Matthias Caesar

Matthias Johannus Aurelian Caesar AO QC (born 12th July 1977) is an Australian politician serving as Leader of the Opposition since February 2021 and Leader of the Australian Democrats (AD) since December 2020. He became a Member of Parliament (MP) in the Super Saturday By-Election in November 2020 where he won his seat of Canberra. Caesar also served as a Cabinet Minister during the BLOC Government led by then Prime Minister NGSpy.

Caesar was born in Sydney in 1977 before moving to Canberra where he attended Canberra Grammar School until 1988 when his family moved to Victoria and he attended Braemar College before going on to Melbourne University where he studied a Bachelor of Arts. Caesar would then study a Bachelor of Laws at MU and completed his studies in the UK where he would study a Juris Doctor at Cambridge University.

He first entered into politics in 2020 when after joining the Australian Democrats he was handpicked to become Chair of the Party by then Party Leader Jayden Williamson. Caesar would be preselected to run for the seat of Canberra in the November 2020 Super Saturday By-Election where he would win outright on first preference votes. Caesar would be elected Leader of the Australian Democrats in December 2020 after Williamson lost a vote of confidence, he was elevated to Cabinet following his election as Leader being appointed Minister of Finance and Social Services in the BLOC Government.

After concerns that the critical publicity and defection of Williamson would break the party, Caesar would go on to lead the Democrats to their best ever result winning 3 House Seats and retaining their 1 Senate seat. He would be recognised as the lead candidate to become Prime Minister until one of his MP's would defect to the Nationals causing coalition talks to collapse and ending any hope at Caesar forming a Government.

After the formation of a Liberal-National Minority Government, the Democrats would be nominated to become the Official Opposition enabling Caesar to become Leader of the Opposition.

Early Life
Caesar was born in the northern Sydney suburb of Hornsby, the son of Johannes César, a chef and Elizabeth Huntley a Customs Officer. His mother was of Scottish-Irish descent, while his father was the child of French immigrants. César at the time worked for Huntley's father at his hotel business in country NSW as a cook and later head chef where he would meet the young Huntley.

Huntley would become pregnant out of wedlock which was frowned upon by both César and Huntley's catholic families. The couple married on 15th March, 1977 and Matthieu Johannes Aurélien César was born on July 12th, 1977. The family would live in an apartment in Sydney until Huntley's father purchased for the couple a house in Canberra in 1978 where they would move in, it was in Canberra that the couple would have their second and only daughter, Élisabeth Alexandrie Jeannette César, and a third child and second son, Johannes Albert Barthélemy César.

Education
Caesar would commence his education at the prestigious Canberra Grammar School, an independent co-educational school where Caesar excelled at his studies however struggled to socialise and make friends. In 1988 the couple moved when Caesar was only 10 to country Victoria where he was enrolled into the private co-Christian Braemar College. It was here that he started going by the name Matthias Caesar, noting that it was easier to pronounce upon first reading than César.

Caesar would become very sociable at Braemar, developing a large group of friends and would be highly regarded by his peers. Caesar would briefly date his classmate Alyssa Page in 1992 however the relationship ended quickly after a confrontation between Caesar and Page's older sister Clarissa Page led to Page siding with her sister in the dispute. Caesar would excel at his education, becoming an Army Cadet and rising to the ranks of Cadet Under Officer. He would aspire to join the military and began the process of joining in 1993 however ended that pursuit in 1995, Caesar has never publicly explained why he ended the process of joining the military, with some speculating that he was rejected while others suggested it may have been for other unspecified reasons.

Finishing school in 1995, the now 18 year old Caesar spent a gap year travelling Europe, spending much of that time in Italy, England and his ancestral home France. He would return after 8 months abroad and would enroll for a Bachelor of Arts at Melbourne University, completing his degree in 1998. He would enroll again in 1999 this time to complete a Bachelor of Laws where he would get a scholarship to complete his Juris Doctor at Cambridge University.

United Kingdom
Caesar would graduate from Cambridge in 2003 with honours having demonstrated an aptitude and diligence for the law. He would opt to stay in the United Kingdom and would apply and be admitted to the London Bar where he practiced privately as a Solicitor and later Barrister, specialising in matters of financial and tax law. He would participate in a number of notable court cases, especially those dealing with taxes between different jurisdictions and so became an expert on French, Irish and Spanish taxes and laws.

In 2008 Caesar left private practice after being offered a job working as Assistant Chief Counsel for the Attorney-General's Office where he would provide legal advise to a number of Government agencies in helping them develop legal policy. His work for the British Government earned him commendation from his peers and was made a Queen's Counsel in 2011. In 2012 Caesar would express a wish to move back to Australia and tried securing a transfer to the Australian Attorney-General's Office however was refused amid concerns he was not familiar enough with Australian law. Instead he landed a job working for the Australian Taxation Office as a Legal Advisor specialising in international tax regimes.

Australia
Caesar would move to Australia in 2013 where began working for the ATO where his in depth knowledge of tax law proved so useful he was moved into the Significant Debt Management Team 2015 becoming a lead barrister representing the Commissioner of Taxation in Court. In 2019 Caesar would leave the Public Service setting up a private practice in Canberra.

Caesar's most notable case came in 2020 when he would represent the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the High Court suing the Commonwealth for issuing an illegal gazette to deploy the Australian Defence Force in relation to on ongoing Industrial Strike in Fremantle. The case would not have the emergency junction that was requested and instead the case was resolved months later where the Court agreed with Caesar, his work earned him a Order of Australia.

Political Career
Caesar would have an active interest in politics since a young age, at Melbourne University he would join the Australian Labor Party in 1996 and would help campaign for the Keating Government in Victoria. After Keating lost the election to John Howard, Caesar left the ALP sighing "fundamental issues with the culture of the [Labor] Party" as his reason for leaving. He would then join the Democrats, campaigning for the Party in 1998 where they would see their largest win in the Senate in the party's history.

Caesar left the Party in 2001 after he moved to the United Kingdom where he joined the Democrats sister part the Liberal Democrats. He would campaign for the Liberal Democrats in 2001 and 2005 and assisted the Liberal Democrats campaign in 2010 however was unable to actively campaign due to his role with the Attorney-General's office.

When Caesar left the United Kingdom in 2013, he refused to join any new political party sighting that Australia lacks "any good party worth supporting". He would remain an independent until 2020 when Caesar approached then Party Leader Jayden Williamson about joining the party. Williamson was hesitant at first, there was concerns about then Liberal Party Leader Griffonomics infiltering the party however Caesar quickly proved himself both loyal and helpful in supporting the party.

Chairman of the Australian Democrats
Caesar would be the hand picked candidate by Williamson to become the next Chair of the Australian Democrats following the retirement of Senator ZhenDeRen. His Senate seat was filled by the Party's Deputy Leader Deladi0 who lost his seat of Hotham in the October 2020 Election while Caesar became the Party Chair unopposed. Caesar would then be chosen to contest the Canberra By-Election in November, winning the pre-selection vote against fellow party member Arles to be the party's endorsed candidate.

Caesar would run a campaign that was big on spending promising $6 billion in investment in infrastructure, education and healthcare. The announcements would be controversial, Party Leader Jayden Williamson was unaware of the commitments until after they had been made, NSW Senator Gregor_the_Begger raised significant concern as to whether the spending was too high for a single urban electorate and if instead that money could be better used to support rural communities. The Opposition attacked Caesar for being a reckless spender while the Government made no promise as to whether those commitments made by Caesar would be fulfilled, despite this Caesar would be the only candidate representing the Government on the ballot.

Following his election win in November the Democrats returned to their Pre October Election status with 2 House MP's and 1 Senator. Caesar would use his new found influence to begin a series of reforms inside the Democratic Party to make it more efficient and receptive to it's members. He would also be floated as a potential Cabinet Minister as the Government considers a reshuffle with the Finance and Social Services portfolio being passed around as potential ministries the new Member for Canberra might gain.

Caesar's future however was thrown a massive spanner in the works when former Prime Minister and Democrats Member Bloody Chrome wrote to the National Conference in December asking for a Vote of No Confidence in the Leadership of Jayden Williamson. The vote would see Jayden Williamson defeated with with both the Party Chair Caesar and Deputy Leader Deladi0 abstaining from the vote, a move that Williamson criticised as a betrayal and costed him his Leadership. Caesar would contest the Leadership and Williamson would also run for the vote hoping he would be able to win back some support, enough to see him returned to the leadership. To that aim he again failed and lost to Caesar on the first ballot.

First Term as Democrat Leader
Matthias Caesar would be elected Leader of the Australian Democrats on the 12th December 2020 and his win was met with both praise, optimism, concern and criticism. Various news groups such as the Country Courier, the Platform, and most notably the Good Morning Goat were very critical of the confidence vote, the ensuing leadership vote and Caesar becoming Leader with the Good Morning Goat running a sustained Anti-Democrat press campaign and the Country Courier being consistent critics of Caesar and the Democrats policy platforms.

The Democrats stagnated in the polls, while Matthias Caesar was personally popular the consistently bad press and the defection of former Leader Jayden Williamson to the Greens left the Democrats struggling to make any measurable improvements to their personal popularity.