Sam Birrell

Biography

Samuel Birrell is an Australian politician and member of the National Party. He currently serves as a member of the Australian House of Representatives for the division of Nicholls, located in northern Victoria. Birrell secured the seat in the 2022 federal election, winning against a Liberal Party candidate and independent candidate Rob Priestly.

Birrell was born and raised on a property located on Victoria’s Goulburn River, between the towns of Murchison and Toolamba. His mother was a schoolteacher, and his father was a lawyer. Birrell attended Shepparton High School for two years before completing his secondary education as a boarder at Assumption College, Kilmore. After finishing high school, he worked on a farm in Ardmona for two years before completing a degree in agricultural science at the University of Melbourne’s Dookie campus. Later, in 2017, he completed an MBA at La Trobe University’s Shepparton campus.

After graduation, Birrell worked as an agronomist for a rural supplies business, where he specialized in pest identification and soil and leaf analysis. He then went on to work for irrigation supplier Netafim. In 2016, Birrell was appointed CEO of the Committee for Greater Shepparton, and he held the position until 2021 when he resigned to run for parliament.

Birrell won Nationals preselection for the seat of Nicholls in January 2022 following the retirement of incumbent Nationals MP Damian Drum. In the election, Birrell retained Nicholls for the Nationals, despite a significant swing to the Liberal candidate Steve Brooks and independent candidate Rob Priestly.

Birrell supports a Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA) for the Goulburn Valley and has advocated for an immediate global recruitment campaign to attract migrants with in-demand skills to help fill job shortages in regional areas.