The Honourable Susan Close MP
Deputy Premier of South Australia
Incumbent
Assumed office 21 March 2022
Premier	Peter Malinauskas
Preceded by	Dan van Holst Pellekaan
Deputy Leader of the South Australian Labor Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 April 2018
Leader	Peter Malinauskas
Preceded by	John Rau
Minister for Climate, Environment and Water
Incumbent
Assumed office 21 March 2022
Preceded by	David Speirs (as Minister for Environment and Water)
Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science
Incumbent
Assumed office 24 March 2022
Preceded by	David Pisoni (as Minister for Innovation and Skills)
Minister for Defence and Space Industries
Incumbent
Assumed office 24 March 2022
Preceded by	New ministerial title
Deputy Leader of the Opposition of South Australia
In office 9 April 2018 – 21 March 2022
Leader	Peter Malinauskas
Preceded by	Vickie Chapman
Succeeded by	John Gardner
Minister for Education and Child Development
In office 3 February 2015 – 17 March 2018
Preceded by	Jennifer Rankine
Succeeded by	Steven Marshall (Acting) John Gardner (Education)
Member of the South Australian Parliament for Port Adelaide
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 February 2012
Preceded by	Kevin Foley
Personal details
Born	(1967-11-12) 12 November 1967 (age 57) Glenelg, South Australia, Australia
Political party	Australian Labor Party (SA)
Spouse	Declan
Children	2
Residence	Semaphore
Alma mater	Flinders University

Susan Elizabeth Close is an Australian politician, who is currently the deputy premier of South Australia since March 2022. She also holds the ministerial portfolios of Minister for Climate, Environment and Water (thus overseeing the Department for Environment and Water); Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science; and Minister for Defence and Space Industries.

Close is a member of the Australian Labor Party, serving as the deputy leader following the 2018 State election. She was first elected to the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Port Adelaide at the 2012 by-election, and held Cabinet portfolios in the Weatherill Ministry from 2014 to 2018.

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Close earned a PhD in political science at Flinders University where she had studied French, Italian and biology as well as politics in her BA. She graduated from Blackwood High School in 1984.

She was active in the environment movement during her university years, including roles with Greenpeace, the Wilderness Society SA and the SA Conservation Council. She participated in the establishment of both the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary^[1] and International Bird Sanctuary^[2] in the Port River estuary.

She worked as a public servant from 2003 to 2011, largely in the Department for Environment and Heritage. She previously was the head of student services at the University of Adelaide.

Close retained the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Port Adelaide for Labor at the 2012 by-election with a 42.3 per cent primary and a 52.9 per cent two-candidate-preferred vote.^[3][4] The by-election was held after the resignation of the previous Labor incumbent Kevin Foley.^[4] She was re-elected with two-party-preferred votes above 60 per cent at the 2014 election^[3] and the 2018 election.^[5][6]

Close has chaired two parliamentary committees: Sustainable Farming Practices, and Dogs and Cats as Companion Animals. She has also been a member of two other parliamentary committees: Port Augusta Power Stations, and Aboriginal Lands.^[1] She introduced a private members bill for equal marriage in 2013 but was unsuccessful.^[7]

Close entered the Weatherill Ministry in March 2014, initially as the Minister for Manufacturing, Innovation and Trade and the Minister for the Public Sector. After Martin Hamilton-Smith joined the cabinet she served as the Minister for Automotive Transformation and the Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation. She was the Minister for Education and Child Development from 2015 to 2018, and the Minister for Higher Education and Skills from 2016 to 2018.^[1]

After the 2018 election, Peter Malinauskas became Leader of the Opposition and succeeded Jay Weatherill who had resigned as Labor leader, with Close as deputy, following a Labor caucus meeting on 9 April 2018.^[8][9][10]

Close is the Labor spokesperson for Climate Change, Environment and Water, Higher Education and Industry. She holds adjunct professorships with both Flinders University in the College of Business, Government and Law, and the University of South Australia.

Following her party's victory at the 2022 state election, she was sworn in as Deputy Premier and Minister for Environment and Water on 21 March 2022.^[11][12] She was further sworn in as Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science and Minister for Defence and Space Industries on 24 March 2022, and her Environment and Water portfolio becoming the Minister for Climate, Environment and Water.^[13]

Media related to Susan Close at Wikimedia Commons