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Portrait of Matthew Swinbourn

Matthew Swinbourn

Australian Labor Party · Western Australia · Western Australian Legislative Council · Statewide (WA) · incumbent

Matthew Dean Swinbourn was born in Middle Swan, spent his early years in South Australia, and returned to Perth in 1983. He was educated at Kent Street Senior High School, briefly trained with the Navy, then resumed study at Canning College before earning a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Western Australia, working as a commercial milkman to support his studies. Before politics he worked at trade unions, including as a workers' compensation officer for the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union from 2002 and as an industrial officer for the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union from 2007 to 2010. [source]

Sourced positions

A verified position is the member's own stated view or vote, supported by the listed sources. This page records public statements and conduct only — see methodology.

Abortion & reproductive policy verified

Voted YES (Ayes) on the third reading of the Abortion Legislation Reform Bill 2023 in the WA Legislative Council on 20 September 2023, supporting the bill's passage. The bill decriminalised abortion (removing it from the Criminal Code), removed mandatory counselling and the doctor-referral requirement, and raised the gestational limit for additional restrictions from 20 to 23 weeks. The third reading passed 25 Ayes to 6 Noes.

Voluntary assisted dying verified

Matthew Swinbourn voted FOR the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2019 in the WA Legislative Council. On the conscience (free) vote, the member is recorded in the Ayes at the bill's second reading on 23 October 2019 (passed 25-10) and at the third reading on 5 December 2019 (passed 24-11).

Native forest logging verified

As the WA minister handling the Conservation and Land Management Amendment Bill 2025 (which enshrined the ban on commercial native forest logging in law, June 2025), Swinbourn (ALP) championed the bill, saying it 'locks in that progress, ensuring our South West native forests are protected from large-scale harvesting' and calling it 'a landmark moment for WA Labor and a major step forward for protecting our native forests.'

Record last updated 2026-08-13.