Meet Keith

Keith Wolahan was elected as the Federal Member for Menzies in 2022. He delivered his first speech to parliament on 5 September 2022. You can view it here.

He was born in Dublin in 1977 and migrated with his family to Melbourne in 1988.

In 1993 his family proudly became Australian citizens and soon after, Keith was elected school captain of Ringwood Secondary College. His part-time job was at Eastland McDonald’s.

Keith was educated at the University of Melbourne (Politics and Economics) and Monash University (Law with Honours), where he was awarded the Sir Charles Lowe Prize for Best Advocate. He later completed a Masters of International Relations at the University of Cambridge.

After graduating in 2005, Keith worked as a lawyer with national commercial firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques, before becoming a barrister in 2010. At the Bar he specialised in commercial and consumer trials.

Keith also served in the Australian Army, completing part-time officer training at Duntroon, reaching the rank of Captain. He qualified as a commando, serving several periods of full-time service within Special Operations Command, including one tour of Timor-Leste (2007) and three combat tours in Afghanistan (2008, 2009/10, 2014).

In the 2011 Australia Day Honours, he was decorated with a Commendation for Distinguished Service for performance of duty in action as a platoon commander. He discusses his military service in more detail in a podcast here.

Together with his wife Sarah, they are raising their two children and trying to train a dog called Jet.