Mr Nick McGowan

Nick McGowan is a unique politician whose childhood experiences of dislocation, hardship and family breakdown, rather than driving him towards collectivism, cemented his belief in individual freedoms, personal responsibility and institutional transparency and accountability.

Some of Nick’s earliest memories are of Ballarat, a place Nick loves to this day because that’s where his mother and father established and ran their fitness centre named ‘Inshape’. Although only young, a family breakdown saw Nick, his mother and brother return to Melbourne’s north-eastern suburbs.

A proud government-school boy, Nick grew up in the neighbourhoods of Ivanhoe and Eltham with his mother and brother, in a single-parent household. For a time, Nick and his mother lived in Werribee, where he attended Galvin Park Secondary College. From an early age, Nick started contributing towards the household income by taking on small jobs in his neighbourhood

Nick’s determination to finding solutions to daily challenges soon extended to his local community, and at the age of 18, Nick became one of Victoria’s youngest local government candidates running for election in Eltham Shire. As a university student, he worked for several Members of Parliament before becoming a young adviser in Premier Jeff Kennett’s office.

Nick’s passion for giving voice to the voiceless took him around the world. He worked for the Disability Rights Commission and National Consumer Council in the UK and volunteered with Australian Volunteers International in Thailand, before joining the United Nations in 2001.

Among his roles with the United Nations Nick undertook humanitarian, public affairs and policy work, predominately in the war-torn countries of the Republic of Congo, Burundi and Liberia in Africa, and Afghanistan in Asia.

In his last field assignment with the United Nations Nick served as a civilian peacekeeper working directly for the Secretary General’s Special Representative in Burundi. In 2016, having returned to Australia, Nick was appointed by the Minister for Immigration to the Migration Review Tribunal, and Refugee Review Tribunal, where he applied his knowledge and understanding of migration, humanitarian affairs, protection, human rights and international law where he remained, having been reappointed, for eight years before standing for election and being elected to the Parliament of Victoria on 26 November 2022 fulfilling a life-long ambition to become a servant of the people in a Parliament of Australia.

Nick has been a member of the Liberal Party since 31 July 1991. He believes in freedom of thought, worship and choice; in families fostering values and respect; and in democracy that champions individual responsibility and reward for effort.