Marise Payne has served as Australia’s Foreign Minister since August 2018 and Minister for Women since May 2019. Prior to this, she served as Defence Minister – the first woman to hold this federal Cabinet portfolio – for three years from September 2015, during which she oversaw major developments including the delivery of a Defence White Paper and the creation of a $200 billion defence materiel program. Following the election of the Coalition government in September 2013, Marise served as Minister for Human Services for two years.