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Senator the Hon Anne Ruston has been a Senator since September 2012. She is currently the Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care, Shadow Minister for Sport and Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate.

In July 2014, Anne was elected Senior Deputy Government Whip in the Senate and Chair of the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee. She was also an active participant in the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee.

Senator Ruston was appointed Assistant Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources in September 2015. She was subsequently appointed as Assistant Minister for International Development and the Pacific in August 2018. Prior to the 2022 election, Senator Ruston was a Cabinet Minister, holding the positions of Minister for Families and Social Services, Minister for Women’s Safety and Manager of Government Business in the Senate for three years.

Prior to becoming a Senator, Anne held several senior positions in government and the private sector, including as the inaugural chief executive of the National Wine Centre. She was also a primary producer and irrigator, owning and operating the largest commercial rose garden in Australia.

Born and raised in Renmark, on the River Murray in South Australia, Anne continues to have a strong connection with the Riverland community. She is passionate about regional South Australia and is the only SA Senator who maintains a regional electorate office.

ABOUT ANNE

Anne Sowerby Ruston, born on June 10th, 1963, is a notable Australian politician who served as the Minister for Families and Social Services in the Morrison government from 2019 to 2022. Prior to this, she was a Senator for South Australia from 2012. Ruston has an extensive career in public service, having also served as Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources in the Turnbull government from 2015 to 2018, and as Assistant Minister for International Development and the Pacific in the Morrison government from 2018 to 2019.

Ruston was born and raised in Renmark, South Australia, and attended Renmark High School, where she was a school friend of future Chief of Army Rick Burr. She earned her Bachelor of Business degree from the University of Southern Queensland.

Ruston’s early career involved working as an electorate officer for state Liberal MP Peter Arnold in 1987. She joined the staff of state tourism minister Graham Ingerson in 1993 as a tourism policy adviser, and in 1996 was appointed as an executive officer at the Wine and Tourism Council. Ruston was heavily involved with the creation of the National Wine Centre of Australia, initially as project director and then as the centre’s inaugural CEO. She oversaw the construction phase of the centre, which was announced by Premier John Olsen in 1998 as a centre for wine tourism and education, as well as office space for various wine industry groups. Ruston left the centre in 2001 and purchased Ruston’s Roses, a commercial rose-growing property in Renmark established by her uncle David Ruston in 1948.

Ruston’s involvement in politics began in 2011 when she became a vice-president of the Liberal Party of Australia (South Australian Division). In May 2012, she won preselection in third place on the party’s Senate ticket for the next federal election, which was seen as an “unsafe” position due to the candidacy of independent senator Nick Xenophon. However, incumbent senator Mary Jo Fisher resigned the following month, and Ruston was chosen instead for the resulting casual vacancy. She was formally appointed by a joint sitting of the Parliament of South Australia on September 5th, 2012.

During her time in the Senate, Ruston served as a deputy whip from September 2014 to May 2016. She was then appointed as the Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources in the First Turnbull Ministry in September 2015. Ruston was also the Manager of Government Business in the Senate during the August 2018 Liberal leadership spills. She was subsequently appointed Assistant Minister for International Development and the Pacific in the First Morrison Ministry. Following the 2019 election, Ruston was promoted to the Cabinet and was appointed Minister for Families and Social Services in the Second Morrison Ministry. She was also reappointed as Manager of Government Business in the Senate and was additionally made Minister for Women’s Safety, a new position, in March 2021.

In terms of her political positions, Ruston was one of the ten senators who voted in favour of Cory Bernardi’s motion to ban sex-selective abortion in 2017, which was defeated by a vote of 10-36.

Ruston is married to Richard Fewster, and they have a son.