Ministerial roles

Billson was appointed the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs in 2004.^[1] In 2005, he was also appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, and in 2006, he was promoted to Minister for Veterans' Affairs/Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence – positions he retained until the defeat of the Howard government in the 2007 federal election.^[1]

In 2007, he was appointed Shadow Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy. In 2009, he was then appointed the Shadow Minister for Sustainable Development and Cities^[1] and after the 2010 election he was appointed Shadow Minister for Small Business, Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs.^[2]

Following the 2013 election he was sworn into the cabinet as the Minister for Small Business (including responsibility for competition policy and consumer affairs).

Retirement from politics

Following the leadership spill that saw Malcolm Turnbull become Prime Minister, Billson was dropped from the new Ministry upon the ascension of the Turnbull government. On 24 November 2015, he announced he would retire from politics at the 2016 federal election.^[3] On 22 March 2016, it was announced that he would serve as the executive chairman of the Franchise Council of Australia (FCA).^[4]

In August 2017, Billson admitted he had received a salary from the FCA several months before his retirement, which he had not declared on the register of members' interests. Billson apologised to the Clerk of the House for the omission, but claimed his directorship was not concealed and there was no conflict of interest.^[5]

He was cleared of breaching ministerial guidelines^[6] by the Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Martin Parkinson, who found there was “no reason to conclude Mr Billson has breached either the Statement of Ministerial Standards or the Lobbying Code of Conduct”. The issue was also referred to an inquiry conducted by the House of Representatives' Standing Committee of Privileges and Members' Interests which concluded “it (had) received no clear evidence that Mr Billson had been improperly influenced in the performance of his duties as a Member…and that no finding of contempt could be made”. It recommended in March 2018 that Billson be censured for failing to disclose receiving a salary for the FCA, and for undertaking work for the organisation through his consultancy business before leaving parliament. The Committee's report stated that Billson's "decision to accept the role with FCA while he was a member falls below the standards expected of a member of the house".^[7] On 27 March the House of Representatives passed a motion censuring Billson.^[8]

Beginning 11 March 2021 he took up a government role as the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, replacing Kate Carnell.^[9] The news site Crikey noted that the role of Small Business Ombudsman had been initially created by Billson while he was the Minister for Small Business.^[10]

Board roles

• Executive Chair – Franchise Council of Australia^[11]
• Independent Non Executive Director – Judo Capital
• Chair/independent Non Executive Director - Australian Property Institute
• Director - Small Business Enterprise, Business & Law School, Deakin University
• Chair/director - Growth & Development, BDC Partners
• Independent Director - Plumbing Industry Climate Action Centre
• Past President - Committee for Mornington Peninsula
• Independent Director - South East Melbourne Inc (NFP regional organisation of seven councils)
• Administrator - City of Whittlesea
• Trustee - SkillsPlus Youth Foundation