Graham Perrett

Perrett was born in St George in Queensland in 1966 (seventh child in a family of ten children),[1] and received a diploma of teaching in 1985 and worked for 12 years in that occupation.[2]

In 1993, Perrett completed a BA (Hons) through the University of Queensland. His thesis was a study of The Autobiography of Malcolm X. He later received a LLB from Queensland University of Technology in 1999. He worked as a solicitor from 1999 to 2005 in Quinn & Scattini.[3] After working with the Queensland Independent Education Union as an organiser he was given a role as a senior policy adviser to the Premier of Queensland, Peter Beattie, in 2005, and later for the Minister for Health, Stephen Robertson.[2]

Perrett ran unsuccessfully for the federal seat of Moreton in 2004.[2] He was elected to Moreton at the 2007 election[4] where he ended Gary Hardgrave's 11-year term in office with a 7.6-point swing.[5]

In the 2007 Moreton campaign Perrett's rival, Gary Hardgrave, complained of being branded a "racist", after the standing member said that Moreton was being "exhausted" by the influx of African refugees.[4] Perrett campaigned primarily on issues relating to health and education in the lead up to the election, whilst Hardgrave focused primarily on roads, according to a radio interview.[6]

Perrett was appointed as a Government Whip in May 2013, holding the position until Labor's defeat at the 2013 election. He was appointed as a shadow parliamentary secretary in Bill Shorten's shadow ministry in May 2014, and retained the position under Anthony Albanese when he replaced Shorten as leader in the 2019 federal election where Perrett held onto his seat with only a 1.9% post-election margin.[7] [8]

Perrett published his first erotic novel, The Twelfth Fish, in October 2008. In the lead-up to the 2010 federal election the "saucy" sex scenes in The Twelfth Fish drew attention from politicians and the media and a mystery group put out a flyer calling Perrett the "Member for Porn" and he was targeted for writing "sleazy erotic novels" something Perrett denied. [9] [10] Perrett published a sequel in September 2013, The Big Fig.[11][12]

Perrett lives in Moorooka, Queensland with his wife Lea and has two sons. [13]