Alumni profile

Hon Robin Scott MP is the Minister for Veterans and the Assistant Treasurer in the Victorian Government. 

He holds a Bachelor of Arts from La Trobe, and is a member of the Class of 1995.

Before he transferred into an arts degree, Robin was studying Electronic Engineering. It was when he was struck down for a period with illness that forced him to rethink his career path.

“I got sick and I spent a good number of months just flat on my back and I really thought about my life and what I wanted to do," Robin said.

"I decided I didn’t want to design computer circuitry, so I then changed ... to study humanities. That was really important for me because it opened up further opportunities. I ended up working in politics, becoming a member of parliament and then a minister. 

"I really ascribe all of that to the journey I took (and) the life choices I wanted to make, which was in part because of La Trobe experiences."

Robin's open-mindedness and critical thinking was handed down from his parents, and then further explored throughout his studies at La Trobe.

“There was a particular lecturer and I remember a lecture he gave. It was an insight into how to think, how to learn, how to participate in that process of development that’s so important," he said. 

"That’s always stuck in my mind and really inspired [me] as a young person."

A staunch advocate for multiculturalism, Robin believes La Trobe's "sharing and caring" environment enables its success as a diverse university and ability to attract students worldwide.

 Robin said La Trobe will always be embedded within him.

“It taught me really how to think in a more sophisticated way and to give a more conceptual basis to my thinking, and that’s been a really guiding principle for the rest of my life."

Arts, social sciences and communications

Last updated: 31 January 2023