Bruce Billson

Bruce Frederick Billson (born 26 January 1966) is a former politician who was a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives representing the Division of Dunkley in Victoria from 1996 to 2016. Billson served as the Minister for Small Business from September 2013 to September 2015.

He was born in Albury, New South Wales, and moved to Seaford as a child. He was educated at Monterey High School in Frankston North and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. He was Manager of Corporate Development, for the Shire of Hastings, a Ministerial Adviser to the Victorian Minister for Natural Resources, and policy adviser to the Shadow Minister for the Environment, Senator Rod Kemp, before entering politics.

Ministerial roles

Billson was appointed the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs in 2004. In 2005, he was also appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, and, in 2006, he was promoted to Minister for Veterans' Affairs – a position he retained until the defeat of the Howard government in the 2007 federal election.

In 2007, he was appointed Shadow Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy. In 2009, he was then appointed the Shadow Minister for Sustainable Development and Cities. and after the 2010 election he was appointed Shadow Minister for Small Business, Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs.

Following the 2013 election he was sworn into the cabinet as the Minister for Small Business.

Retirement from politics

Following the leadership spill that saw Malcolm Turnbull become Prime Minister, Billson was dropped from the new Ministry upon the ascension of the Turnbull Government. On 24 November 2015, he announced he would retire from politics at the 2016 federal election.

He is currently serving as the executive chairman of the Franchise Council of Australia.

He is married to Kate and has four children: Alexander, Zoe, Madeline and Isabella.