| Honorific Prefix: | The Honourable |
| Meaghan Scanlon | |
| Honorific-Suffix: | MP |
| Office: | Minister for Housing, Local Government and Planning and Minister for Public Works |
| Premier: | Steven Miles |
| Term Start: | 18 December 2023 |
| Predecessor: | Herself (as Minister for Housing) Cameron Dick (as Minister for State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning) Mick de Brenni (as Minister for Public Works and Procurement) |
| Office1: | Minister for Housing |
| Premier1: | Annastacia Palaszczuk |
| Term Start1: | 18 May 2023 |
| Term End1: | 18 December 2023 |
| Successor1: | Herself (as Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government) |
| Office2: | Minister for Science and Youth Affairs |
| Term Start2: | 12 November 2020 |
| Term End2: | 18 May 2023 |
| Predecessor2: | Leeanne Enoch Di Farmer |
| Successor2: | Position abolished |
| Office3: | Minister for the Environment and the Great Barrier Reef |
| Premier3: | Annastacia Palaszczuk |
| Term Start3: | 12 November 2020 |
| Term End3: | 18 May 2023 |
| Predecessor3: | Leeanne Enoch |
| Successor3: | Leanne Linard |
| Office4: | Assistant Minister for Tourism Industry Development |
| Premier4: | Annastacia Palaszczuk |
| Term Start4: | 12 December 2017 |
| Term End4: | 12 November 2020 |
| Predecessor4: | Position established |
| Successor4: | Michael Healy |
| Office5: | Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Gaven |
| Term Start5: | 25 November 2017 |
| Predecessor5: | Sid Cramp |
| Birth Date: | 28 February 1993[1] |
| Birth Place: | Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia |
| Party: | Labor |
| Partner: | Mark Bailey (since 2016) |
| Education: | Aquinas College |
| Alma Mater: | |
| Signature: | Meaghan Scanlon signature 2022.svg |
Meaghan Alana Jenkins Scanlon (28 February 1993) is an Australian politician and lawyer. She has been the Labor member for Gaven in the Queensland Legislative Assembly since 2017[2] and is currently serving as the Queensland Minister for Housing.[3] Prior to May 2023, Scanlon was the Environment and the Great Barrier Reef and Minister for Science and Youth Affairs.
Scanlon was born on the Gold Coast and grew up in the suburb of Nerang.[4] Her father, Phil,[1] migrated from England with his family at an early age. Her mother, Margaret,[1] is from Moe, Victoria.[5] During her school years, she attended Guardian Angels Primary School and Aquinas College.[6] At the age of 13, her father died of melanoma and she began helping her mother care for her brother, who has Down syndrome.[7] Following her graduation from high school, Scanlon completed a Bachelor of Laws at the Gold Coast campus of Griffith University, and a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice at the Queensland University of Technology.[8] She briefly worked in Brisbane before deciding to pursue a career in politics at the age of 23.
At the age of 23, Scanlon ran as the Labor candidate for the seat of Fadden in the northern Gold Coast during the 2016 Australian federal election but was defeated by Stuart Robert. She then turned her attention to the 2017 Queensland state election where she ran as the Labor candidate for the central Gold Coast seat of Gaven and defeated Sid Cramp to become, at the age of 24, the youngest woman elected to the Queensland Parliament.[9] She served as the Assistant Minister for Tourism Industry Development, and was considered by some to be the unofficial minister for the Gold Coast at the time, due to Gaven having been the only Gold Coast-based seat held by the Queensland Labor Government.[10]
Following the Queensland Labor Government's win at the 2020 Queensland state election, with Scanlon again winning the seat of Gaven, she was appointed to the Labor government's third-term cabinet as Minister for the Environment, the Great Barrier Reef, Science and Youth Affairs.[11] She maintained this position until May 2023, when she was given the Housing portfolio.[12]
In September 2018, Scanlon and ministerial colleague Mark Bailey MLA confirmed that they had been in a relationship since 2016.[13] In 2023, Scanlon mentioned of their meeting in an interview with Brisbane's The Courier-Mail: “It's not a particularly exciting story.” Adding: “Neither of us wants to talk about the intricacies of our portfolios... It's just more like you would talk to any partner about the news of the day.”[1]