Brett Mason

Brett John Mason (born 5 March 1962) is a former Australian politician and a Liberal/Liberal National of Queensland member of the Australian Senate from 1 July 1999 to 15 April 2015, representing the state of Queensland.[1] Mason was the Australian Ambassador to the Netherlands from September 2015 to August 2018.

His Excellency The Honourable

Brett Mason
Australian Ambassador to the Netherlands
In office
2 September 2015 – August 2018
Preceded byNeil Mules
Succeeded byMatthew Neuhaus
Senator for Queensland
In office
1 July 1999 – 15 April 2015
Succeeded byJoanna Lindgren
Personal details
Born (1962-03-15) 15 March 1962
Canberra, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Political partyLiberal National Party of Queensland
Liberal Party of Australia
Alma materAustralian National University, University of Cambridge, Griffith University
ProfessionBarrister

Education

Mason completed BA and LLB(Hons) degrees at the Australian National University, an MPhil degree in International Relations at Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge, and a PhD degree at Griffith University.[1]

Parliamentary career

Following Mason's entry into the Senate in 1999, he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing in the Howard Government from 21 March 2007 to 3 December 2007, and appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Abbott Government from 18 September 2013 to 23 December 2014.[1][2]

Along with Senators Mitch Fifield and Mathias Cormann, Mason was one of the first to resign from the Coalition front bench in 2009 over the Shadow Cabinet's decision to support Kevin Rudd's ETS.[3]

On 24 March 2015, Mason announced he intended to resign from the Senate prior to the parliament's budget sittings in May.[4] He resigned on 15 April 2015.[5] The casual vacancy resulting from his resignation was filled by the appointment of Joanna Lindgren on 21 May 2015.[6]

Diplomatic career

On 21 April 2015, six days after his resignation from the Senate, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop announced that Mason would be appointed as Australia's ambassador to the Netherlands, replacing Neil Mules in mid-2015.[7][8][9] Mason presented his credentials in the Netherlands on 2 September 2015.[10] He completed his posting in August 2018.

In June 2018 Mason was appointed the chair of the National Library of Australia's Library Council, commencing on 9 August 2018.[11]

Honours
  • Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal, 2003.[1]

Publications
  • Privacy without principle: the use and abuse of privacy in Australian law and public policy, Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2006.[1]
  • Future proofing Australia: the right answers for our future (ed. with D Wood), Melbourne University Press, 2013.[1]

References
  1. "Senator the Hon Brett Mason". Archived from the original on 23 November 2015.
  2. Bourke, Latita (24 December 2014). "Dumped Brett Mason planned to challenge George Brandis in Senate stoush". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 9 January 2015.
  3. "Embattled Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull still believes ETS will pass this week". news.com.au. News Corp. 27 November 2009. Archived from the original on 16 April 2015.
  4. Borrello, Eliza (24 March 2015). "Queensland Liberal National Party senator Brett Mason to quit politics". ABC News. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  5. Letter from President of the Senate to Governor of Queensland: Vacancy in the representation of Queensland (PDF), Queensland Government, 15 April 2015, archived from the original (PDF) on 12 January 2016
  6. "Qld parly endorses Lindgren as Senator". Yahoo! News. 21 May 2015. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  7. Massola, James (22 April 2015). "Former Liberal senator Brett Mason named as Australia's ambassador to the Netherlands". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 20 May 2015.
  8. Bishop, Julie (21 April 2015). "Ambassador to the Netherlands" (Press release). Australian Government. Archived from the original on 26 April 2015.
  9. Mather, Joanna (21 April 2015). "Brett Mason appointed ambassador to the Netherlands". Australian Financial Review. Fairfax Media.
  10. Australian Embassy, The Netherlands (2 September 2015), Welcome to Brett Mason, now officially the new Australian Ambassador!, archived from the original on 12 January 2016
  11. "Mason appointed chair of NLA". Books + Publishing. 27 June 2018. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Neil Mules		 Australian Ambassador to the Netherlands
2015 – 2018		 Succeeded by
Matthew Neuhaus
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