Spouse(s) Kate Doust | Website billjohnston.com.au Name Bill Johnston | |
Born 11 August 1962 (age 61)
Canberra, ACT, Australia ( 1962-08-11 ) | ||
Political party Australian Labor Party | ||
William Joseph Johnston (born 11 August 1962) is an Australian politician. He has been a Labor Party member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly since the 2008 state election, representing Cannington.
While still a student Johnston spent time abroad as an American Field Service exchange student to Bandung, Indonesia. He is married to Kate Doust, the member for the South Metropolitan Region.
Prior to entering Parliament, Johnston spent seven years as the state secretary of WA Labor and was a former senior official of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association, the union representing retail and warehouse workers.
In the 2013 state election, Johnston was re-elected for a second term in office. In opposition, he was the shadow minister for State Development; Energy; Mines & Petroleum. When Labor was elected to government in 2017, Johnston was made Minister for Asian Engagement; Minister for Housing; Minister for Electoral Affairs; and Minister for Commerce and Industrial Relations. Five days after the cabinet was sworn in, he swapped the Housing portfolio with Peter Tinley, after Tinley resigned as Minister for Mines and Petroleum over a possible conflict of interest.