Sukkar was born in the eastern Melbourne suburb of Ringwood, to a father who was born in Lebanon. Sukkar attended primary school at Sacred Heart in Croydon and then secondary school at Aquinas College in Ringwood. He completed a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce at Deakin University in 2004 and Master of Laws at the University of Melbourne in 2010. In 2005 Sukkar worked as a senior consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers where he specialised in taxation. From 2006 he spent seven years working as a tax lawyer with the firm Blake Dawson Waldron where he was a senior associate. In 2008 Sukkar suffered a cardiac arrest while playing basketball, and was treated by a nurse and anaesthetist who were at the game and an off-duty paramedic who was nearby. Sukkar married Anna Duthie in 2010.
Political career
In 2012, Sukkar was endorsed as the Liberal Party candidate for the marginal seat of Deakin. He won the seat at the 2013 electionwith a swing to the Liberal Party of 3.8 points, succeeding Labor MP Mike Symon. At the 2016 federal election, Sukkar increased his margin by 2.5 points, the Liberal Party's largest swing in Victoria. In his maiden speech, Sukkar declared "strength in our local community is not achieved through government mandate, regulation or handouts, but from the principles of looking after your neighbour and doing unto others as you would have them do unto you." In 2014 Sukkar launched the Deakin 200 Club with other conservative Liberal MPs to fundraise for Deakin and other marginal conservative seats. The Age reported that the club obscured its donors; "Despite its fundraising activities, the club has never lodged a disclosure as a so-called "associated entity" of a political party, unlike similar clubs run by candidates and their supporters." On 24 January 2017, Prime MinisterMalcolm Turnbull appointed Sukkar to the ministry as Assistant Minister to the Treasurer. Sukkar has previously served on a number of parliamentary committees, including being the Chairman of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. Prime Minister Turnbull gave Sukkar responsibility for addressing housing affordability. When asked about housing affordability on 20 February 2017, Sukkar told Sky News that "we're also enabling young people to get highly paid jobs which is the first step to buying a house". Labor MP Tim Watts said in response that the remarks showed the Coalition was "back to where Joe Hockey started on housing affordability". In June 2017 Sukkar, Greg Hunt, and Alan Tudge faced the possibility of being prosecuted for contempt of court after they made public statements criticising the sentencing decisions of two senior judges while the government was awaiting their ruling on a related appeal. They avoided prosecution by, eventually, making an unconditional apology to the Victorian Court of Appeal. Conviction could have resulted in their expulsion from parliament under Constitution s 44 and as a result, the government losing its majority in the House of Representatives. Sukkar supported Minister for Home AffairsPeter Dutton during the Liberal leadership spill in August 2018, and had a pivotal role in removing then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. At the May 2019 federal election Sukkar was re-elected for a third term, although with a reduced margin of 4.8%, despite support in his electorate falling to 47% of the two-party-preferred vote in an opinion poll released shortly after the leadership spill. Sukkar was not returned to the ministry after Scott Morrison succeeded Malcolm Turnbull, but returned as Assistant Treasurer and as Minister for Housing after the election.
Political views
In his maiden speech, Sukkar categorised himself as an "economic liberal" and with "strong conservative foundations". He credited his Catholic faith as being one of the two most significant influences in his life, as well as his family. In 2013 he expressed support for the school chaplaincy program at an Australian Christian Lobby forum. Sukkar opposes same-sex marriage. He stated that he would abide by the outcome of the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey and believes all politicians should be held to it. Despite this, after his electorate voted 66% in favour of same sex marriage, Sukkar abstained from the vote, saying that he could not support the bill.
