Mum. Local. Fighter. 

Clare O’Neil MP is Labor’s Federal Member for Hotham in Melbourne’s south east. 

Hotham is a community she loves to represent in Canberra, and raise her own family in. 

From the robust conversations around the kitchen table as a teen, to the lively debates at school and uni, Clare has always had a drive to fight for what’s right and to be a voice for those unable to stand up for themselves.   

Over the past two decades, she has spent much of it connected to and representing this community. From a local capacity as Mayor of Greater Dandenong (then the youngest female mayor in Australian history), to now in Canberra. 

After school, Clare studied law at Monash University in Clayton and, while there, was elected to the City of Greater Dandenong Council and the Mayor a year later.

  
After graduating, Clare travelled to Harvard University in the US to study Public Policy. Living in Boston and NYC, she also worked in the New York Stock Exchange. 

Back in Australia, Clare served as an adviser to the Office of the Commonwealth Treasurer and worked as a consultant with CEOs around Australia in key industries including mining, manufacturing, banking and retail. She also spent time in north-east Arnhem Land working with First Nations groups. 

Clare was elected to Federal Parliament in 2013 and the Member for Hotham – when she also had an eight week old baby.

Clare was appointed to the Shadow Ministry as the Shadow Minister for Justice in 2016 and was also appointed Shadow Minister for Financial Services in 2018. In July 2019, Clare was appointed the Shadow Minister for Innovation, Technology and the Future of Work and, then in February 2021, Clare was the Shadow Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services.  

Since the Albanese Government was elected in 2022, Clare became the youngest Cabinet Minister in the Albanese Labor Government and was appointed as the Minister for Home Affairs and Cyber Security.  In 2024, she became Minister for Housing and Minister for Homelessness.