• Liberal Party Senator for Victoria
• Shadow Minister for Defence (since 17 Feb 2026)
• Became a Senator on 9 March 2016 — unknown
• Email me whenever James Paterson speaks (no more than once per day)

• Voting record
• Numbers
• Register of Interests

Matters of Urgency: Middle East (3 Mar 2026)

“I rise to briefly put on the record again the coalition's position in relation to this issue. I understand the Greens have a principled and consistent position which is antiwar. Nonetheless, I thought a significant omission from Senator Shoebridge's five-minute speech was that he didn't even attempt to wrestle with the difficult choices required when making decisions about whether to go to...”

Questions without Notice: National Security (3 Mar 2026)

“(): Minister, section 14 of the Australian Passports Act states: (1) If a competent authority suspects on reasonable grounds that: (a) if an Australian travel document were issued to a person, the person would be likely to engage in conduct that: (i) might prejudice the security of Australia or a foreign country; …   …   … (b) the person should...”

Questions without Notice: National Security (3 Mar 2026)

“On direct relevance, President, I have asked the minister how many passports were refused or cancelled under the section of the act.”

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Please note that numbers do not measure quality. Also, Senators may do other things not currently covered by this site. (More about this)

• Has spoken in 29 debates in the last year — well below average amongst Senators.
• People have made 0 comments on this Senator's speeches — average amongst Senators.
• 11 people are tracking whenever this Senator speaks — email me whenever James Paterson speaks.
• Has used three-word alliterative phrases (e.g. "she sells seashells") 270 times in debates — average amongst Senators. (Why is this here?)

James Paterson's latest interest statementLast updated: 20 Nov 2025