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Minister

The Honourable Michael Healy MP - Minister for Tourism and Sport

Portrait headshot of Michael Healy © Queensland Government
The Honourable Michael Healy MP - Minister for Tourism and Sport

Michael was born, raised, and educated in Sydney.

Whist working in the retail sector and spending some time in commercial/industrial real estate Michael gained his Advanced Certificate in Sales & Marketing at the North Sydney Technical College which saw Michael transition into hotels and transfer in 1991 from Sydney to the Southern Pacific Hotel Corporation (SPHC) property in Palm Cove just north of Cairns.

This started Michael’s foray into the Queensland tourism industry where he worked for the next 27 years in a number of tourism businesses, including the SPHC, Hilton Hotels, Down Under Tours, and Australia’s largest marine tourism operator on the Great Barrier Reef, The Quicksilver Group, as Group Director Sales & Marketing. These roles involved extensive travelling, attending tradeshows, and engaging both retail, wholesale, and inbound suppliers world-wide.  Whilst at Quicksilver, Michael was successful in winning both the Richard Power Award for Tourism Marketing (Queensland) and the Australian Tourism Marketing Award for his highly successful retail strategy in the Chinese Market.

Michael has served as a Director on the Boards of Tourism Tropical North Queensland, Port Douglas Daintree Tourism, Palm Cove Tourism Association and Tourism & Events Queensland.

For 10 years Michael served in a volunteer capacity on the Board and then as Chair of the non-for-profit Access Community Housing.

Michael also serves as a Director on the City Tattersals Club Foundation Limited Board (Sydney).

Early 2017 Michael won the pre-selection for the seat of Cairns and was successful in that year’s State Election in winning the seat of Cairns.   During this term Michael was a member of the Small Business/Education Parliamentary Committee along with being the Government’s Superyacht “champion”.

In 2020 State Election Michael retained the seat of Cairns and served as the Assistant Minister for Tourism Industry Development until December 2023 when he was appointed as Minister for Tourism and Sport.

Last updated: 19 Dec 2023