Richard Marles

Marles arrived in Wallis and Futuna to attend a ceremony with King Kapiliele Faupala in Mata-Utu marking the 50th anniversary of the islands' status as a French Overseas collectivity.

Richard Donald Marles (born 13 July 1967) is an Australian politician and lawyer serving as the 19th and current deputy prime minister of Australia and the Minister for Defence since May 2022.

He joined the Melbourne University Labor Club in his first week at university and served as president of the Melbourne University Student Union in 1988.

He was also the General Secretary of the National Union of Students in 1989.

He started his career as a solicitor with Melbourne industrial law firm Slater and Gordon.

In 1994, he became legal officer for the Transport Workers Union (TWU).

He was elected TWU National Assistant Secretary four years later.

He was assistant secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions from 2000 to 2007.

In 2000 he joined Australia's peak national union body, the Australian Council of Trade Unions, as assistant secretary, remaining in the position until 2007.

In March 2006, Marles nominated for Labor preselection against the sitting member for Corio, Gavan O'Connor, as part of a challenge to several sitting members organised by the right-wing Labor Unity faction of the party.

In the local ballot Marles polled 57% of the vote, and his endorsement was then confirmed by the party's public office selection committee.

He was elected to the House of Representatives at the 2007 federal election, after defeating incumbent Labor MP Gavan O'Connor for preselection in the seat of Corio.

Marles was elected member for Corio on 24 November 2007 in the election that returned the Labor Party to office under the leadership of Kevin Rudd.

From February 2008 to June 2009 he was chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs.

Marles was made a parliamentary secretary in 2009 and briefly served as Minister for Trade in 2013, having supported Kevin Rudd's return as prime minister.

In June 2009 Marles was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Innovation and Industry.

He retained his seat in the 2010 election and was sworn in as Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs in the First Gillard Ministry on 14 September 2010.

Marles had previously visited New Caledonia in October 2010 and French Polynesia in March 2011.

In July 2011, Marles became the first Australian member of parliament to visit Wallis and Futuna.

In the ministerial reshuffle of 2 March 2012, Marles was given the additional role of Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs.

He was appointed to shadow cabinet after the ALP's defeat at the 2013 election and became a senior figure in the Labor Right faction.

On 21 March 2013 he resigned these roles after expressing support for Kevin Rudd to challenge Julia Gillard for the leadership; a challenge that did not eventuate.

In June 2013, he was appointed the Minister for Trade and a member of the Cabinet, succeeding Craig Emerson, who resigned following the June 2013 leadership spill that saw Kevin Rudd defeat Julia Gillard for leadership of the Labor Party.

After the ALP's defeat at the 2013 federal election, Marles was appointed Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection under opposition leader Bill Shorten.

In February 2016, he began co-hosting the weekly television program Pyne & Marles on Sky News Live with Liberal MP Christopher Pyne.

Marles had his portfolio changed after the 2016 election, becoming Shadow Minister for Defence.

He has been cited as holding pro-U.S. views and as "somewhat of a hawk".

He has been the deputy leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since 2019, having served as the member of Parliament (MP) for the division of Corio since 2007.

Marles grew up in Geelong, Victoria, and is a lawyer by profession.

Marles was elected deputy leader to Anthony Albanese after the 2019 election, becoming deputy opposition leader.

He became deputy prime minister following the ALP's victory at the 2022 election.

Marles was born on 13 July in Geelong, Victoria.

He is the son of Donald Marles, a former headmaster of Trinity Grammar School, and Fay Marles, Victoria's first Equal Opportunity Commissioner and later Chancellor of the University of Melbourne.

Marles was educated at Geelong Grammar School and the University of Melbourne where he resided at Ormond College.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Laws with Honours.

In May 2019, after Labor lost the 2019 federal election, it was reported that Marles would stand for the deputy leadership of the party, and would likely be elected unopposed following Clare O'Neil's decision not to run.

He was formally endorsed as deputy to Anthony Albanese on 30 May, and selected the portfolio of Defence in the shadow cabinet.

Following a shadow cabinet reshuffle in January 2021, Marles was placed in charge of a new "super portfolio" relating to recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, encompassing a "broad brief across national reconstruction, jobs, skills, small business and science".

Two days after the 2022 federal election, Albanese had himself, Marles and three other senior Labor frontbenchers sworn in as an interim five-person government.

Although counting was still underway, it was apparent by this time that no other party could realistically form even a minority government.