Senator James Paterson is a Liberal Senator for Victoria, Shadow Minister for Home Affairs, Shadow Minister for Cyber Security and Shadow Cabinet Secretary. First elected in March 2016 at age 28, Senator Paterson is the youngest Liberal ever elected to the Senate. 

During his time in the Senate, he has fought for Australia’s prosperity, freedom, democracy and sovereignty. 

He was previously Chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. He also chaired the Senate Select Committee on Foreign Interference Through Social Media, the Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services, and the Senate Finance and Public Administration Committee. 

Senator Paterson is the Australian co-chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China; patron of Liberal Friends of Israel; and co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of the Baltics. 

Prior to entering the Senate, James was Deputy Executive Director of free market think tank, the Institute of Public Affairs. He previously worked for the Victorian Employers’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VECCI), and in the office of Senator the Hon. Mitch Fifield. 

He has a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne. He completed the Senior Executives in National and International Security program at Harvard’s Kennedy School, is a graduate of the McKinnon Institute Advanced Political Leadership program, was the 2023 SR Nathan Exchange Fellow to Singapore and was a 2023 Asia Fellow of the International Strategy Forum. He is a member of the Advisory Council of the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue University. 

James is a member of the Richmond Football Club and lives in Melbourne with his wife Lydia and their two children.