Christopher Pyne

Christopher Maurice Pyne (born 13 August 1967) is an Australian retired politician. A member of the Liberal Party, he served as a minister in the Howard, Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments, and was the member of Parliament (MP) for the South Australian division of Sturt from 1993 to 2019. Born in Adelaide, Pyne graduated from the University of Adelaide in 1988 with a Bachelor of Laws, and worked as a solicitor from 1991 to 1993. He was elected to the House of Representatives at the 1993 federal election, winning the Adelaide seat of Sturt. Pyne was Assistant Minister for Health and Ageing and Minister for Ageing in 2007 until the Liberal–National Coalition's defeat at the election that year. He became Leader of the House and Minister for Education and Training after the Coalition's victory at the 2013 election; Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science in 2015; Minister for Defence Industry in 2016; and Minister for Defence in 2018. Pyne retired from politics in 2019, not standing at the that year's election. In June 2019, he was appointed as an industry professor at the University of South Australia. In the same month, Pyne began at a new defence industry consulting position, prompting a Senate investigation into a potential breach of Ministerial Standards.