40 Facts About Marise Payne

Marise Ann Payne was born on 29 July 1964 and is an Australian politician who served in the Morrison government as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2018 to 2022 and as Minister for Women from 2019 to 2022.

Marise Payne has been a Senator for New South Wales since 1997, representing the Liberal Party.

Marise Payne was the first woman to serve as federal president of the Young Liberals.

Marise Payne was appointed to the Senate in 1997, in place of Bob Woods.

Marise Payne was elected to a full term in 2001, and has since been re-elected four more times.

Marise Payne was first added to the shadow ministry in 2007, and when the Coalition returned to power in 2013 she was made Minister for Human Services in the Abbott government.

Marise Payne was appointed Minister for Defence when Malcolm Turnbull became prime minister, becoming the first woman to hold the position.

Marise Payne is currently the longest serving female senator in Australia's history.

Marise Payne was born in Sydney, the daughter of Ann Noreen and William Elliott Marise Payne.

Marise Payne's father was a World War II veteran who worked as an accountant and farmer.

Marise Payne grew up in Bardwell Park, in Sydney's southern suburbs.

Marise Payne attended MLC School before going on to the University of New South Wales, where she graduated with Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees.

Marise Payne was a passenger in a car which rolled over and she received serious injuries to her neck, fracturing her odontoid process.

Marise Payne joined the Liberal Party in 1982, and was state president of the New South Wales Young Liberals from 1987 to 1988.

Marise Payne then served as federal president of the Young Liberals from 1989 to 1991, the first woman to hold the position, and as a member of the state executive of the New South Wales Liberals from 1991 to 1997.

In 1991, Marise Payne was an unsuccessful candidate to fill the casual vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator Peter Baume.

In 1994, Marise Payne was appointed vice-chair of the Australian Republican Movement, serving under chairman Malcolm Turnbull.

Marise Payne took office on 9 April 1997, and has subsequently been re-elected to the Senate at the 2001,2007,2013, and 2016 elections.

Marise Payne's office is located in Parramatta, in Sydney's western suburbs.

Marise Payne was a backbencher for her first decade in the Senate, from 1997 to 2007.

Marise Payne was preselected in third place on the Coalition ticket at the 2001 election, with Howard intervening to ensure Helen Coonan ranked ahead of her as the first Liberal candidate.

Marise Payne served on various Senate committees during that time, notably as chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade and the Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee.

Marise Payne was appointed as a shadow parliamentary secretary after the Coalition lost the 2007 election, with responsibility for foreign affairs and international development assistance and indigenous affairs.

Marise Payne was the first woman to hold the position, which has existed since Federation in 1901.

Marise Payne is a politician with a large part of her parliamentary career still ahead of her, and with this appointment, unlike the last few, there's more to be optimistic about than to be pessimistic about.

Marise Payne oversaw the final months of the long-anticipated 2016 Defence White Paper, which she launched in February 2016 with Turnbull and Chief of the Defence Force Mark Binskin.

Marise Payne launched the government's Integrated Investment Program and the Defence Industry Policy Statement.

Marise Payne responded that "we have a strong defence relationship [with China] but we do have a point of difference in this regard and we are certainly not going to take a backward step in articulating our position".

Marise Payne had abdominal surgery in late 2016, which resulted in the deferral of the "two-plus-two" meeting between the foreign and defence ministers of Australia and Japan.

Morrison subsequently announced that Marise Payne would succeed Bishop as Minister for Foreign Affairs in the new government.

On 19 April 2020, Marise Payne called for a global inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic including China's handling of the initial outbreak in Wuhan.

Marise Payne called for the inquiry to be conducted independently of the World Health Organization.

Marise Payne's call was supported by the opposition Labor Party's Health spokesperson Chris Bowen, who urged the Morrison government to win international support for the inquiry.

Marise Payne welcomed the normalization agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates as a positive and important step towards a peaceful and secure Middle East, adding that she welcomed the suspension of Israel's plans to annex parts of the Palestinian territories in the West Bank.

In mid-April 2021, Marise Payne visited her New Zealand counterpart Nanaia Mahuta to discuss several issues of concern to Australia-New Zealand relations including New Zealand deportees from Australia, the ISIL bride Suhayra Aden and the two government's differing approaches towards China and the Five Eyes alliance.

In early June 2021, Marise Payne contacted her Saudi Arabian counterpart to address the plight of a dual national, Osama al-Hasani, extradited from Morocco and being allegedly kept in detention in the Kingdom.

Marise Payne took the measure following increasing pressure from human rights groups concerning al-Hasani's detention.

Marise Payne was re-elected as a senator in the 2022 federal election.

Marise Payne is viewed as a member of the Liberal Party's moderate or "small-l liberal" wing.

Marise Payne is in a long-term relationship with her domestic partner Stuart Ayres, who was a minister in the New South Wales state government.