About | Murray Watt

Meet Murray

Your Senator for Queensland

Senator the Hon Murray Watt has represented the State of Queensland in the Australian Parliament since 2016.

Senator Watt was appointed Federal Minister for the Environment and Water on May 13, 2025, and has since led the passing of major environmental law reforms in the Australian Parliament, aimed at strengthening environmental protections while delivering faster decision-making for housing, renewables, and critical minerals projects.

Serving as a Government Minister since the 2022 federal election, he previously held the portfolios for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Employment and Workplace Relations, and Emergency Management - responding to Australia's floods, bushfires and tropical cyclones.

In those roles, Minister Watt led government action on a range of key issues, including delivering a minimum wage increase for nearly 3 million workers, overhauling Australia's response and preparedness for natural disasters, restoring Australia’s biosecurity protections, expanding agricultural trade and export markets, and responding to the impacts of climate change.

Minister Watt’s working life has been spent as an advocate for others, as a lawyer, a public servant and as Chief of Staff to former Queensland Premier Anna Bligh. He also served one term as a Queensland State MP where he was an Assistant Minister in health and economic portfolios.

As a lawyer, Murray specialised in employment law, acting for workers and unions, and he ran class actions for farmers, shareholders and consumers against governments and big corporations. He also led an award-winning team which secured the release of around 100 Australian-born children and their families, stopping their transfer to indefinite detention on Nauru.

He and wife Cynthia live in Brisbane with their two children and they are all big fans of the Socceroos, the Matildas and soccer in general.

Meet Murray

Your Senator for Queensland

My Background

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