Wendy Fatin was Minister for the Arts in the early 1990s. Kim Beazley was Minister for Defence in the Hawke Government, and Deputy Prime Minister to Paul Keating. He took over the seat in 1996. He had been the member for Swan but changes in the boundaries showed he would lose it. At the 1996 election, Beazley won Brand by just 387 votes. Gary Gray was Minister for Resources and Energy, Minister for Tourism and Minister for Small Business in the Rudd Government.