Darren Chester | |
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| Member of theAustralian Parliament forGippsland | |
| Assumed office 28 June 2008 | |
| Preceded by | Peter McGauran |
| Minister for Veterans' Affairs & Minister for Defence Personnel | |
| In office 5 March 2018 (2018-03-05) – 2 July 2021 (2021-07-02) | |
| Prime Minister | Malcolm Turnbull Scott Morrison |
| Preceded by | Michael McCormack |
| Succeeded by | Andrew Gee |
| Minister for Regional Development | |
| In office 27 October 2017 – 20 December 2017 | |
| Prime Minister | Malcolm Turnbull |
| Preceded by | Fiona Nash |
| Succeeded by | John McVeigh(asMinister for Regional Development, Territories and Local Government) |
| Minister for Infrastructure and Transport | |
| In office 18 February 2016 (2016-02-18) – 20 December 2017 | |
| Prime Minister | Malcolm Turnbull |
| Preceded by | Warren Truss(Infrastructure and Regional Development) |
| Succeeded by | Barnaby Joyce |
| Assistant Minister for Defence | |
| In office 21 September 2015 – 18 February 2016 | |
| Prime Minister | Malcolm Turnbull |
| Preceded by | Stuart Robert |
| Succeeded by | Michael McCormack |
| Minister for Local Government and Territories | |
| In office 27 July 2017 – 20 December 2017 | |
| Prime Minister | Malcolm Turnbull |
| Preceded by | Fiona Nash |
| Succeeded by | John McVeigh(asMinister for Regional Development, Territories and Local Government) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Darren Jeffrey Chester (1967-09-13)13 September 1967 (age 58) Sale, Victoria, Australia |
| Political party | National |
| Occupation | Journalist andpolitical advisor |
| Website | darrenchester |
Darren Jeffrey Chester (born 13 September 1967) is an Australian politician. He has been a member of theHouse of Representatives forGippsland in Victoria, representing theNationals since 2008. Chester had served as theMinister for Veterans' Affairs and theMinister for Defence Personnel between March 2018 and July 2021 in theTurnbull andMorrison governments.[1] He was alsoMinister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC until May 2019.[2]
Chester served as theParliamentary Secretary to theMinister for Defence in theAbbott ministry from September 2013 to September 2015.[3] In theTurnbull government he was appointedAssistant Minister for Defence from 21 September 2015;[2] and between 18 February 2016 and 20 December 2017, Chester served as theMinister for Infrastructure and Transport following arearrangement in theFirst Turnbull Ministry.[4][5] He briefly served in theSecond Turnbull Ministry as the acting Minister for Regional Development and as the acting Minister for Local Government and Territories between October and December 2017, following the resignation ofFiona Nash.[6]
Chester was viewed as a potentialcandidate to replaceBarnaby Joyce as National Party leader in February 2018; however he chose not to contest the leadership.[7]
Chester was born inSale, Victoria, the son of a plumber, and was one of five children.
Prior to entering federal politics, he worked as a newspaper and television journalist throughout Gippsland and was chief of staff toPeter Ryan, the leader of the Nationals in theVictorian state parliament.[citation needed]
Chester contestedGippsland East as the National Party candidate at the2002 Victorian state election, losing toindependentCraig Ingram.[8] In 2004, he unsuccessfully stood for National Party preselection for theSenate position held byJulian McGauran. McGauran retained his party endorsement and was re-elected later that year, only to defect to theLiberals in 2006.[9]
Chester was elected to the House of Representatives at the2008 by-election caused by the resignation ofPeter McGauran, and re-elected at the 2010 and 2013 elections.
He was appointed Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Regional Transport in September 2010;[10] and appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence in September 2013.[3]
In June 2015 he became the first member of the National Party to announce support for same-sex marriage and aconscience vote on the issue for members of theCoalition.[11] The move catalysed a public breakdown in Chester's relationship with his local Nationals branches in Gippsland, who moved a motion to revoke his party endorsement for the 2016 election. Chaotic scenes ensued at a Gippsland Nationals branch meeting where Chester was reported to have verbally abused local party members, with Chester subsequently attacking The Australian newspaper for its coverage of the controversy.[12][13]
Public scrutiny of taxpayer-funded travel allowances usage by MPs has embroiled Chester in controversy. The Sydney Morning Herald revealed that between 2008 and 2016, Chester charged taxpayers $407,000 on private air charters to travel to Canberra for parliamentary sittings, despite most MPs using normal commercial air services or driving.[14] On 27 January 2016, Chester charged taxpayers $876 for a work trip to Melbourne on which he completed the purchase of a two-bedroom apartment in Ivanhoe as an investment property and to later attended a Melbourne Victory soccer match.[15]
During the ongoing leadership tensions betweenBarnaby Joyce andMichael McCormack after the former resigned in February 2018 and the latter became federal leader, Chester has been a prominent leader of the McCormack faction and was notably rewarded with a ministerial appointment when McCormack first become leader. He won a subsequent promotion to Cabinet after McCormack defeated a leadership challenge by Joyce in February 2020. It would later emerge in May 2020 during the recriminations over McCormack's refusal to support a planned run for federal parliament by NSW Deputy PremierJohn Barilaro in the2020 Eden-Monaro by-election that Chester was in a WhatsApp group where messages about Barilaro and his wife were exchanged with colleaguesDamian Drum andKevin Hogan.[16]
For supporting incumbent McCormack in the2021 Nationals leadership spill, Chester was stripped of his ministerial portfolios by new leader Joyce.
Chester has been a frequent critic ofBarnaby Joyce, labelling him ‘incoherent’, criticising his leadership style and scepticism of climate science.[17][18][19]
Chester was comfortably re-elected at the2022 Australian federal election.[20]
Chester challenged incumbent Nationals Party leaderBarnaby Joyce along withDavid Littleproud, the incumbent deputy leader in a three-way race for the leadership of the party on Monday 30 May 2022, after the incumbent Liberal/National Coalition government lost office to the Labor opposition. The Nationals party room got bigger, however, their coalition partner suffered seat losses. Chester along with Joyce lost to Littleproud on that day.[21] Chester was eventually not included in the subsequentshadow ministry. However, on 4 January 2023, he was appointed to the outer shadow ministry as Shadow Minister for Regional Education and Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories.[22]
Chester lives inLakes Entrance, Victoria, with his wife, Julie, and their four children.[23][24]
Chester supports theSydney Swans in theAustralian Football League.[25]
The Hon Darren Chester MP will return to the Ministry as Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Minister for Defence Personnel and Minister Assisting for the Centenary of ANZAC.
I take this opportunity to thank Darren Chester for his significant contributions to the Cabinet as the outgoing Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. I know that we will all continue to call on his wisdom and experience.
| Parliament of Australia | ||
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| Preceded by | Member forGippsland 2008–present | Incumbent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Minister for Veterans' Affairs 2018–2021 | Succeeded by |
| Minister for Defence Personnel 2018–2021 | ||
| Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC 2018–2019 | Succeeded by None | |
| Preceded byas Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development | Minister for Infrastructure and Transport 2016–2017 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Assistant Minister for Defence 2015–2016 | Succeeded by |
Prime Minister:Tony Abbott | ||
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| Dismissed/resigned | ||
Prime Minister:Malcolm Turnbull | ||
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| Dismissed/resigned/lost seat | ||
Prime Minister:Malcolm Turnbull | ||
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| Resigned | ||
Prime Minister:Scott Morrison | ||
| Cabinet |
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| Outer Ministry | ||
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| Resigned | ||
Prime Minister:Scott Morrison | ||
| Cabinet |  | |
| Outer Ministry | ||
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