About the Minister

James grew up on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, where his family had been growing sugar cane for many generations around Bli Bli and Yandina.

After finishing school, James completed a Bachelor of Commerce/Laws at Griffith University and went on to complete a Master of Laws at Queensland University of Technology.

In 1996 he started work as a Solicitor at Bennett Carroll and Gibbons in Brisbane, before taking on the role as Investigating Officer for the Queensland Parliamentary Ombudsman.

In 2001 James took a new path, and started work as a Ministerial Advisor for the South Australian Government. With politics in his blood, James found his niche and never looked back.

Since then, James has worked on political campaigns around Australia and overseas. He was instrumental in the campaign to elect Boris Johnson the Mayor of London and he was the National Presidential Campaign Director for the Maldivian Democratic Party in 2008.

In 2010 James returned to Queensland as the State Campaign Director for the Liberal National Party (LNP). In 2012, the Queensland LNP won the state election in a landslide.

In 2013 James put himself forward as a candidate for the Australian Senate. In September of that year he was elected as a Liberal National Party Senator for Queensland. He took up the position in July 2014 and has based his office in Nambour, on the Sunshine Coast.

In 2015 Senator McGrath was appointed the Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister in the Turnbull Ministry and in 2016 he was appointed the Assistant Minister for Regulatory Reform.

He also briefly served as the Assistant Minister to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection.

When he is not in Canberra or travelling around Queensland, James spends as much time as possible at his home in Warwick on the Southern Downs region of Queensland.