Mal Brough

Malcolm Thomas Brough (/ˈbrʌf/ BRUF; born 29 December 1961) is an Australian former politician. He represented the Liberal Party in the House of Representatives (1996–2007, 2013–2016) and held ministerial office in the Howard and Turnbull governments.

Brough was born in Brisbane and was an Australian Army officer and businessman before entering politics. He was first elected to parliament at the 1996 federal election, representing the Queensland seat of Longman. He was made a parliamentary secretary in 2000 and subsequently served as Minister for Employment Services (2001–2004) and Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer (2004–2006). Brough was promoted to cabinet in 2006 as Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, and subsequently oversaw the controversial Northern Territory Emergency Response. He lost his seat at the 2007 election, at which the government was defeated.

As state president of the Liberals, Brough opposed the merger which led to the creation of the Liberal National Party of Queensland in 2008. He returned to federal parliament in 2013, standing in the seat of Fisher. In September 2015 Brough was reappointed to the ministry by Malcolm Turnbull, who replaced Tony Abbott as Liberal leader and prime minister. However, his second stint as a minister lasted only until December 2015, as he resigned from the ministry following revelations that the Australian Federal Police had investigated him over his dealings with James Ashby.^[1] In February 2016 he announced that he would not seek preselection for the seat of Fisher at the 2016 federal election.^[2]