Howarth was born in Brisbane, Queensland in 1972, to Ron and Denise Howarth, and grew up in Bracken Ridge. Howarth has one sister. He married his wife Louise in 1999, and they have three sons. Howarth joined the LNP when he was 19 years old.
Career
After leaving school, Howarth's first job was working at Barry Bull's Toombul Music. He worked at Sony Australia as a sales rep from 1993 to 2001. In 2002, Howarth joined his family's pest control business, alongside his mother, father, and wife.
Political career
In 2004, Howarth ran in the Queensland state election in the electoral district of Sandgate against the incumbent Labor MPGordon Nuttall, however was unsuccessful. At the 2013 federal election Howarth narrowly won the seat of Petrie with a 0.5% margin, defeating the sitting ALP member, Yvette D'Ath, who had held the seat since the 2007 federal election. He was reelected at the 2016 federal election, with an increased 1.6% margin. In line with other Liberal National Party candidates in Queensland, there was a significant swing in the 2019 election, increasing the margin to 8.4%. In August 2018, Howarth played a key role in the leadership spill which removed Prime MinisterMalcolm Turnbull from his position. In October 2018, Howarth's mother, Denise, was granted access to the computer and e-mail address of his electoral office. She used this access to send anti-abortion material to at least one constituent. The communications sent from the electorate office claimed that there will be no independent counselling before terminations and that staff would be obligated to "act against their conscience". In July 2019, Howarth spoke to ABC Radio National in his newly appointed role as the Assistant Minister for Community Housing, Homelessness and Community Services. Howarth announced he wanted to "put a positive spin on ". He claimed that homelessness had reduced in the area of rough sleeping over the past 15 years from 8,926 people in 2001 to 8,200 people in 2016 despite a 20% increase in the population. However, this claim has mixed verdicts, as the figures disguise a sharp rebound in the number of rough sleepers over the most recent five-year period, where the 2011 census put the number of rough sleepers at 6,810 and risen by 20% to 8,200 by 2016.
