Peter Neil Slipper (born 14 February 1950) is an Australian politician who has served as the 27th Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives from 24 November 2011, after serving as Deputy Speaker following the 2010 election. Previously he had served as a Parliamentary Secretary, Whip and Committee Chairman in the Howard government. In April 2012 he stepped aside as Speaker while charges of fraud and sexual harassment were investigated.

Slipper is an independent member of the Australian House of Representatives, representing the Division of Fisher, Queensland, a seat which he has held since 1993. He previously represented the same division for the Nationals from 1984 to 1987. Slipper was affiliated with the Liberal Party's Queensland division from 1993 until its merger with the Nationals' Queensland division to form the Liberal National Party of Queensland in 2008, continuing to sit in the federal Liberal Party room until he became an independent upon his election as Speaker in 2011.

Sophie Mirabella (née Panopoulos) (born 27 October 1968) is an Australian federal politician. She has been a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives since 2001, representing the Division of Indi, Victoria. Mirabella is presently the Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research.

She was born in Melbourne, Victoria, educated at St Catherine's School, Toorak and was a solicitor and articled clerk from 1995 to 1997 at Riordans. From 1998 until her election to Parliament, she worked as a barrister.

In 1995, she began a live-in relationship with a man forty years her senior, then dean of law at Melbourne University, Colin Howard. The relationship ended in 2001, however they remained close until his death in 2011. Her relationship with Howard was later the subject of a bitter dispute between Mirabella and Howard's adult children.

In June 2006 she married Lieutenant-Colonel Greg Mirabella, a former Army Reserve Officer still working in the defence industry.

She has been a member of the Liberal Party since 1987. She was president of the Melbourne University Liberal Club, vice-president of the Australian Liberal Students Federation, a delegate to the Liberal Party State Council of Victoria and is also a member of numerous Policy Assembly Committees. She became well known during the debate on Australia becoming a republic as a prominent advocate for retaining the constitutional monarchy, and was an elected member of the 1998 Constitutional Convention.

Julia Eileen Gillard (born 29 September 1961) is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Australia, in office since 24 June 2010.

Gillard was born in Barry, Wales and migrated with her family to Adelaide, Australia in 1966, attending Mitcham Demonstration School and Unley High School. In 1982 Gillard moved to Melbourne. She graduated from the University of Melbourne with Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees in 1986. In 1987, Gillard joined the law firm Slater & Gordon working in industrial law, before entering politics.

Gillard was elected at the 1998 federal election to the House of Representatives seat of Lalor, Victoria, for the Australian Labor Party. Following the 2001 federal election, Gillard was elected to the shadow cabinet with the portfolios of Population and Immigration. The Reconciliation and Indigenous Affairs and the Health portfolios were added in 2003. In December 2006, Kevin Rudd was elected Labor leader and Leader of the Opposition, with Gillard as deputy leader.

Robert Carl Katter (born 22 May 1945) is an Australian federal politician, a member of the Australian House of Representatives since March 1993 for the Division of Kennedy, and the leader of Katter's Australian Party. He began his parliamentary career as a member of the National Party of Australia, but left the party in 2001 and continues to hold the seat as an independent. On 3 June 2011 Katter applied for registration of Katter's Australian Party with the Australian Electoral Commission. Katter will sit as the only federal parliamentary member of his new party when it is formally registered. Prior to his election to federal politics, Katter was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland, from 1974 to 1992, representing the seat of Flinders, Queensland for the National Party. Katter was a Minister in the Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen-led National Party government, holding various portfolios between 1983 and 1989.

Katter was born in Cloncurry, Queensland, the son of Bob Katter, Sr., who was the member for Kennedy from 1966 to 1990. Katter is a Maronite Catholic of Lebanese and Irish descent and is said to be a distant relative of the world renowned poet Khalil Gibran. He was an investor in cattle and mining interests before entering politics via the Queensland state parliament in 1974.

Anthony John "Tony" Abbott (born 4 November 1957) is the Leader of the Opposition in the Australian House of Representatives and federal leader of the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott has represented the seat of Warringah since the 1994 by-election.

Prior to entering the Australian Parliament, Abbott studied for a Bachelor of Economics and a Bachelor of Laws at Sydney University and for a Master of Arts as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University. He later trained as a seminarian and worked as a journalist, business manager, political advisor and Executive Director of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy. Abbott has also been an author, ultramarathon runner and member of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service.

Abbott served in the Howard Government as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs from 1996-1998 and Minister for Employment Services from 1998-2001. He joined the Howard Cabinet in 2001 as Minister for Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business. Following the 2001 Election, he took on the additional roles of Leader of the House of Representatives and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service. In 2003 he became Minister for Health and Ageing , retaining this position and his role as Leader of the House until the defeat of the Howard government at the 2007 federal election.