Bert van Manen | |
|---|---|
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| Chief Opposition Whip in the House of Representatives | |
| In office 26 July 2022 – 3 May 2025 | |
| Leader | Peter Dutton |
| Preceded by | Chris Hayes |
| Chief Government Whip in the House of Representatives | |
| In office 2 July 2019 – 11 April 2022 | |
| Prime Minister | Scott Morrison |
| Preceded by | Nola Marino |
| Liberal Party Chief Whip in the House of Representatives | |
| In office 2 July 2019 – 3 May 2025 | |
| Prime Minister | Scott Morrison Peter Dutton |
| Preceded by | Nola Marino |
| Member of theAustralian Parliament forForde | |
| In office 21 August 2010 – 3 May 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Brett Raguse |
| Succeeded by | Rowan Holzberger |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Albertus Johannes van Manen (1965-03-24)24 March 1965 (age 60) Brisbane,Queensland, Australia |
| Party | Liberal National (state) Liberal (federal) |
| Other political affiliations | Family First |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | |
| Occupation | |
| Website | Official website |
Albertus Johannes "Bert"van Manen (born 24 March 1965) is an Australian former politician who represented theDivision of Forde in theHouse of Representatives from 2010 to 2025. He is a member of theLiberal National Party of Queensland and sat with theLiberal Party in federal parliament. He was the party'schief whip in the House of Representatives from July 2019 until May 2025.
Bert Van Manen was born inBrisbane,Queensland, to Dutch immigrants. His father was a ceramic tiler. His family moved toWaterford when he was young. He was educated at Kingston, Waterford and Waterford West primary schools and at Kingston State High.[1]
In 1987 he married Judi, and they have two sons.[1]
Bert Van Manen was employed as a bank officer for 15 years, from 1983 to 1998, before running his own business as a financial advisor from 1999 to 2010.[2]
In 2007 Van Manen co-founded Vangrove Financial Planning with Andrew Cosgrove. He resigned as director in April 2012 but retained a 50% ownership; one month later KPMG administrators were called in when the firm collapsed owing creditors $1.5 million.[3]
Van Manen is on the board of the Dunamis International College of Bible Ministries, revealed in his maiden speech.[4]
In2007, Bert Van Manen was theFamily First Party candidate in the seat ofRankin. He received 3.53% of the primary vote in that election.
In the2010 federal election, van Manen won theDivision of Forde from theAustralian Labor Party (ALP) incumbentBrett Raguse. He retained his seat at the2013 federal election,2016 federal election,2019 federal election, and2022 federal election.
In August 2016 he was appointed to the position of Government Whip.[2] He has served as a Member of the Joint Statutory Committee on Law Enforcement; Joint Standing Committee on Law Enforcement; House of Representatives Standing Committee on Law Enforcement and House of Representatives Select Committee on Law Enforcement.[2]
He was endorsed by the evangelical Christian Dunamis Church, which provided church volunteers to aid his election campaign with "booth work, letterbox drops and many other things."[1][5]
In 2017, the Division of Forde voted "Yes" in theAustralian Marriage Law Postal Survey, with 61% in support of same-sex marriage. Van Manen had campaigned against same-sex marriage, and abstained from the parliamentary vote.[6][7]
In January 2018, it was reported that several changes to van Manen's Wikipedia page that included deleting references to his failed business, Vangrove Financial Planning, were traced to parliamentary IP addresses. A spokesperson for Bert Van Manen described the edits as having been "well-meaning."[8]
Journalist and former political stafferNiki Savva speculates in her bookPlots and Prayers that van Manen may have been a key instrument in the2018 leadership spill which removedMalcolm Turnbull as Prime Minister, as Van Manen was deputy Whip and a part of the Morrison Bible Group.[9] Van Manen's was one of six crucial votes that determinedScott Morrison to be the new leader.[10]
On 2 July 2019, following the2019 federal election, van Manen replacedNola Marino asChief Government Whip in the House of Representatives.[2]
In 2019 Bert Van Manen secured a $92,000 grant for tennis courts upgrades at Club Beenleigh from the Federal Government’s Community Development Grants Programme. The tennis club's vice president at the time was Mark Ellis, an ex-police officer and member of the infamousPinkenba Six.
Van Manen is a member of thecentre-right faction of the Liberal Party.[11][12]
He lost his seat toRowan Holzberger at the2025 federal election.[13]
| Election year | Electorate | Party | Votes | FP% | +/- | 2PP% | +/- | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Rankin | Family First | 2,827 | 3.53 |  1.59 | - | Fourth | ||
| 2010 | Forde | Liberal National | 30,967 | 44.08 |  0.01 | 51.63 | 4.99 | First | |
| 2013 | 32,271 | 42.54 | 1.54 | 54.38 | 2.75 | First | |||
| 2016 | 34,096 | 40.63 | 1.91 | 50.63 | 3.75 | First | |||
| 2019 | 39,819 | 43.50 | 2.87 | 58.60 | 7.97 | First | |||
| 2022 | 34,920 | 36.90 | 6.60 | 54.20 | 4.40 | First | |||
| 2025 | 33,023 | 30.71 | 6.20 | 48.23 | 6.00 | Second | |||
| Parliament of Australia | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member forForde 2010–2025 | Succeeded by |
