Representative Ed Husic Contact information

Ed Husic is an Australian politician who was born on February 3, 1970, in Sydney. He is the son of Bosnian Muslim immigrants who arrived in Australia in the late 1960s. Husic’s father, Hasib Husić, was a welder who worked on significant projects, including the Snowy Mountains Scheme, initiated by the Chifley government. His mother, Hasiba, was a housewife.

Husic grew up in Western Sydney and attended Blacktown South Public School and Mitchell High School before studying at the University of Western Sydney. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Applied Communications.

In the 1990s, Husic worked as a research officer for Roger Price, who was the member for Chifley at the time. In 1997, Husic was elected as a branch organiser, and in 1998, he became the vice-president of the Communications Division of the CEPU. He then worked for Integral Energy from 1999 to 2003 as a communications manager.

In July 2006, Husic was appointed as the secretary of the Communications Division of the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union of Australia (CEPU). He later became the national president of the CEPU before entering federal politics.

Husic entered politics in 2004 when he contested the federal seat of Greenway for the Labor Party, but he lost to Liberal candidate Louise Markus. During the election, anonymous campaigners distributed leaflets attacking Husic for being a Muslim, while some voters were urged to vote for Markus “because she’s a Christian.” The Labor Party accused the Liberal Party of orchestrating the leaflets, but the latter denied it.

After Roger Price decided not to run for re-election, Husic contested and won the safe Labor seat of Chifley in 2010. In 2013, when Kevin Rudd announced the Second Rudd Ministry, Husic became the first Muslim to be sworn onto the Australian federal government frontbench, as Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and Parliamentary Secretary for Broadband. He took his oath on the Quran.

Husic served as the Shadow Minister for the Digital Economy and the Shadow Minister for Human Services until 2019, when he resigned to make way for Kristina Keneally. He was later added back to the shadow cabinet when Joel Fitzgibbon resigned as Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Resources, with Husic taking over the portfolio. In January 2021, he became the Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation after a shadow cabinet reshuffle.

After Labor’s victory in the 2022 Australian federal election, Husic was appointed as the Minister for Industry and Science. He is known for advocating for a parliamentary investigation into the “Australia Tax,” which refers to the significant price difference for certain IT products compared to overseas markets. Husic supports same-sex marriage and is good friends with Josh Frydenberg.