Belgian-born law graduate becomes Australian cabinet minister

Australia’s new minister for finance, Mathias Cormann, was actually born in Belgium and only learnt English in his twenties, several Belgian media were quick to report. Cormann, 42, was born and raised in Eupen and studied at KU Leuven, only learning English as an exchange student at the University of East Anglia. After visiting Perth in 1994, he decided to relocate Australia, where he joined the Liberal Party.  A law graduate, he held several ministerial posts and became senator for Western Australia in 2007. In 2010 he was appointed shadow assistant treasurer and shadow minister for financial services. ABC political writer Annabel Crabb describes him as “indisputably the happiest chap in the party room at this precise moment”, while noticing that newly appointed prime minister Tony Abbott’s cabinet is “conspicuously lacking in women”, with foreign minister Julie Bishop the sole female in the 19-strong team.