Christian is 39 years of age and was born and bred in Perth. He is one of the youngest members of WA Parliament. 

He was elected the Member for Murdoch in a by-election on 23 February 2008. After being sworn in to Parliament he was immediately appointed to the front bench as Shadow Attorney General.

In the 2008 State Election, Christian was elected as Member for Bateman and was appointed Attorney General and Minister for Corrective Services. 

Photo Above: Christian, Jennifer and their dog Klein   

Christian completed his secondary schooling at Hale School and went on to study at the University of Western Australia where he graduated with a Bachelor or Economics, a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours in Political Science and a Graduate Law Degree.

Since leaving UWA Christian has worked predominantly as a lawyer in both public and private practice. Christian commenced his legal career working for several years as a Commercial Litigator at the national law firm Clayton Utz, this work saw him involved as a junior lawyer in major pieces of litigation, as well as acting as Trial Counsel in a number of civil trials and summary prosecutions on behalf of State Government Offices, Local Government Departments and Australian Universities. Later, after one year working as a Legal Advisor to the Federal Justice Minister in 2001, Christian joined the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for Western Australia, was promoted to the position of Senior State Prosecutor and was working in that capacity prior to being elected in February 2008. Whilst at the DPP Christian successfully prosecuted a range of criminal trials including drug conspiracies, serious assaults, frauds and armed robberies in the Supreme and District Courts, as well as undertaking a range of appellate work. Prior to his election Christian was also a full time Senior Lecturer at the Law School of the University of Western Australia teaching in criminal law, evidence and forensic advocacy. He is still engaged by the Law School to lecture on a periodic basis to first year students in criminal law.

In between working for Clayton Utz and the DPP Christian was awarded a British Chevening Scholarship by the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office to study at the prestigious London School of Economics, where he topped his class in a Masters Degree in Political Theory.

Given his working background, Christian is particularly interested in the issue of law and order and in developing sound public policy designed to improve the community’s sense of safety and quiet enjoyment of their own neighbourhoods, uninterrupted by criminal or offensive behaviour. Since being in Parliament Christian has devoted a great deal of time and effort to scrutinise the Government’s performance in this area which is critical to the people in his electorate.

Christian recently married Jennifer and they live with their dog and cat in Bateman in the geographical centre of the electorate.

Finally, Christian is a very keen amateur runner. So if you see a less than perfectly fit youngish bloke running around the electorate in a bright blue t-shirt with “I'm a Porter Supporter” written on it there is every chance that it is your local Member of Parliament.

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