Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, and his wife Hayley Ross, welcomed their daughter Charlotte Maree Irene on December 16. Charlotte joins big sister Isabelle. Mathias was born in German-speaking eastern Belgium, and served on his local council as a member of the Christian Social Party. He migrated to Perth during the 1990s, where he joined the Liberal Party and was a political adviser in both state and federal politics. He was elected senator in 2007, and re-elected in 2011. He was made Minister for Finance under the Abbot government in 2013, and in the current government was promoted to Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate. Hayley is a lawyer.

Former beach volleyball champion Natalie Cook, and her wife Sarah Maxwell, welcomed their daughter Jordan in October. Natalie gave up a medical degree to become a professional volleyballer in 1994, and is the first Australian woman to take part in five Olympic Games, first taking part in Atlanta in 1996, and retiring after the London Olympics in 2012. She won bronze in 1996, and gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. She received the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2000. Sarah is a former Canadian beach volleyballer; she and Natalie were married in 2008 in New Zealand.

(Photo shows Mathias and Hayley with their eldest daughter Isabelle)