re-election at the 2012 state election.[1]

When Meaghan Scanlon was preselected as the Labor candidate for Gaven at the 2017 state election it was claimed that Watt was the deciding factor and that it was against the wishes of the branch members. One member of the branch claimed "factional politics prior to Murray coming to the Gold Coast didn't happen."[3]

Federal politics

Following announcement of the retirement of Senator Jan McLucas, in 2015 Watt was endorsed as a Labor Senate candidate for Queensland at the 2016 federal election[4] and subsequently elected.[5]

After the 2019 election, Watt was included in Anthony Albanese's shadow ministry as Shadow Minister for Northern Australia and Shadow Minister for Natural Disaster and Emergency Management. He is also Deputy Opposition Whip in the Senate.[6]

Watt regularly appears on Sky News debating Gerard Rennick from the Coalition. Rennick has called Watt, “Labor’s chief yapping poodle” who is “incapable of rational argument”.[7][8]

Watt's has followed the scientific consensus and opposed the Coalitions attempt to introduce mandatory minimum sentences for all crimes.[9][8]

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gollark: Athe-ism (worship of the possibly nonexistent deity Athe) is the One True Truth\™.

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gollark: It has its own weird programming language used as the shell.

References

"Former Members". Parliament of Queensland. 2015. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
"Murray Watt, Senior Associate". Maurice Blackburn. 2016. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
Weston, Paul (17 May 2017). "Inside Labor's bloody factional battle on the Gold Coast in the lead-up to the State election". Gold Coast Bulletin. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
"Murray Watt to replace Jan McLucas as Labor candidate for Senate seat". ABC News. Australia. 3 April 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
Atfield, Cameron (4 August 2016). "Greens will begrudgingly work with Hanson: Larissa Waters". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
"Senator Murray Watt". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
corporateName=Commonwealth Parliament; address=Parliament House, Canberra. "Hansard Display". www.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
"Jail time for some child sex offences just got stronger. Here's why some say that's a bad idea". www.abc.net.au. 16 June 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
"Jail time for some child sex offences just got stronger. Here's why some say that's a bad idea". www.abc.net.au. 16 June 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2020.

Parliament of Queensland
Preceded by Rod Welford	Member for Everton 2009–2012	Succeeded by Tim Mander

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[qp-1] "Former Members". Parliament of Queensland. 2015. Retrieved 7 February 2015.

[2] "Murray Watt, Senior Associate". Maurice Blackburn. 2016. Retrieved 4 June 2016.

[3] Weston, Paul (17 May 2017). "Inside Labor's bloody factional battle on the Gold Coast in the lead-up to the State election". Gold Coast Bulletin. Retrieved 10 June 2020.

[4] "Murray Watt to replace Jan McLucas as Labor candidate for Senate seat". ABC News. Australia. 3 April 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2016.

[2016_results-5] Atfield, Cameron (4 August 2016). "Greens will begrudgingly work with Hanson: Larissa Waters". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 August 2016.

[aph-6] "Senator Murray Watt". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 17 November 2019.

[7] rporateName=Commonwealth Parliament; address=Parliament House, Canberra. "Hansard Display". www.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 29 November 2019.

[:0-8] "Jail time for some child sex offences just got stronger. Here's why some say that's a bad idea". www.abc.net.au. 16 June 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2020.

[9] "Jail time for some child sex offences just got stronger. Here's why some say that's a bad idea". www.abc.net.au. 16 June 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2020.