Preceded by Sean Choat Name Jim Madden Role Politician | Occupation Agronomist Profession Lawyer Party Australian Labor Party | |
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Born 12 April 1958 (age 65)
Ipswich, Queensland ( 1958-04-12 ) Alma mater University of Queensland Profiles | ||
Education University of Queensland Political party Australian Labor Party | ||
James Edward Madden (born 12 April 1958) is an Australian politician. He has been the Labor member for Ipswich West in the Queensland Legislative Assembly since 2015. Madden is a practicing Catholic.
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Early life and education
Madden was born and raised in Ipswich. He is a fifth generation Ipswich West resident since his family came to Australia from Ireland in 1863. He attended St Mary’s Primary School and went on to graduate from St Edmund's College. He studied horticulture and agriculture at UQ Gatton before working as an agronomist. He later studied law at QUT.
Career
Before the 2015 election, Madden was a lawyer and councillor for Somerset Regional Council from 2012 to 2015.
2015 Queensland state election
Jim Madden was the Labor candidate for Ipswich West in the 2015 Queensland state election. He ran against sitting LNP member Sean Choat. Madden won the district with 57.72 percent of the two-party-preferred vote and a positive swing of 14.87 percent.
Member for Ipswich West
In October 2015, LNP member Ian Rickuss called some Labor MPs, including Madden, "drag queens". Madden responded that Rickuss was "out of touch" and that "jokes made at the expense of the LGBTI community are unacceptable now."
In December 2015, Madden stepped down from Parliament's ethics committee after taking responsibility for a suspected leak. Ethics committee members were prohibited from revealing information about their deliberations. He thought his comments to a Queensland Times journalist were "innocuous" but admitted he "should not have spoken to him at all." He said this mistake was due to his inexperience as a "relatively new member of Parliament and the ethics committee." He received no further punishment for his role in the leak.
In February 2016, Madden supported the proposed lockout laws since be believed they were proven effective elsewhere and would address alcohol-fuelled violence.
In March 2017, Madden supported the Criminal Law Amendment Bill which removed "unwanted sexual advancements" as a partial defence for defendants accused of murder. He described the previous law as a "gay panic defence" which was "archaic". He said the message of the legislation was that discrimination was "not acceptable and that we value the LBGTI community".