During his time as Minister for Human Services, he oversaw the implementation of the unlawful Robodebt debt recovery scheme.

[3] His parents were veterinarians who met at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and arrived in Australia as Ten Pound Poms.

He attended a local primary school,[4] then completed his secondary education at Haileybury, Melbourne, graduating in 1988.

[4] Tudge was one of seven Liberal MPs in the 46th Parliament of Australia who have obtained degrees at an Oxbridge or Ivy League university, the others being Josh Frydenberg, Angus Taylor, Andrew Laming, Dave Sharma, Greg Hunt and Paul Fletcher.

[3] He was initially based in Melbourne and later in New York, and during this time completed a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at Harvard University.

[4] He was also seconded to indigenous leader Noel Pearson's Cape York Institute through Jawun, as the organisation's first corporate secondee.

[3] He was a founding board member of Teach For Australia, established in 2009 by his former BCG colleague Melodie Potts Rosevear.

[3] In September 2009, he won preselection for the Division of Aston as one of 11 candidates, defeating Neil Angus on the final ballot.

On the day of the 2015 leadership spill which saw Abbott replaced by Malcolm Turnbull, he publicly described himself as "a very strong supporter of the prime minister".

[3] In December 2019 he was additionally appointed as the acting Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs, due to David Coleman taking indefinite leave.

[24] Tudge was appointed Minister for Education and Youth in December 2020, replacing Dan Tehan as part of a cabinet reshuffle caused by the retirement of Mathias Cormann.

During the election, Tudge had a 7-point[clarification needed] two-party preferred swing against him, but still managed to hold the seat by 5 points.

[28] In June 2017, Tudge, and Liberal Party colleagues Greg Hunt and Michael Sukkar, faced the possibility of being prosecuted for contempt of court after they made public statements criticising the sentencing decisions of two senior judges while the government was awaiting their ruling on a related appeal.

Tudge, who was Acting Immigration Minister at the time,[24] instantly appealed the AAT's decision in the Federal Court, which failed.

[39] In November 2020, Tudge's former press secretary Rachelle Miller revealed on a broadcast of Four Corners that they had engaged in an affair.