Bowen was elected to
Fairfield City Council in 1995 and was Mayor of Fairfield in 1998 and 1999. He was elected president of the
Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC) in 1999 and served as president until 2001. In 2004, Bowen was elected to the House of Representatives replacing
Janice Crosio after she retired after 25 years in both state and federal politics. In 2006, Bowen was appointed to the Labor front bench as Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Shadow Minister for Revenue and Competition Policy.
Government minister (2007–2013) First Rudd and Gillard ministries (2007–2010) In December 2007, Prime Minister
Kevin Rudd appointed him Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs. In June 2009 Bowen was promoted to cabinet as Minister for Financial Services, Superannuation and Corporate Law and Minister for Human Services. In April 2010, Bowen announced significant reforms to the financial services sector including banning of commissions for financial planners giving advice on retail investment products including superannuation, managed investments and margin loans; instituting a statutory fiduciary duty so that financial advisers must act in the best interests of their clients, and increasing the powers of the corporate regulator; the
Australian Securities and Investments Commission. The reforms were partially a response to the high-profile collapse of
Storm Financial, Westpoint and Opes Prime and the resultant losses for retail investors, but also reflected global concerns with financial governance following the
2008 financial crisis. The reforms are due to be fully implemented on 1 July 2013.
Second Gillard ministry (2010–2013) In September 2010, Bowen was appointed Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, succeeding Senator
Chris Evans. On 2 February 2013, Bowen replaced Evans as Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Science and Research. Evans was also Minister for Small Business. Chris Bowen resigned his ministerial portfolios on 22 March 2013 after he supported
an unsuccessful attempt to reinstall Kevin Rudd as prime minister.
Second Rudd ministry (2013) Following the
June 2013 leadership spill, Bowen was reinstated as a Cabinet Minister and given the portfolio of Treasurer. He was sworn in on 27 June 2013. He was also given responsibility for financial services and superannuation, including carriage of the
MySuper and other Simple Super reforms previously held by
Bill Shorten.
Opposition (2013–2022) Bowen was appointed Interim Leader of the Labor Party on 13 September 2013 following the resignation of Kevin Rudd in the wake of the party's defeat in the
2013 federal election. He pledged not to stand in the
October 2013 leadership spill which was contested by
Anthony Albanese and
Bill Shorten. Shorten was elected as leader. Bowen was later appointed Shadow Treasurer by Bill Shorten. After Labor's loss in the
2019 federal election, Shorten announced his pending resignation as leader of the party. Bowen was considered a frontrunner to succeed him. On 21 May, Bowen announced his candidacy in
the leadership ballot, but withdrew the following day. He was subsequently replaced as Shadow Treasurer by
Jim Chalmers, but remained on the frontbench as Shadow Minister for Health. As Shadow Treasurer after his stint as Treasurer, he was shadow to his three immediate successors as Treasurer, Joe Hockey, Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg.
Government minister (2022–present) Following the
2022 federal election, Bowen was appointed
Minister for Climate Change and Energy in the
Albanese ministry. As climate change minister, Bowen oversaw policy reforms to energy and industrial policy during the
Albanese government. This included changes to the Safeguard Mechanism and Australian Carbon Credit Units, establishing the Rewiring the Nation Fund and the Capacity Investment Scheme to support investments in new renewable energy infrastructure. He also led the government's efforts to legislate a carbon reduction target of 43 percent on 2005 levels. Bowen faced criticism in early 2024 for taking a private jet to a ministerial announcement about clean energy, while the Prime Minister also flew there in another private jet. It was reported that the flights were taken on advice from the RAAF. Bowen was reappointed as climate change minister in the
second Albanese ministry following the government's re-election in the
2025 federal election. In September 2025, he delivered Australia's first-ever climate change risk assessment, stating that the "cost of inaction will always outweigh the cost of action" with regards to climate policy. ==Political positions==