The Ages Of The Shorten ALP Shadow Ministry

This is a breakdown of the Shorten ALP Shadow Ministry based on age.

For comparative purposes, see the statistics on The Ages of The Turnbull Government Ministers.

Whereas Turnbull is currently the only member of the executive over the age of 60, the ALP has 8 such members, including 2 in the Shadow Cabinet: Jenny Macklin and Senator Kim Carr. In most respects, however, the age breakdown is fairly similar between the ALP and the Coalition.

The oldest member of the Shorten team is Warren Snowdon, 66, who first entered Parliament in 1987. The youngest is Senator Sam Dastyari, 32, who filled a casual vacancy in 2013.

The average age of the Shorten team is 50.2, compared to 48.7 for the government. Turnbull’s Cabinet has an average age of 49.4, compared to Shorten’s 50.0.

Shorten ALP Opposition – Ages of Shadow Ministers – Summary
Group	60-69	50-59	40-49	30-39	Total	Average Age
CABINET	2	7	11	1	21	50.0
OUTER MINISTRY	2	2	3	2	9	48.4
PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARIES	4	6	4	2	16	51.4
TOTALS	8	15	18	5	46	50.2

Individual members of the Shorten shadow ministry are shown below.

Whilst Gary Gray and Alannah MacTiernan remain in the shadow ministry, both will be retiring at this year’s election.

Senator Lisa Singh has been relegated on the ALP’s Tasmanian Senate ticket and will find it difficult to be re-elected.

Note: For previous ministerial experience, I have not counted parliamentary secretary positions. Three members have had ministerial experience at the state or territory level and this is indicated. Senator Katy Gallagher is a former Chief Minister of the ACT.

Ages of the ALP Shadow Ministry – Individual
No.	Name	Date of Birth	Age (at April 10, 2016)	Entered Parliament	Ministerial Experience
SHADOW CABINET (21)
1.	Jenny Macklin	29-12-53	62	1996	2007-13
2.	Sen. Kim Carr	02-07-55	60	1993	2011-13
3.	Mark Dreyfus	03-10-56	59	2007	2013
4.	Gary Gray	30-04-58	57	2007	2010-13
5.	Joel Fitzgibbon	16-01-62	54	1996	2007-09, 2013
6.	Brendan O’Connor	02-03-62	54	2001	2007-13
7.	Shayne Neumann	26-08-61	54	2007	–
8.	Anthony Albanese	02-03-63	53	1996	2007-13
9.	Sen. Stephen Conroy	18-07-63	53	1996	2007-13
10.	Catherine King	02-06-66	49	2001	2013
11.	Bill Shorten	12-05-67	48	2007	2010-13
12.	Richard Marles	13-07-68	48	2007	2013
13.	Sen. Penny Wong	05-11-68	47	2002	2007-13
14.	Sen. Katy Gallagher	18-03-70	46	2015 ACT 2001-14	ACT 2006-14 CM 2001-14
15.	Tony Burke	04-11-69	46	2004	2007-13
16.	Tanya Plibersek	02-12-69	46	1998	2007-13
17.	Mark Butler	08-07-70	45	2007	2010-13
18.	Jason Clare	22-03-72	44	2007	2010-13
19.	Michelle Rowland	16-11-71	44	2010	–
20.	Chris Bowen	17-01-73	43	2004	2007-13
21.	Kate Ellis	22-09-77	38	2004	2007-13
SHADOW OUTER MINISTRY (9)
1.	Sen. Doug Cameron	27-01-51	65	2008	–
2.	Sen. Claire Moore	19-02-56	60	2002	–
3.	Sharon Bird	15-11-62	53	2004	2013
4.	Stephen Jones	29-06-65	50	2010	–
5.	David Feeney	05-03-70	46	2008	–
6.	Julie Collins	03-07-71	44	2007	2011-13
7.	Andrew Leigh	03-08-72	43	2010	–
8.	Jim Chalmers	02-03-78	38	2013	–
9.	Amanda Rishworth	10-07-78	37	2007	–
SHADOW PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARIES (16)
1.	Warren Snowdon	30-03-50	66	1987-96 1998	2007-13
2.	Tony Zappia	13-06-52	63	2007	–
3.	Alannah MacTiernan	10-03-53	63	WA 1993-2010 2013	WA 2001-08
4.	Michael Danby	16-02-55	61	1998	–
5.	Sen. Helen Polley	09-02-57	59	2005	–
6.	Julie Owens	17-10-58	57	2004	–
7.	Sen. Jacinta Collins	04-09-62	53	1995-2005 2008	2013
8.	Sen. Carol Brown	19-07-63	52	2005	–
9.	Gai Brodtmann	24-11-63	52	2010	–
10.	Graham Perrett	05-01-66	50	2007	–
11.	Ed Husic	03-02-70	46	2010	–
12.	Sen. Lisa Singh	20-02-72	44	TAS 2006-10 2011	TAS 2008-10
13.	Nick Champion	27-02-72	44	2007	–
14.	Matt Thistlethwaite	06-09-72	43	2011	–
15.	Terri Butler	28-11-77	38	2014	–
16.	Sen. Sam Dastyari	28-07-83	32	2013	–