Anthony Byrne

Anthony Michael Byrne (born 1 December 1962) is a former Australian politician. A member of the Australian Labor Party in the Australian House of Representatives, he was one of federal parliament's longest-serving members, having first entered Parliament in November 1999, representing the Division of Holt in Victoria. He was forced to resign as the deputy chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security providing oversight of Australia's security services after he made admissions of corruption and branch-stacking at Victoria's Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission and did not re-contest the subsequent 2022 federal election. Early life Byrne was born in Adelaide and spent his early childhood in Kalgoorlie, where he was educated at local schools and through the School of the Air. His high school education was completed at Christian Brothers College, Adelaide. His maternal grandfather was wounded in the Battle of Pozières. Before entering parliament, he worked as CEO of Anxiety Disorders Foundation of Australia. Byrne joined the Labor Party in 1989, later serving an adviser to Senator Jacinta Collins. Parliamentary career Bryne was pre-selected by the ALP as their candidate for the 1999 Holt by-election in a "full-scale factional battle", winning with the backing of the SDA trade union. Byrne won the by-election, becoming "the last person elected to this federal parliament in the last century and the first to give an inaugural speech in the next."