The Hon Tony Abbott
Former Prime Minister of Australia & Keynote Speaker
Tony Abbott served as Prime Minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015, and was a Member for Warringah in the Australian Parliament from 1994 until 2019. During his time as Prime Minister, Mr Abbott introduced legislation to repeal carbon tax and to stop illegal maritime arrivals. His government created over 300,000 jobs and oversaw the signing of free trade agreements with Japan, South Korea and China.
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Tony Abbott was elected prime minister by the Australian people on September 7, 2013, and served for two years.
In that time, the carbon tax and mining tax were repealed; free trade agreements were finalised with China, Japan and Korea; the people smuggling trade from Indonesia to Australia was halted; Australia became the second largest military contributor to the US-led campaign against Islamic State in Iraq; the biggest federally-supported infrastructure program in Australian history commenced; and, as PM, he chaired the G20 meeting of global leaders in Brisbane in November 2014.
In 2014, and again in 2015, he spent a week running the government from a remote indigenous community.
He served as the member for Warringah in the Australian parliament between 1994 and 2019. As the local MP, he was instrumental in the creation of the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust to preserve the natural and built heritage of his electorate and elsewhere.
Prior to entering parliament, he was a journalist with The Australian, a senior adviser to opposition leader John Hewson, and director of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy. He has degrees in economics and law from Sydney University and in politics and philosophy from Oxford which he attended as a Rhodes Scholar.
He is the author of three books: The Minimal Monarchy (1995), How to Win the Constitutional War (1997), and Battlelines (2009).
Between 1998 and 2019, he convened the Pollie Pedal annual bike ride which raised nearly $7 million for organisations such as Soldier On, Carers Australia and other charities. He still surfs near Queenscliff and volunteers with the Davidson Rural Fire Brigade.
In 2020 he was appointed as a Companion of the Order of Australia, and in 2022 he was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun.
Currently, he is a director of the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation, serves on the council of the Australian War Memorial, is an adviser the UK Board of Trade, is a visiting fellow of the Institute of Public Affairs and the Danube Institute and is on the board of Fox Corp. He’s patron to several charities, including Soldier On.
He is married to Margaret and they have three daughters: Louise, Frances and Bridget.
