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If Andrew Charlton needed a baptism of fire to prepare him for politics, it came when the former chief economic adviser to Kevin Rudd was parachuted in as Labor’s candidate for the federal seat of Parramatta.
Headlines from News Corp papers bellowed, “Blow-in from Bellevue Hill”, referring to the fact that Charlton – an economist, Rhodes scholar and businessman who founded analytics firm AlphaBeta – lived at the time with his young family in the well-heeled eastern suburbs of Sydney.
Ultimately, it mattered little to the voters of Parramatta when they went to the polls in 2022.
Charlton won the seat and extended Labor’s previous 3.5 per cent margin in an electorate the Liberal Party targeted relentlessly throughout the federal campaign. He did not see it as a blessing at the time but the onslaught prepared Charlton for public life.
“I am not sure that I would have said this at the time but I genuinely think, in hindsight, having that immediate demand to explain to the people, ‘what are you here for, what are your values and what are you going to do’, was a really good experience,” Charlton says.
Fast-forward four years and Charlton has the role of assistant minister of science, technology and the digital economy and is Anthony Albanese’s cabinet secretary.
He has also been named the 2026 emerging leader of the year in the McKinnon Prize for Political Leadership, recognised for shaping Australia’s response to artificial intelligence “when the stakes for the country could not be higher”.
In NSW, fellow Labor MP Premier Chris Minns has been honoured with the state prize “for the calm authority he demonstrated following the Bondi terror attack”.
Victorian Senator James Patterson was awarded the McKinnon Prize for political leader of the year.
The McKinnon Prize honours Australian politicians who “show courage, vision and a real commitment to the national interest”. The selection panel said Charlton “brought genuine intellectual weight” to the debate at a time when governments around the world are struggling to respond to the economic and strategic implications of AI.
“His work has consistently focused on the difficult questions shaping Australia’s future: productivity, economic sovereignty, jobs, capability and national security,” the panel said.
“Dr Charlton could have stayed in the private sector and had a highly successful career. He chose public service instead, and Australia benefits from that decision.” (Charlton sold AlphaBeta to Accenture in 2020.)
Charlton said Australia had the chance to learn vital lessons from other countries that had not been prepared for the challenges that come from the AI boom.
“It is important that we set the conditions from the get-go, and whether it’s data centres or broader AI, we need to make sure that those conditions are in place such that they benefit Australians and we mitigate the harms,” Charlton says.
While Minns declined to be interviewed about receiving the McKinnon Prize, NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip praised the premier.
“In the face of the worst terrorist attack in our nation’s history, he provided the national leadership that the country needed,” Ossip told the Herald.
“There is no playbook for how to respond to a tragedy of that scale, nor for how to guide a grieving community and a shocked country through its aftermath.”
The McKinnon selection panel highlighted Minns’ response to antisemitism as a defining feature of his leadership.
“At a time when many political leaders internationally had retreated into ambiguity or cautious language, the panel said premier Minns was prepared to draw clear moral lines and defend social cohesion directly,” the McKinnon Foundation said in a statement.
“Premier Minns did not hedge, soften or equivocate. He called antisemitism out directly and consistently, and understood that political leadership sometimes requires clarity before consensus.”
Ossip said the premier did not “simply offer words of condolence from a distance”.
“He took responsibility, he was present in the most difficult moments and he engaged with the community in a way that was deeply human, sincere and reassuring,” Ossip said.
The McKinnon Prize recognises leadership of substance, courage and integrity, Ossip said. “Premier Minns’ conduct in the aftermath of the Bondi Beach terrorist attack was a powerful example of precisely that.”
This article is part of a content partnership between the Herald, The Age and McKinnon, an independent, non-partisan, not-for-profit organisation that focuses on the importance of democracy and good government.
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