Mike Freelander

Medical career Freelander studied medicine at the University of Sydney and is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP).

Freelander became the head of Paediatrics at Campbelltown Hospital from 1986 to 2013.

Freelander needed to resign from his job in order to satisfy Section 44(iv.) of the Constitution, which prohibits a person holding any office of profit under the Crown from becoming a member of parliament.

After being elected in 2016, Freelander has continued to volunteer at Campbelltown Hospital, seeing both old and new patients from the Macarthur region. Freelander has seen over 200,000 patients over his medical career.

Politics Freelander was elected to parliament at the 2016 federal election, defeating sitting Liberal member Russell Matheson in the Division of Macarthur. He was assisted by a favourable redistribution. He became the first Labor MP to hold Macarthur since the Keating government lost the 1996 election, and gained increased majorities, after preference distribution, at the 2019, 2022 and 2025 elections.

He has championed several local health issues, such as obesity, for which he has advocated a sugar tax. The Appin Road upgrade for which he advocated in Parliament, became a $170 million project, including a koala underpass by 2024.

Committees Freelander has been Chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Disability since August 2025. He also serves on the House of Representatives Standing Committees on Agriculture, and on Primary Industries, and on the Joint Statutory Committee on Human Rights.

He formerly served on the Standing Committee for Health, Aged Care and Sport from 2016 to 2025, serving as its Deputy Chair from 2019 to 2022 and its Chair from 2022 to 2025. He also served on the Standing Committees for Social Policy and Legal Affairs from 2016 to 2022, and for Selection from 2022 to 2025. He has said that he is "not a particularly religious Jew, but I still describe myself as Jewish".