Background
He was born in Albury, New South Wales, and moved to Seaford (in what is now the Division of Dunkley) as a child.
He was born in Albury, New South Wales, and moved to Seaford (in what is now the Division of Dunkley) as a child.
He was educated at Monterey High School in Frankston North and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.
Billson served as the Minister for Small Business from September 2013 to September 2015. He was Manager of Corporate Development, for the Shire of Hastings, a Ministerial Adviser to the Victorian Minister for Natural Resources, and policy adviser to the Shadow Minister for the Environment, Senator Rod Kemp, before entering politics. Ministerial roles
Billson was appointed the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs in 2004.
In 2005, he was also appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, and, in 2006, he was promoted to Minister for Veterans" Affairs – a position he retained until the defeat of the Howard government in the 2007 federal election.
In 2007, he was appointed Shadow Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy. In 2009, he was then appointed the Shadow Minister for Sustainable Development and Cities. and after the 2010 election he was appointed Shadow Minister for Small Business, Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs.
Following the 2013 election he was sworn in to the cabinet as the Minister for Small Business. Retirement from politics
Following the leadership spill that saw Malcolm Turnbull become Prime Minister, Billson was dropped from the new Ministry upon the ascension of the Turnbull Government.
On 24 November 2015, he announced he would retire from politics at the next election, to be held on or before 14 January 2017.
He is a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives representing the Division of Dunkley in Victoria since 1996.