Alan Tudge

Tudge was born in Pakenham, Victoria, an outer suburb of Melbourne. He was born a British citizen by descent, but renounced his dual citizenship before standing for parliament in 2010. His mother was born in Scotland and his father in England, while his maternal grandfather was born in Canada.[2] Tudge was educated at Haileybury before attending the University of Melbourne, where he completed a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Arts; he subsequently completed a Master of Business Administration at Harvard University. Following a period as a consultant with Boston Consulting Group, he became an adviser on Education and Foreign Affairs to the Howard Government; he subsequently ran his own policy advisory firm.[3]

He supports North Melbourne in the AFL. In 2001, during his time at Boston Consulting Group, Tudge was a secondee in an organisation in Cape York, placed through Jawun.[4][5]

Tudge succeeded Liberal MP Chris Pearce as Member for Aston, who retired from politics, at the 2010 federal election.[6] Following the 2013 federal election and the formation of the Abbott Ministry, Tudge was appointed as a Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister. In February 2016 Tudge was sworn in as the Minister for Human Services in the Turnbull Government.[7]

As Human Services Minister, in 2016–17 Tudge oversaw the implementing of the Cashless Welfare Card, a scheme by which is 80% of welfare payments goes into the Card.[8][9]

In June 2017 Tudge, and Liberal Party colleagues Greg Hunt and Michael Sukkar, faced the possibility of being prosecuted for contempt of court after they made public statements criticising the sentencing decisions of two senior judges while the government was awaiting their ruling on a related appeal.[10][11] They avoided prosecution by, eventually, making an unconditional apology to the Victorian Court of Appeal.[12][13][14] Conviction could have resulted in their expulsion from the parliament under Constitution s 44(ii) and, as a result, the government losing its one-seat majority in the House of Representatives.

As Minister for Population Tudge has said he supports a "Bigger Australia.[15]

In March 2020, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal ordered that an Afghan asylum seeker who had previously been a part of the Afghan National Army be granted a temporary protection visa. Tudge, who was Acting Immigration Minister at the time,[1] instantly appealed the judgement of the AAT to federal court, which failed. However during the 6-day appeal process, the asylum seeker had been kept in the detention centre. Six months later, the Federal Court found that Tudge “engaged in conduct which can only be described as criminal,” and that Tudge had deprived the asylum seeker of his liberty, which has prompted calls for his resignation.[16][17][18]

In the ABC Four Corners episode broadcast on 9 November 2020, former Tudge staffer Rachelle Miller revealed that she and Tudge had engaged in an affair. A moderate Liberal Party member, Miller described Tudge's opposition to same sex marriage (based on his support for "traditional" marriage) as hypocrisy.[19]

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