Tim Nicholls

Nicholls was educated at Trinity Grammar School in Melbourne and the Anglican Church Grammar School in Brisbane.

He completed a Bachelor of Laws at Queensland University of Technology.

Originally a solicitor, Nicholls began his political career as a councillor in the Hamilton ward of the Brisbane City Council, which he held for six years. In 2006, he ran as the Liberal candidate in Clayfield, and defeated incumbent member Liddy Clark, achieving a swing of 3.2 points.

Shortly after being elected to State Parliament, Nicholls was encouraged by party colleagues to stand against Bruce Flegg for the Liberal Party leadership. Initially, he did not have enough support in the eight-member Liberal caucus.

Shortly after the federal election of 2007, Nicholls again stood against Flegg for leadership. Eventually Mark McArdle was offered as a neutral party and he accepted leadership with Nicholls as his deputy.

The leadership dispute was rendered virtually moot when the Queensland Liberal Party and Queensland National Party merged less than a year later to form the Liberal National Party. Nicholls was appointed Shadow Treasurer by Lawrence Springborg and continued to hold that position in John-Paul Langbroek's Shadow Ministry.

When Campbell Newman stood for the leadership of the party in April 2011, Nicholls supported him and was named interim Deputy Leader of the Opposition. Newman retained Nicholls as Shadow Treasurer. After the LNP won the largest majority government in Queensland history at the 2012 state election, Newman named Nicholls as his Treasurer, and he was sworn in on 26 March.

As Treasurer, Nicholls played a prominent role in the Newman government's unsuccessful campaign to privatise a range of state assets.

Leader of the LNP (2016-2017)

Following the state election in 2015 which saw the LNP lose government and several difficult months in parliament, Nicholls challenged Lawrence Springborg for the leadership of the party on 6 May 2016, winning the ballot 22 votes to 19. He was the third person from the Liberal side of the merger to hold the post. After the party suffered a three-seat swing at the 2017 state election, Nicholls announced he would stand down as leader of the party.

Minister for Health and Ambulance Services (2024-present)

Nicholls secured a record $33.1 billion for Health and Ambulance Services when the Crisafulli ministry handed down its first State Budget in June 2025. A total $18.5 billion of that investment was slotted for the State Government’s Hospital Rescue Plan, which promises to build three new hospitals and expand 10 others across Queensland.

The Hospital Rescue Plan was release off the back of an independent review into the former Queensland Labor Government’s Capacity Expansion Program, which experienced project delays and cost overruns.

The Crisafulli ministry has made much of its election promise to drive down ambulance ramping times and reduce the elective surgery waitlist. As of March 2026, Queensland Health Performance Data showed improvements for both metrics.

In January 2025, shortly after assuming office, Nicholls announced an immediate pause on the prescription of puberty blockers (Stage 1 treatment) and cross-sex hormones (Stage 2 treatment) for new patients under 18 with gender dysphoria in Queensland's public health services, pending an independent review of evidence and best practices. The directive, issued by Queensland Health Director-General David Rosengren, exempted existing patients and allowed non-pharmacological support such as counselling, citing "contested evidence" on benefits and risks, including reports of treatments provided to children as young as 12 without adequate oversight.

The policy, the first such ban in an Australian state, faced legal challenge from a parent of a transgender teenager, who argued it was procedurally flawed and politically motivated. On 27 October 2025, the Queensland Supreme Court ruled the directive unlawful, finding Rosengren had failed to conduct required consultations with Hospital and Health Service executives (limited to a 22-minute Microsoft Teams meeting concurrent with Nicholls's media announcement) under the Hospital and Health Boards Act 2011. Justice Peter Callaghan set aside the order, describing it as an improper exercise of power, though he did not rule on its substantive merits.

Hours later, on 28 October 2025, Nicholls exercised his ministerial discretion under section 44 of the Act to issue a new directive reinstating the restrictions in substantially the same terms, applying immediately to all public Hospital and Health Services. It mandates multidisciplinary panel approval for any exceptions and prioritises psychological interventions, pending the review's completion (expected November 2025) and a further evidence assessment by January 2026. Nicholls justified the action as necessary "in the public interest" to protect children amid ongoing debates over treatment efficacy. The move has drawn criticism from medical bodies like the Australian Medical Association and LGBTQ+ advocates, who contend it undermines clinical autonomy, evidence-based care, and access for vulnerable youth, potentially exacerbating inequities by pushing families toward private services.