Tim Watts (politician)

Timothy Graham “Tim” Watts (born 8 June 1982) is an Australian politician and an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives since September 2013, representing the Division of Gellibrand, Victoria. He has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives since September 2013, representing the Division of Gellibrand, Victoria. Prior to his election, Watts worked as a Telstra executive, a political advisor to John Brumby and Stephen Conroy, and a solicitor at the firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques. Watts holds a Bachelor of Laws with Honours from Bond University, a Master of Public Policy and Management from Monash University and a Master of Science in Politics and Communications from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Since about 2006, Watts has been the author of a blog entitled "Blogging the Bookshelf", in which he discusses the books that he has been reading.

Background and Early Years

Watts was born and raised in Toowoomba, where his ancestor, John Watts was a member of the first Parliament of Queensland.

Parliamentary Career

Watts won preselection in 2013, following the resignation of Nicola Roxon in the Federal seat of Gellibrand in Melbourne’s west. He won the seat with a 16.53% majority at the 2013 Federal election, and was re-elected in 2016.

Since his election he has served as the Deputy Chair of the Standing Committee on Health in the House of Representatives and is currently the Deputy Chair of the Standing Committee on Communications and Arts.

Two Futures: Australia at a critical moment

In 2015, Watts and fellow Labor MP Clare O’Neil, published ‘Two Futures: Australia at a critical moment’ which purported to address long-term policy challenges facing Australia. President of the Business Council of Australia Catherine Livingstone, described the book as ‘An insightful contribution to the policy debate about the future of our country’.

Family Violence

Following the murder of Fiona Warzywoda in his electorate in 2014, Watts campaigned extensively in preventing and removing family violence across Melbourne’s West and the nation.

In 2014, he launched the bipartisan ‘Parliamentarians against Family Violence’ with Coalition MP’s Andrew Broad and Ken Wyatt. Australian of the Year, Rosie Battie addressed a meeting of the group in 2015, expressing that ‘Cross-party commitment is important to the issue of family and domestic violence’.

In response, former Labor Leader, Mark Latham used a column in the Australian Financial Review to label Watts as “symptomatic of the decline in Labor’s thinking” and argue that “Watts has fallen for the feminist line on domestic violence”.

In 2015, Watts and fellow Labor MP Terri Butler introduced a private members bill to criminalise the non-consensual sharing of private sexual material.

LGBTI Rights

Watts attracted international media attention, for an emotional speech in which he told the personal story of his uncle who died of complications from the AIDS virus without being able to marry his long term partner and the impact of this on his family.

Watts also delivered the 23rd Annual Keith Harbour Address at the 2015 Victorian AIDS Council Annual General Meeting where he advocated government support for Pre Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP).

Australian Aid

Watts has been an outspoken advocate of Australian Aid in the Parliament and has travelled to Cambodia and Papua New Guinea to visit Australian funded development programs in those countries.

Refugee Policy

Describing the asylum seeker crisis as “a challenge Australia has all too often failed to rise to”, Watts has pushed for further mechanisms to encourage Australian migration avenues. In 2017, Watts spent two weeks travelling through South-East Asia to visit asylum seekers and refugees in UNHCR refugee camps, detention centres, displaced persons camps and urban communities. He subsequently worked with a range of NGOs and civil society groups to expand alternative pathways to resettlement for refugees to Australia. Watts also brought forward a motion calling for an increase in private sponsorship of refugees.

National Information Policy

Watts has been an advocate for the National Information Policy reform agenda. He had been a supporter of the innovation and productivity growth of the National Information Policy across all sectors.

Cyber Security

In a January 2017 blog on the online platform ‘Medium’, Watts admonished the lack of cyber education in Australian politics describing it as “poor cyber-hygiene”. In calling for the mobilisation of Australian politicians to combat the threat to security in parliamentary offices, he encouraged awareness to be spread about the possibility of confidentiality breaches in Australia.

Asia

Watts has been an advocate for Australian enmeshment in Asia, speaking frequently about Asian-Australian diaspora communities.

Watts has been an Australia delegate to a number of prominent bilateral events such as the Australian Chinese Youth Dialogue, Australian Indian Youth Dialogue and CAUSINDY.

Watts was also a program participant for the acclaimed Asialink Leaders Course in 2017.

Selected Opinion Pieces

Family Violence

In an opinion piece published by the Chifley Research Centre, Watts called for action to be made in response to the issue of family violence. He has written on the importance of engaging with the states, territories and relevant stakeholders, as well as the use of effective communication in achieving successful policy outcomes to the issue.

National Information Policy

In responding to the 2016 Census controversy, Watts wrote on the importance of Labor’s proposed National Information Policy which seeks to ‘systematically scan institutions, policies and regulations to optimise the generation, protection, access and use of information in Australia’.

New Australian Flag

Watts has also written on the importance of multiculturalism in modern Australian society, and in doing so has called for a new Australian flag which does not bare the union jack. He described the importance of national symbols and the importance in ensuring they are reflective of the ‘modern, multicultural, Southeast Asian nation we have become’.

Indonesia

Watts has written on the economic growth of Indonesia in recent years, highlighting that ‘there is no other nation in Asia more important to our future than Indonesia’. Subsequently, he has called for an increase to the cap on working holiday visas for Indonesians and argued that it is time Australians consider Indonesia as ‘critical’ to both the economic prosperity and security of the country.

Personal

Tim lives in Footscray with his wife and two children.