Brett Raguse

Brett Raguse
Member of the Australian Parliament for Forde
In office 24 November 2007 – 21 August 2010
Preceded by	Kay Elson
Succeeded by	Bert van Manen
Personal details
Born	(1960-03-24) 24 March 1960 Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Political party	Australian Labor Party
Alma mater	Griffith University
Occupation	Teacher, political advisor

Brett Blair Raguse (born 24 March 1960) is a former Australian politician. He was a member of the House of Representatives from 2007 to 2010, representing the Division of Forde for the Australian Labor Party (ALP).

Early life

Raguse was born in Brisbane, Queensland. His unwed 17-year-old mother Denise gave him up for adoption at birth. Prior to entering politics he worked as a compositor, schoolteacher and director of a TAFE college.

Politics

Raguse gained Labor pre-selection to contest the normally safe Liberal seat of Forde at the 2007 federal election. A position previously held by retiring Liberal Kay Elson. He won an unexpected 14% swing on election day, easily defeating new Liberal candidate Wendy Creighton in what was generally viewed as one of the main upset results of the election. He lost his seat in the 2010 federal election to the LNP candidate Bert van Manen.

In March 2015, Raguse confirmed he would be a candidate for mayor of Logan City in the Queensland local government elections set for 19 March 2016.