Lawrence Springborg

Lawrence Springborg is Minister for Health and your CanDo Member for Southern Downs.

Lawrence Springborg was first elected to State Parliament as the Member for Carnarvon in 1989. Subsequent electoral redistributions saw him elected as the Member for Warwick and then as the Member for Southern Downs, the seat he represents today.

The Springborg family first migrated to Australia from Denmark in the mid 1800s. Born in 1968, Lawrence was brought up on a small mixed-farming property close to the Queensland-New South Wales border where Lawrence, Linda and their four children live today. There he developed a strong interest in reading, political history and astronomy, an interest that drove him to build his own observatory. As his local high-school only offered courses as far as grade ten, Lawrence returned home to work and manage the family property.

At just twenty-one, Lawrence Springborg became the youngest person ever elected to the Queensland Parliament. His election in 1989 demonstrated the non-Labor side of politics was serious about empowering young people to have a direct say on how Queensland should grow and prosper.

At 29, Lawrence became Queensland's youngest ever member of Cabinet when he was sworn-in as Minister for Natural Resources in 1998 by then Premier Rob Borbidge. The following year, after the Coalition lost government, Lawrence was elected Deputy Leader of the Opposition and in February 2003 his parliamentary colleagues elected him as Leader of the Opposition. Aged 34, he became the youngest political leader in Queensland since 'Red' Ted Theodore became Premier in 1919. Lawrence resigned as the Leader of The Nationals, Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Queensland Coalition following the 2006 State Election. However, he was re-elected to the positions on 21 January 2008.

Lawrence was also instrumental in the creation of the Liberal National Party.

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