DR JOHN MCVEIGH

GROOM MP John McVeigh has enjoyed a meteoric rise through the political ranks in just 10 years.

First elected to public office as a Toowoomba councillor in 2008, Dr McVeigh was sworn in less than a decade later as Minister for Regional Development, Territories and Local Government in 2017.

His path to the Federal Cabinet followed a four-year term as Member for Toowoomba South from 2012 to 2016 when he served as State Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

Resigning and nominating for Groom after former member Ian Macfarlane resigned from politics, Dr McVeigh was elected to Federal Parliament in July 2016, with a 65 per cent majority but a 1.16 per cent swing against the party.

Dr McVeigh’s conscience vote on the same-sex marriage debate went against the majority vote in Groom when he supported changing the legislation.

The next month he was moved from the backbench and is now the Minister for Regional Development, Territories and Local Government.

Against a turbulent Federal Government threatened by citizenship scandals and the spectacular downfall of former Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, Dr McVeigh has chartered a somewhat smoother path through his first term in the Lower House.

But it hasn’t been without its controversies, most notably of which is potentially yet to emerge with rumblings his progressive conscience vote on gay marriage has divided his constituent base across the sprawling electorate.

He lives in Toowoomba with his wife Anita and has six children. Born in 1965, he is the son of former federal politician Tom McVeigh.