Ted O'Brien

Biography

Edward Lynam O’Brien is an Australian politician who has been serving as a member of the House of Representatives since the 2016 federal election. Born on 7 May 1974 in Brisbane, Queensland, O’Brien is the youngest of nine children and one of seven sons. His family owned the Defiance Flour Mill in Toowoomba, which was a well-known Queensland business dynasty in flour manufacturing. O’Brien’s first job was as a trainee baker.

O’Brien holds degrees from the University of Queensland, London School of Economics, and the University of Melbourne, and he also studied Chinese Mandarin at the National Taiwan Normal University under an Asia Pacific Fellowship. Before entering politics, O’Brien gained considerable experience in business development roles across Asia. He lived in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong for extended periods, working for Defiance International, the Australian Ricegrowers’ Cooperative, and Accenture, among others. After returning to Australia, he became the Queensland managing director of lobbying firm Barton Deakin before establishing his own consultancy firm, Ted O’Brien & Associates, in 2014.

O’Brien’s leadership experience extends beyond business. He served as the chairman of the Australian Republican Movement from 2005 to 2007, during which the organisation shifted its headquarters from Sydney to Canberra. He also served as chairman of the South-East Queensland branch of Ronald McDonald House Charities and on the board of the Queensland Catholic Education Advisory Board.

O’Brien first ran for parliament in 2007 but lost to the incumbent Australian Labor Party member Arch Bevis in the Division of Brisbane. He campaigned on the slogan “Time for Ted.” He later won LNP preselection for the Division of Fairfax in November 2012 but lost to mining magnate Clive Palmer at the 2013 federal election by just 53 votes. In May 2015, O’Brien won LNP preselection for Fairfax again and subsequently regained the seat for the LNP at the 2016 federal election. He sits with the Liberal Party in federal parliament.

O’Brien has served on a number of House of Representatives committees, including as chair of the Standing Committee on Environment and Energy from July 2019, a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and trade, and Chair of the Trade Sub-Committee. In 2019, he was nominated to represent the Morrison government on the Olympic Candidature Leadership Group overseeing South-East Queensland’s prospective bid for the 2032 Summer Olympics.

O’Brien is an advocate of nuclear power and chaired a parliamentary inquiry into nuclear energy in 2019. In September 2020, he called for Australia to negotiate a free-trade agreement with Taiwan, citing similar agreements with New Zealand and Singapore.