Christopher Maurice Pyne (born 13 August 1967) is a retired Australian politician. As a member of the Liberal Party, he held several ministerial positions in the Howard, Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments, and served as a member of parliament (MP) for the division of Sturt from 1993 until his retirement in 2019.
Pyne was elected to the Australian House of Representatives at the 1993 federal election, winning the seat of Sturt in South Australia. In 2007, Pyne was given the portfolios of Assistant Minister for Health and Ageing and Minister for Ageing while serving in the Howard government, which he held until the Liberal-National Coalition's loss at the 2007 election. While in opposition, Pyne was appointed Manager of Opposition Business in the House. After the Coalition's victory at the 2013 election, Pyne entered the Cabinet of Australia and became Leader of the House and Minister for Education. Upon the election of the Turnbull government at the 2015 Liberal leadership ballot, he remained Leader of the House and became Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science. With the reelection of the government in 2016, he became the Minister for Defence Industry. Upon the installment of the First Morrison ministry in August 2018, he became the Minister for Defence.
Pyne retired from politics at the 2019 Australian federal election. In June 2019, he was appointed as an industry professor at the University of South Australia. In the same month Pyne started a new defence industry consulting job, prompting a Senate investigation into a potential breach of Ministerial Standards.
Early years and education
The fifth and youngest child of ophthalmic surgeon, Remington Pyne and his wife Margaret, Pyne was born in Adelaide, South Australia in 1967. He was educated at Saint Ignatius' College and the University of Adelaide, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws and was President of Adelaide University Liberal Club from 1987 to 1988.
Pyne attained a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the University of South Australia in 1991. In 2022, he was granted an Honorary Doctorate in the School of the Professions from his alma mater, the University of Adelaide.
Background
Pyne was a research assistant to Senator Amanda Vanstone and later became President of the South Australian Young Liberals from 1988 to 1990. He was pre-selected as the Liberal candidate for the safe Labor seat of Ross Smith at the 1989 state election but was defeated by the sitting member and Premier of South Australia, John Bannon. He earned a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice at the University of South Australia and began practising as a solicitor in 1991.
Parliament
At the 1993 election, aged 25, Pyne was elected to the South Australian Division of Sturt in the House of Representatives. He had earlier defeated Sturt incumbent Ian Wilson in a Liberal pre-selection ballot for the seat. Wilson had held the seat for all but one term since the 1966 election. Between them, he and his father, Keith, had held the seat for all but four years since its creation in 1949. Wilson was 35 years Pyne's senior; indeed, he had won his first election a year before Pyne was born.
Pyne is a republican and established himself as a member of the moderate, "small-l liberal" faction of the Liberal Party, supporting then Deputy Leader Peter Costello. Pyne remains a close ally of state Liberal Vickie Chapman.
In 1994, after serving as a backbencher for a period, Pyne was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Minister for Social Security. He retained this position after John Howard was elected as leader, and up to the 1996 election.
Howard government
After the 1996 Coalition victory Pyne sat as a backbencher. Pyne chaired the Australia Israel Parliamentary group from 1996 to 2004. In 2003, he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Family and Community Services, where he remained until 2004, when named Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing. As Parliamentary Secretary, he defended the government's "War on drugs" and established his strong support of illicit drug prohibition, as opposed to harm minimisation. He launched the youth mental health initiative Headspace.
Pyne served as a Parliamentary Secretary until 30 January 2007 when he was appointed Assistant Minister for Health and Ageing. He held this portfolio until 21 March, when he was elevated to the outer ministry as Minister for Ageing, succeeding resigning Minister, Senator Santo Santoro.