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Senator James Paterson
Senator James Paterson is a Liberal Senator for Victoria, Shadow Minister for Finance, Government Services and the Public Service. First elected in March 2016 at age 28, Senator Paterson is the youngest Liberal ever elected to the Senate.
He was previously Shadow Minister for Home Affairs and Cyber Security and Chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. He also chaired the Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services, and the Senate Finance and Public Administration Committee.
Prior to entering the Senate, James was Deputy Executive Director of free market think tank, the Institute of Public Affairs. He previously worked for the Victorian Employers’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VECCI), and in the office of Senator the Hon. Mitch Fifield.
He has a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne. He completed the Senior Executives in National and International Security program at Harvard’s Kennedy School, is a graduate of the McKinnon Institute Advanced Political Leadership program, was the 2023 SR Nathan Exchange Fellow to Singapore and was a 2023 Asia Fellow of the International Strategy Forum. Senator Paterson is the patron of Liberal Friends of Israel.