Matt Canavan | |
|---|---|
 Canavan in 2025 | |
| Minister for Resources andNorthern Australia | |
| In office 27 October 2017 – 3 February 2020 | |
| Prime Minister | Malcolm Turnbull Scott Morrison |
| Preceded by | Barnaby Joyce(acting) |
| Succeeded by | Keith Pitt |
| In office 19 July 2016 – 25 July 2017 | |
| Prime Minister | Malcolm Turnbull |
| Preceded by | Josh Frydenberg(as Minister for Resources, Energy and Northern Australia) |
| Succeeded by | Barnaby Joyce(acting) |
| Minister for Northern Australia | |
| In office 18 February 2016 – 19 July 2016 | |
| Prime Minister | Malcolm Turnbull |
| Preceded by | Josh Frydenberg(as Minister for Resources, Energy and Northern Australia) |
| Succeeded by | Himself(as Minister for Northern Australia) |
| Deputy Leader of the Nationals in the Senate | |
| In office 2 July 2019 – 27 September 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Fiona Nash |
| Succeeded by | Susan McDonald |
| Senator for Queensland | |
| Assumed office 1 July 2014 | |
| Preceded by | Ron Boswell |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Matthew James Canavan (1980-12-17)17 December 1980 (age 45) Southport, Queensland, Australia |
| Party | National(Federal) Liberal National(State) |
| Residence(s) | Yeppoon, Queensland |
| Alma mater | University of Queensland |
| Occupation | Economist |
| Website | mattcanavan |
Matthew James Canavan (born 17 December 1980) is an Australian politician who has been aSenator forQueensland since 2014. He previously held ministerial positions in theTurnbull andMorrison governments.
Canavan was raised inBrisbane's southern suburbs and holds arts and economics degrees from theUniversity of Queensland. Prior to entering parliament he worked as economist for theProductivity Commission, as an executive atKPMG and as chief of staff to Nationals senatorBarnaby Joyce. Canavan was elected to the Senate at the2013 federal election, running on theLiberal National Party of Queensland ticket. He was appointedMinister for Northern Australia in February 2016 and was elevated to cabinet after the2016 election asMinister for Resources and Northern Australia.
In July 2017, amid a widerparliamentary eligibility crisis, Canavan resigned from cabinet after discovering he might hold Italian citizenship by descent in violation of the constitution. He was reappointed to cabinet in October 2017 after theHigh Court ruled that he was not an Italian citizen. In February 2020, Canavan resigned again from cabinet to support Joyce in hisunsuccessful bid for National Party leadership. In May 2025, heunsuccessfully challenged new Nationals leaderDavid Littleproud in a leadership ballot after the2025 election.
Canavan was born inSouthport on theGold Coast, Queensland. He isof Italian descent; his mother's parents were born inLozzo di Cadore, in the Italianprovince of Belluno.[1] His father Bryan worked as a manager atWoolworths and sales representative withNestlé, while his mother Maria worked as ateller with theCommonwealth Bank.[2] His brother John is a mining executive, and managing director of Winfield Energy, which had a significant interest in theRolleston coal mine until 2020.[3]
Canavan grew up inSlacks Creek in theCity of Logan.[2] He attendedChisholm Catholic College, where he was active inEdmund Rice Camps.[4] While at University, Canavan identified as acommunist until a political disagreement with volunteers for theInternational Socialist Organisation.[5] He holds the degrees ofBachelor of Arts andBachelor of Economics (Hons.) from theUniversity of Queensland.[6] After graduating from university he moved toCanberra to work at theProductivity Commission.[2] He was a senior research economist (2003–2008) and later director (2009–2010),[6] briefly moving toBrisbane as a senior executive atKPMG (2008–2009).[2] From 2010 to 2013 Canavan served as chief of staff to SenatorBarnaby Joyce, at the time serving as shadow minister for finance.[6][7] He later turned down an offer to move toAndrew Robb's office, despite Joyce's demotion to a less senior portfolio.[2]
Canavan was elected to theAustralian Senate as a member of theLiberal National Party of Queensland, representingQueensland at the2013 federal election for the term beginning 1 July 2014.[8] He sits with theNational Party in the Senate, although he had been a member of theLiberal club during his latter days at UQ.[5]
In theFirst Turnbull Ministry, Canavan served as theMinister for Northern Australia between 18 February and 19 July 2016.[9] He was the first member ofcabinet born in the 1980s.[2]
With the reelection of theTurnbull government in 2016, Canavan was elevated intoCabinet becoming theMinister for Resources andNorthern Australia in theSecond Turnbull Ministry.[10] He briefly resigned from the Cabinet between July and October 2016 amid hisHigh Court citizenship challenge.
On 3 February 2020, he resigned again from Cabinet to supportBarnaby Joyce in hisunsuccessful bid for National Party leadership.[11] He also cited his failure to declare his membership of theNorth Queensland Cowboys, as the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility within his Northern Australia portfolio, approved a $20 million loan for the Cowboys to build a training centre next to theNorth Queensland Stadium inTownsville.[12] He denied it was a breach of ministerial standards as under theNorth Australia Infrastructure Facility Act, he had no power to approve loans but could only reject them.
After his resignation from the Cabinet, he remained as deputy leader of the Nationals in the Senate, along withBridget McKenzie as leader, as the other three Nationals senators were first-termers.[13][14]
Canavan has served on the "Inquiry into the destruction of 46,000 year old caves at theJuukan Gorge in the Pilbara region of Western Australia", which delivered its interim report in December 2020.[15]
Canavan unsuccessfully challengedDavid Littleproud for leadership following the2025 Australian federal election in the2025 National Party of Australia leadership spill.[16]
In 2006, Canavan's mother had registered him as an "Italian resident abroad" with the Italian consulate in Brisbane. Canavan stated that he had been unaware of this until his mother had informed him of it following theresignation of two Greens senators over their dual citizenship.[17] The government took the view that he was not in breach of the Constitution, as the registration had not been made with his knowledge or consent. Canavan resigned from cabinet, but not from Parliament, as he had not yet been given a definitive legal view on the matter.[18]
Initially, Canavan accepted that he had Italian citizenship.[19] He then renounced it, effective 8 August 2017.[20] On the same day, on a government motion with all-party support, the Senate resolved to refer the matters of SenatorsScott Ludlam,Larissa Waters and Canavan to theHigh Court as Court of Disputed Returns. The Attorney-General indicated that the Commonwealth would argue, in favour of Cavanan, that s 44(i) requires a personal acknowledgement of the connection, which had not occurred. Canavan spoke in support of the referral, while stating that he did not believe he was in breach of s 44(i), and said that he would not be voting in the Senate until his position was determined by the Court.[21] Later, four other members of the federal parliament were referred to the High Court, which heard the seven cases together.
In the High Court, government lawyers argued for Canavan and others that s 44(i) requires some personal acknowledgement of another citizenship, which had not occurred; in its judgment on 27 October 2017, the Court rejected this interpretation of the sub-section. For Canavan, it was argued in addition that his registration as an "Italian resident abroad" in 2006 had been incorrect in supposing that he was an Italian citizen and that, although a change in Italian citizenship law when he had been two years old could appear to have conferred Italian citizenship upon him, it could not be shown to have done so.[22] The Court accepted these points and held that Canavan had never been a citizen of Italy; accordingly, he had been validly elected.[23]: para 86 [24]
Canavan opposedsame-sex marriage in the lead-up to the2017 marriage law plebiscite.[25] In 2017, whenCory Bernardi moved a motion to ban abortion on gender grounds, Canavan was one of ten MPs who voted for the motion, which was defeated with 36 votes against.[26]
In 2024, Canavan voted againstAustralian Government's proposed legislation to ban children under 16 from social media. He was the only National who voted against it.[27]
Canavan is aclimate change denier[28] and a prominent supporter offossil fuels, particularly coal,[29][30] and has strongly opposed investment inrenewable energy.[31] He has been referred to as one of the major players in the LNP split over climate and energy policy, frequently advocating for more coal power plants, despite their higher costs and higher emissions than alternative energies.[32]
Canavan has rejected that climate change contributed to the catastrophic2019–20 Australian bushfire season, despite evidence to the contrary.[33] His views have been rebuked by climate scientists and other members of Parliament, including Nationals MPDarren Chester.[34][35]
In response to a protest in November 2018 where high school students walked out of class to protest the Australian government's inaction on climate change, he responded "I want kids to be at school to learn about how you build a mine, how you do geology, how you drill for oil and gas". He also stated "The best thing you'll learn about going to a protest is how to join thedole queue."[36]
He also strongly opposes the teaching of climate change in schools, stating that children are "more interested inPewDiePie than politics", "Fortnite than fostering revolution" and that the only mining they get involved in is inMinecraft.[37]
Canavan is a critic ofnet zero emissions targets, labelling them "a failed agenda".[38]
In October 2020, he shared a picture onFacebook andTwitter that showed a vehicle with a sticker that stated "Black Coal Matters" on it, intended as a parody of the American social movementBlack Lives Matter. This was posted in the wake of major racial tension following themurder of George Floyd, and Canavan was met with heavy backlash on social media.[39][40]
He later defended the post as a "joke", and declared that the Black Lives Matter movement deserves "ridicule".[41]
In August 2021, Canavan received widespread criticism when he took issue with the announcement that the children's entertainment groupthe Wiggles had recruited a further four members, who were ethnically diverse, a move he perceived as "woke", saying in an interview withThe Australian newspaper: "The Wiggles are free to do what they like. It was nice while it lasted. Butyou go woke, you go broke."[42][43]
In November 2021, Canavan was one of five Coalition senators whocrossed the floor to vote forPauline Hanson's proposedCOVID-19 Vaccination Status (Prevention of Discrimination) Bill 2021, which would have prevented people who willingly refused theCOVID-19 vaccine from being subject to any kind of mandate or consequence.[44][45]
His support of the bill drew criticism and accusations of being anti-vaccine.[46] Canavan called for the rollout of theAstraZeneca vaccine to be halted, contrary to the policy of his own government and views of his colleagues.[47] In September 2023, Canavan promoted aconspiracy theory that COVID-19 vaccination increases the risk of stillbirths, citingLeading Report, an American website known for promoting misinformation.[48]
In January 2025, Canavan said that Australia should copyan executive order signed byDonald Trump which stated that the United States federal government will only recognizetwo genders, male and female.[49]
Canavan met his wife, Andrea, at university while volunteering withEdmund Rice Camps.[4] As of 2017, they had five children together and lived inYeppoon.[50] They also own a property inBarmaryee and a house inMacquarie, Australian Capital Territory.[51]
Canavan has said he "rediscovered" hisRoman Catholic faith while preparing for his wedding.[4]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded byas Minister for Resources, Energy and Northern Australia | Minister for Northern Australia 2016 | Next: Himself as Minister for Resources and Northern Australia |
| Minister for Resources andNorthern Australia 2016–2017 | Next: Barnaby Joyce | |
| Preceded by | Minister for Resources andNorthern Australia 2017–2020 | Next: Keith Pitt |
Prime Minister:Malcolm Turnbull | ||
| Cabinet |  | |
| Outer Ministry | ||
| Assistant Ministers | ||
| Dismissed/resigned/lost seat | ||
Prime Minister:Malcolm Turnbull | ||
| Cabinet | | |
| Outer Ministry | ||
| Assistant Ministers | ||
| Resigned | ||
Prime Minister:Scott Morrison | ||
| Cabinet |
|  |
| Outer Ministry | ||
| Assistant Ministers | ||
| Resigned | ||
Prime Minister:Scott Morrison | ||
| Cabinet |  | |
| Outer Ministry | ||
| Assistant Ministers | ||
| Dismissed/resigned | ||
