Paul Papalia is the Labor Party Member of the Western Australia Legislative Assembly for Warnbro.
He was the Minister for Tourism, Racing and Gaming, Small Business, Defence Issues, Citizenship and Multicultural Interests in the McGowan government following Labor's win in the 2017 state election. In the 2021 state election, he added Police and Road Safety portfolios to his responsibilities of Defence Industry and Veterans Issues.
Following the resignation of Mr McGowan in June 2023, Mr Papalia became the Minister for Police, Corrective Services, Defence Industry and Veterans Issues under the Cook government. In a cabinet reshuffle in December 2023, he added Racing & Gaming to his portfolio.
Prior to Labor's state election win in March 2017, he was Shadow Minister for Corrective Services, Tourism, Defence Issues, Gascoyne, Goldfields-Esperance.
Mr Papalia served in the Royal Australian Navy for 26 years before entering politics, working as a navy diver and rising to the rank of lieutenant commander. He specialised in explosives retrieval and escape & rescue.
Mr Papalia served with the United Nations Special Commission on Iraq during the early 1990s, and was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross in 1994. He returned to Iraq during the Iraq War, serving as executive officer in an Australian mine-clearing team.
