Bert van Manen

Albertus Johannes "Bert" van Manen (born 24 March 1965) is an Australian politician who has been a member of the House of Representatives since the 2010 federal election, representing the Division of Forde. He is a member of the Liberal National Party of Queensland and sits with the Liberal Party in federal parliament. He has been Chief Government Whip in the House of Representatives since July 2019.

Bert van Manen

MP
Chief Government Whip in the House
Assumed office
2 July 2019
Prime MinisterScott Morrison
DeputyNicolle Flint
Preceded byNola Marino
Member of the Australian Parliament for Forde
Assumed office
21 August 2010
Preceded byBrett Raguse
Personal details
Born
Albertus Johannes van Manen

(1965-03-24) 24 March 1965
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Political partyLiberal National (state)
Liberal (federal)
Other political
affiliations		Family First
Spouse(s)
Judi van Manen
​
(m. 1987)​
Children2
Education
Occupation
WebsiteOfficial website

Early life

Bert Van Manen was born in Brisbane, Queensland, to Dutch immigrants. His father was a ceramic tiler. His family moved to Waterford when he was young. He was educated at Waterford and Waterford West primary schools and at Kingston State High.[1]

In 1987 he married Judi, and they have two sons.[1]

Bert Van Manen was employed as a bank officer for 15 years, from 1983 to 1998, before running his own business as a financial advisor from 1999 to 2010.[2]

In 2007 Van Manen co-founded Vangrove Financial Planning with Andrew Cosgrove. He resigned as director in April 2012 but retained a 50% ownership; one month later KPMG administrators were called in when the firm collapsed owing creditors $1.5 million.[3]

Van Manen is on the board of the Dunamis International College of Bible Ministries, revealed in his maiden speech.[4]

Political career

In 2007, Bert Van Manen was the Family First Party candidate in the seat of Rankin. He received 3.53% of the primary vote in that election.

In the 2010 federal election, van Manen won the Division of Forde from the Australian Labor Party (ALP) incumbent Brett Raguse. He retained his seat at the 2013 federal election, 2016 federal election, and 2019 federal elections.

In August 2016 he was appointed to the position of Government Whip.[5] He has served as a Member of the Joint Statutory Committee on Law Enforcement; Joint Standing Committee on Law Enforcement; House of Representatives Standing Committee on Law Enforcement and House of Representatives Select Committee on Law Enforcement *APH profile

He was endorsed by the evangelical Christian Dunamis Church, which provided church volunteers to aid his election campaign with "booth work, letterbox drops and many other things."[1][6]

In 2017, the Division of Forde voted "Yes" in the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey, with 61% in support of same-sex marriage. Van Manen had campaigned against same-sex marriage, and abstained from the parliamentary vote.[7][8]

In January 2018 it was reported that several changes to van Manen's Wikipedia page that included deleting references to his failed business, Vangrove Financial Planning, were traced to parliamentary IP addresses. A spokesperson for Bert Van Manen described the edits as having been "well-meaning."[9]

Journalist and former political staffer Niki Savva speculates in her book Plots and Prayers that van Manen may have been a key instrument in the 2018 leadership spill which removed Malcolm Turnbull as Prime Minister, as Van Manen was deputy Whip and a part of the Morrison Bible Group.[10] Van Manen's was one of six crucial votes that determined Scott Morrison to be the new leader.[11]

On 2 July 2019, following the 2019 federal election, van Manen replaced Nola Marino as Chief Government Whip in the House of Representatives.[12]

References
  1. "It is with great honour that I...: 20 Oct 2010: House debates (OpenAustralia.org)". www.openaustralia.org.au. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
  2. 7111, corporateName=Commonwealth Parliament; address=Parliament House, Canberra, ACT, 2600; contact=+61 2 6277. "Mr Bert van Manen MP". www.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 4 July 2017.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. McKenna, Michael. "Peter Beattie rival Bert van Manen led firm in 'director-related collapse'". The Australian. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
  4. "ParlInfo - GOVERNOR-GENERAL'S SPEECH : Address-in-Reply". parlinfo.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  5. corporateName=Commonwealth Parliament; address=Parliament House, Canberra. "Mr Bert van Manen MP". www.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 16 April 2019.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. Maizey, Judith (8 March 2016). "Dunamis Church endorses three Logan candidates in upcoming local government election". Courier Mail - Albert & Logan News. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
  7. "Truth behind 98,000 new voters". NewsComAu. 26 April 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  8. Henderson, political reporter Anna (8 December 2017). "This is how everyone voted — and didn't vote — on same-sex marriage". ABC News. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  9. Baker, Hannah. "Forde MP's Wikipedia page edits 'well-meaning'". Beaudesert Times. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
  10. editor, Katharine Murphy Political (1 July 2019). "Dutton's Keystone Cops and Morrison's prayer: five key moments from Niki Savva's book". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 July 2019.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  11. correspondent, Sarah Martin Chief political (20 April 2019). "Scott Morrison: 'master of the middle' may pull Coalition out of a muddle". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  12. "Mr Bert van Manen MP". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
Parliament of Australia
Preceded by
Brett Raguse		 Member for Forde
2010–present		 Incumbent
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