Russell Evan Broadbent (born 25 December 1950) is an Australian politician who was a member of the House of Representatives. He is one of the longest-serving recent members of parliament, having served for a total of over 25 years, from 1990 to 1993, from 1996 to 1998, and from 2004 to 2025. He had represented the divisions of Corinella, McMillan, and most recently, Monash.
In November 2023, Broadbent stood down from the Liberal Party and its parliamentary party room and joined the crossbench in response to losing his party endorsement for Monash ahead of the 2025 federal election. He stood for re-election in the 2025 election as an independent, but failed to win the seat.[1]
Early life
Broadbent was born on 25 December 1950 in Koo Wee Rup, Victoria.[2] He was a company director and self-employed retailer before entering politics.[3] In the 1970s he was a "jumpsuit-wearing singer of show band The Trutones, which reportedly once opened for John Farnham".[4]
Broadbent served on the Pakenham Shire Council from 1981 to 1987, including as shire president from 1984 to 1985. He also served as a commissioner of the Dandenong Valley Authority from 1984 to 1987 and as chairman of the Western Port Development Council from 1985 to 1990.[2]
Broadbent served on the speaker's panel from 2013 to 2019. He served on a wide range of parliamentary committees, including as chair of the standing committees on privileges and members' interests (2013–2019) and treaties (2018–present), and of the select committee into intergenerational welfare dependence (2018–2019).[2] In May 2017, Broadbent announced he would resign from the speaker's panel and his committee chairmanship to protest against the Turnbull government's inaction on aged care. He stated that ministers Greg Hunt and Ken Wyatt had misled him over the construction of a facility at Bunyip, within his electorate.[6]
During 2004, Fairfax media reported Broadbent lobbied then Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone to intervene to grant suspected Mafia figure Francesco Madafferi an Australian visa.[7]
Madafferi was later convicted of trafficking a controlled drug in a commercial quantity and sentenced to 10-years jail, he is currently appealing this decision due to allegations his lawyer was a police informant.Madafferi v The King [2024] VSCA 229 (8 October 2024)
Broadbent has said that global warming is "an issue for Australia and an issue for the world."[12] He is also an advocate for bike paths as a benefit to community health, transport and the environment.[12] He has expressed interest in improving funding for Landcare Australia.[13]
Broadbent took a personal decision not to be vaccinated against COVID-19, with any of the available vaccines, in 2021, and stated that he neither encouraged nor discouraged constituents to get vaccinated.[20] His decision not to get vaccinated potentially rendered him unable to carry out his duties as an MP, due to a state mandate that all authorised workers in the state, including federal politicians, must be vaccinated.[21] Broadbent caught COVID in January 2022 and self-administered ivermectin, the use of which to treat COVID was widely promoted by anti-vaccination groups at the time.[22]
In February 2022, Broadbent made headlines after promoting ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19 in Parliament, claiming that he and his wife had taken it after testing positive to the virus.[22] He was one of a handful of Australian MPs known to have refused COVID-19 vaccination and is against COVID-19 vaccine mandates.[23]
In 2023, Broadbent voiced support for plans to remove tax breaks on superannuation balances over $3 million, which would add roughly $54 billion in tax revenue to government pockets. The removal of the tax cut has been suggested by social services groups to allow for more funding to be directed to Australians living in poverty.[25]
Broadbent stated that if the funds can be used wisely to help the Australian people he would support the policy despite Albanese stating that he would not tax superannuation before the next election.[25]
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