Michael Sukkar

Sukkar was born in the eastern Melbourne suburb of Ringwood, to a father who was born in Lebanon. Sukkar attended primary school at Sacred Heart in Croydon and then secondary school at Aquinas College in Ringwood.[2] He completed a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce at Deakin University in 2004 and Master of Laws at the University of Melbourne in 2010.[3][4]

In 2005 Sukkar worked as a taxation consultant at accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.[2] From 2006 he spent seven years working as a tax lawyer with the firm Blake Dawson Waldron (now known as Ashurst Australia) where he was a senior associate.[2]

In 2008 Sukkar suffered a cardiac arrest while playing basketball, and was treated by a nurse and anaesthetist who were at the game and an off-duty paramedic who was nearby.[5] Once he joined Parliament, Sukkar became an advocate for defibrillators in the community. [6]

In 2012, Sukkar was endorsed as the Liberal Party candidate for the marginal seat of Deakin. He won the seat at the 2013 election with a swing to the Liberal Party of 3.8 points, succeeding Labor MP Mike Symon[7] he joined the government benches of the Abbott Government. Sukkar served on a number of parliamentary committees in this Parliament, such as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.[2] In 2014 Sukkar launched the Deakin 200 Club with other conservative Liberal MPs to fundraise for marginal seats held by conservatives within the party.[8]

At the 2016 federal election, Sukkar increased his margin by 2.5 points, the Liberal Party's largest swing in Victoria.[9] On 24 January 2017, the new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, appointed Sukkar to the ministry as Assistant Minister to the Treasurer.[10] Turnbull gave Sukkar responsibility for addressing housing affordability.[11] When asked about housing affordability on 20 February 2017, Sukkar told Sky News that "we're also enabling young people to get highly paid jobs which is the first step to buying a house".[12] Labor MP Tim Watts said in response that the remarks showed the Coalition was "back to where Joe Hockey started on housing affordability".[13]

In June 2017 Sukkar, Greg Hunt, and Alan Tudge 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.[14][15] They avoided prosecution by, eventually, making an unconditional apology to the Victorian Court of Appeal.[16][17][18] Conviction could have resulted in their expulsion from parliament under Constitution s 44(ii) and as a result, the government losing its majority in the House of Representatives.

Sukkar supported Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton during the Liberal leadership spill in August 2018, and had a pivotal role in removing then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. At the May 2019 federal election Sukkar was re-elected for a third term, although with a reduced margin of 4.8% (a swing of 1.7%),[19] despite support in his electorate falling to 47% of the two-party-preferred vote in an opinion poll released shortly after the leadership spill.[20] Sukkar was not returned to the ministry after Scott Morrison succeeded Malcolm Turnbull, but returned as Assistant Treasurer.

Sukkar here with his son Leo at the 2020 Anzac Day Dawn Service

Following the surprise victory of Scott Morrison, Sukkar was invited to take the portfolio of Assistant Treasurer and to take the portfolio of Housing[21] which is responsible for the National Finance and Investment Corporation. By the end of 2020, the government had funded $6 billion for rent assistance and the corporation had issued $1.5 billion in bonds. Treasury estimates this will support homeowners in the building of 2,000 new homes and the purchase of 6300 existing homes. During this Parliament, Sukkar was accused branch stacking, of which he was cleared when it moved to formal investigation.[22][23] In January 2021, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) was investigating a donor with ties to Sukkar over foreign interference risks.[24]

In December 2020, Sukkar was given further responsibilities. He was sworn in to the roles of Assistant Treasurer, Minister for Housing and Minister for Homelessness, Social and Community Housing.[25]

In his maiden speech, Sukkar categorised himself as an "economic liberal" and with "strong conservative foundations". He credited his Catholic religion as being one of the two most significant influences in his life, in addition to his family.[4] Over time, his views can be seen to cluster around five topics. In 2013 he expressed support for the school chaplaincy program at an Australian Christian Lobby forum.[26]

Sukkar opposed same-sex marriage during the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey.[27] Although initially stating he would follow the outcome of the survey,[28][29] Sukkar abstained from the vote despite his electorate voting 66% in favour, saying that he could not support the bill.[30]

Sukkar married Anna Duthie in 2010.[31] They have two sons, Leo and Nathan.[2]