Education
University of Melbourne.
politician Member of the Australian House of Representatives
University of Melbourne.
On 5 December 2009, at the 2009 Higgins by-election, O'Dwyer was elected to succeed former Treasurer Peter Costello. She served as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer in the Abbott Government from December 2014. In September 2015 she was promoted to cabinet as for Small Business and Assistant Treasurer in the Turnbull Government.
After working as a solicitor for Freehills in Melbourne, O'Dwyer spent four years as an advisor to Peter Costello, then the member for the federal division of Higgins and the Federal Treasurer, later becoming an executive at the National Australia Bank. Costello decided in 2009 not to seek another term of office at the next federal election. On 17 September 2009, O'Dwyer was pre-selected to stand as the Liberal Party candidate for Higgins at the next election.
Peter Costello then announced his resignation from Parliament in October 2009. He stated that he chose to retire ahead of the next federal election as a contribution to renewal of the Liberal Party and that O'Dwyer would contribute to this process. A by-election was held on 5 December 2009.
O'Dwyer was considered a "shoo-in", especially since the Labor Party did not contest the seat. O'Dwyer had been serving as parliamentary secretary to the Treasurer, until she voted in favour of Malcolm Turnbull in a leadership spill of the Liberal Party held in September 2015. Turnbull was successful and was sworn in as Prime on 15 September 2015.
This was followed by a radical overhaul of the cabinet, in which O'Dwyer was appointed to cabinet as for Small Business and Assistant Treasurer. Whilst many commentators expected O'Dwyer to be promoted into the outer ministry, her entrance into cabinet came as a surprise to many.