Matt Keogh
Matthew James Keogh (born 11 November 1981) is an Australian Labor Member of the Australian House of Representatives. He was first elected in the 2016 federal election as the first member for the newly created Division of Burt in the south eastern suburbs of Perth, the capital of Western Australia and is Labor's Shadow Minister for Defence Industry, and Assisting for Small & Family Business. Early life and career. Keogh grew up in Kelmscott and Armadale, both now in the Division of Burt, where he attended St Francis Xavier Primary School and then Mazenod College. He was a  youth group leader at St Francis Xavier Catholic Church and volunteer St John Ambulance Cadet. He studied a Bachelor of Law and Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours), majoring in politics at Notre Dame University, where he was also Secretary of the Student Association. While at university, Keogh worked for iiNet and then Alannah MacTiernan, the WA Minister for Planning & Infrastructure. Keogh was also a Policy Officer in the Social Policy Unit of the Department of the Premier & Cabinet under the Gallop Government. Upon graduation, Keogh joined a local legal firm, then worked as a Federal Prosecutor, and commercial litigation  lawyer. He was the youngest President of the Law Society of Western Australia. Political career. Keogh joined the Australian Labor Party in 1997 and was President of WA Young Labor in 2007. Keogh is a member of Labor Right. After being unsuccessful as Labor's candidate at the September 2015 federal by-election in Canning, which precipitated Malcolm Turnbull deposing Tony Abbott as Prime Minister of Australia, Keogh ran successfully in the 2016 federal election for the electorate of Burt. The new seat included a third of Canning's old territory, and on paper was notionally Liberal. However, it included  much of the more urbanised portion of the old Canning, and much of the seat's territory was represented by Labor at state level. Keogh won the seat on a swing of more than 13 points. Following his election in 2016, Keogh was elected the Deputy Chair of the Labor Caucus, appointed the Labor Opposition Waste Watch spokesperson and became a member of the House Economics Committee, which was tasked with inquiring into the Australian banks, as well as the House Agriculture & Water Committee and the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services. Keogh was re-elected in 2019 . Following the 2019 Federal Election, Keogh was elected to the Labor front bench and allocated the portfolios of Shadow Minister for Defence Industry, Shadow Minister for WA Resources and Shadow Minister Assisting for Small and Family Business. Personal. Keogh met his wife at law school: the two married in 2011. They have two sons.