John-Paul Langbroek | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Minister for Education and Minister for the Arts | |
| Assumed office 1 November 2024 | |
| Leader | David Crisafulli |
| Preceded by | Di Farmer(Education) Leeanne Enoch(Arts) |
| Minister for Education, Training and Employment of Queensland | |
| In office 3 April 2012 – 14 February 2015 | |
| Premier | Campbell Newman |
| Preceded by | Cameron Dick(Education) Stirling Hinchliffe(Employment) |
| Succeeded by | Kate Jones(Education) Yvette D'Ath(Training) Curtis Pitt(Employment) |
| Leader of the Opposition of Queensland Leader of theLiberal National Party | |
| In office 2 April 2009 – 22 March 2011 | |
| Deputy | Lawrence Springborg |
| Preceded by | Lawrence Springborg |
| Succeeded by | Jeff Seeney(Opposition) Campbell Newman(LNP) |
| Manager of Opposition Business in Queensland | |
| In office 30 September 2008 – 2 April 2009 | |
| Leader | Lawrence Springborg |
| Preceded by | Stuart Copeland |
| Succeeded by | Jeff Seeney |
| Member of theQueensland Parliament forSurfers Paradise | |
| Assumed office 7 February 2004 | |
| Preceded by | Lex Bell |
| Majority | 16.2% (2020) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | John-Paul Honoré Langbroek Assen, Netherlands |
| Political party | Liberal National Party |
| Other political affiliations | Liberal Party |
| Relations | Kate Langbroek (sister) |
| Residence(s) | Gold Coast,Queensland |
| Signature |  |
| Nickname | JP |
John-Paul Honoré Langbroek is an Australian politician currently serving as theMinister for Education and Minister for the Arts in Queensland since 1 November 2024. He has been the member of theQueensland parliament forSurfers Paradise since 2004, representing theLiberal Party and its successor, theLiberal National Party (LNP). Langbroek served asLeader of the Opposition and parliamentary leader of the LNP from 2009 to 2011. He was previously a minister in theNewman government before its defeat at the2015 state election.
John-Paul Honoré Langbroek[citation needed] was born inAssen in theNetherlands and moved toBrisbane as a one-year-old in 1962.[1] His father isDutch and his mother isAmerican withJamaican ancestry.[2] John-Paul and his sister, Melbourne-based media personalityKate Langbroek, grew up as the only two children ofJehovah's Witnesses.[3] The family travelled around rural Queensland, where Langbroek Sr worked at various schools. John-Paul began his schooling at Burleigh Heads State School on theGold Coast and graduated fromSunnybank State High School.[4]
He studieddentistry at theUniversity of Queensland in the 1980s,[5] receiving an honours degree in dental science.[6] At university he showed no early sign of an interest in politics, describing his student days at the University of Queensland as being "toga parties,Lacoste shirts and university japes".[7]
Langbroek entered politics in 2001 when he stood as the Liberal candidate in theMay 2001 by-election for Surfers Paradise. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of the previous member, former National PartyPremierRob Borbidge who had just led the Coalition to a landslide defeat in the general electionearlier in 2001. Due to voter anger at being forced to the polls for the second time in three months, the National vote tumbled to eight percent. This left Langbroek far short of the support he needed to overtake Gold Coast councillor and former mayorLex Bell, who won the seat as an independent. Langbroek stood again in Surfers Paradise at the2004 state election and won convincingly with Bell being pushed into third place. He has held the seat comfortably ever since, and as of the 2017 election sits on a majority of 19.8 percent, making Surfers Paradise the safest LNP seat in the chamber.
As an MP he had served in the opposition shadow ministry for a number of years. He has held various shadow portfolios, including health, public works, mines and energy and immediately before his ascension to the leadership he has served as Shadow Minister for Education and Skills and Shadow Minister for the Arts from 12 August 2008.[8]
Langbroek was elected leader of the LNP following the2009 state election after the LNP's first leader,Lawrence Springborg, announced his retirement. Langbroek named Springborg as his deputy.[9] Langbroek's election marked the first time in 84 years that the non-Labor side in Queensland had been led by someone aligned federally with the Liberals or their predecessors. The Nationals have historically been the stronger non-Labor party in the state, and had been the dominant partner in thenon-Labor Coalition from 1925 until the formation of the LNP in 2008.
Polling for much of 2009 and 2010 showed the LNP ahead of Labor on the two-party vote, and Langbroek consistently led incumbent LaborPremierAnna Bligh as preferred premier. However, after Labor's numbers rebounded in the wake of theQueensland floods, Langbroek came under growing pressure from the LNP's organisational wing to stand down.[10] According toNine News Queensland's Spencer Jolly, LNP president Bruce McIver was trying to engineer a by-election to getBrisbane Lord MayorCampbell Newman, also from the Liberal side of the merger, elected to the legislature so Newman could challenge Langbroek for the LNP leadership.[11]
In 2010, Langbroek as LNP leader opposed the labor government push for stateConstitutional recognition of Aboriginal Australians. Saying it was wrong to elevate recognition of one ethnic group within the Queensland community to the exclusion of all others. Langbroek also wanted aReferendum on the issue.[12][13]
On 22 March 2011, Newman announced he would be seeking pre-selection for the seat ofAshgrove, and would challenge for the LNP leadership if successful. Later that day, Langbroek and Springborg announced their resignations as leader and deputy leader, respectively.[14] While a February poll showed the LNP with 55 percent two-party support—enough to make Langbroek premier—internal Coalition polling suggested that under Newman, the LNP would win government "in a canter".[15] As late as the previous day, Langbroek had insisted that he would not resign, and even demanded that McIver and the rest of the organisational wing either back down from their attempts to push him out or resign themselves. He appeared to have the support of most of the party room as well. However, within hours of Newman's announcement, Langbroek gave way.[10]
Newman appointed Langbroek Shadow Police Minister in his Shadow Cabinet.[16]
After the LNP landslide in the2012 election, Langbroek was made Minister for Education, Training and Employment in theNewman Ministry.[citation needed]
Following Newman government's defeat in the2015 election, Langbroek became Deputy leader of the LNP and Deputy Leader of the Opposition. He left the position afterLawrence Springborg lost the leadership toTim Nicholls withDeb Frecklington replacing Langbroek in his position as deputy leader.[17]
He has remained on the opposition frontbench under Nicholls, Frecklington andCrisafulli.
After Nicholls stood down as leader after the2017 election, Langbroek stood for the LNP leadership again, finishing second to Frecklington with 10 votes to her 25, with 3 forMark Robinson.[18]
Following theLNP’s victory at the2024 Queensland state election, Langbroek was appointedMinister for Education and Minister for the Arts in theCrisafulli ministry, beginning his term on 1 November 2024.[19]
In May 2025, he directed theState Library of Queensland to withdraw one of the awardees of their 2025black&write! writing fellowships,[20][21] just hours before the ceremony. The library withdrew the fellowship fromMartu authorK. A. Ren Wyld based on a 2024tweet about the killing of Hamas leaderYahya Sinwar by Israel. Wyld later said she was unaware of who Sinwar was at the time and believed she had deleted the tweet afterwards.[22] Following the incident, severalQueensland Literary Awards panel judges, includingJeanine Leane and writer and critic Nigel Featherstone, resigned in protest.[23][24]
In August 2025, Langbroek oversaw Queensland's first teachers' strike in 16 years, organised by theQueensland Teachers' Union (QTU).[25] Over 50,000 teachers participated, rejecting the government’s offer of an 8% pay rise over three years, arguing it would leave Queensland teachers at the bottom of the national pay scale.[26] The strike also reflected concerns about excessive workloads, understaffing, and inadequate classroom resources.[27]
Langbroek is married and has three children. Although he has not shown a clear rejection of his parents' religion (Jehovah's Witnesses), he does not discuss the topic at length.[7]
He has expressed the pain of having a relative withmotor neurone disease. Describing the disease as having "destroyed his family", causing his 58-year-old brother-in-law to need constant nursing and causing potentially fatal weight loss.[28]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Deputy Leader of the Opposition of Queensland 2015–2016 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Education of Queensland 2012–2015 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded byas Minister for Employment and Skills | Minister for Training and Employment of Queensland 2012–2015 | Succeeded byas Minister for Employment |
| Preceded by | Leader of the Opposition of Queensland 2009–2011 | Succeeded by |
| Parliament of Queensland | ||
| Preceded by | Member forSurfers Paradise 2004–present | Incumbent |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Leader of the Liberal National Party of Queensland 2009–2011 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Deputy Leader of the Liberal National Party of Queensland 2015–2016 | Succeeded by |