John Robertson (politician, born 1962)
John Robertson MP | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Robertson speaking at the Local Government Excellence in the Environment Awards, 1 December 2009 | |
| 36th Leader of the Opposition (New South Wales) | |
| Assumed office 31 March 2011 | |
| Preceded by | Barry O'Farrell |
| Member of the New South Wales Parliament for Blacktown | |
| Assumed office 26 March 2011 | |
| Preceded by | Paul Gibson |
| New South Wales Minister for Transport | |
| In office 20 May 2010 – 28 March 2011 | |
| Preceded by | David Campbell |
| Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council | |
| In office 18 October 2008 – 26 March 2011 | |
| Preceded by | Michael Costa |
| Personal details | |
| Born | John Cameron Robertson 16 November 1962 Sydney, Australia |
| Political party | Australian Labor Party |
| Spouse | Julie McLeod |
| Children | Aidan Robertson Kassandra McLeod Brianna Robertson |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Website | Government Biography |
John Cameron Robertson (born 16 November 1962[1]) is an Australian politician. He is the Leader of the Australian Labor Party in New South Wales and the Leader of the Opposition.
Robertson is the ALP member for Blacktown in the NSW Legislative Assembly. He is a former Minister for Transport and former member of the Legislative Council.
Early life and personal background
Robertson was born at Ryde Hospital in New South Wales to parents Don and Rowena Robertson, the elder of two boys.[2][1] Don Robertson conscripted his son into handing out how to vote cards in the 1972 Australian elections.
He was educated at Denistone East Primary School and Ryde High School. His first job was working for Woolworths packing shopping bags for shoppers at the age of 15.
He left school at 16 and began an apprenticeship as an electrician. He worked as one from 1979 until 1987, even working on the New South Wales Parliament building to which he has now been elected.[2] He claims to be the only person to have worked on the construction of that building, as well as being voted into office.[2]
He is married to Julie McLeod and they have three children.
Union career
During his time as electrician he became an organizer for the Electrical Trades Union in 1986. In 1991 he became an Industrial Officer with the Labor Council of New South Wales, and then its Executive Officer in 1998.
Later in life, he took up tertiary studies, and studied at the University of Technology, Sydney and graduated with a Graduate Diploma of Human Resources.
In 1998 he became the Assistant Secretary of the Labor Council. As Assistant Secretary, he had responsibility for the building and construction industry, breweries, local government, public sector policy, the oil industry and Sydney Water.[3] In 2000, he ran the State Wage Case for the Labor Council before the Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales. The case was historic in that it was the first one heard in Wollongong, New South Wales rather than Sydney. The Commission granted workers a $15 per week pay rise.[4]
In 2001 he was elected unopposed as the Secretary of Unions NSW (formerly the Labor Council of New South Wales) replacing Michael Costa.[5] One of his first acts as Secretary was to organize a blockade of the New South Parliament to protest against the introduction of workers compensation law reforms.[6] The blockade did not change the government's plans. During his term as secretary, he headed the organisation as it sold its holiday property “Currawong” to finance a campaign to stop the implementation of WorkChoices by the Federal Howard Government. The deal was said to have benefited the developers as the purchase was at "about half the price"[7] of other bids for the property. Currawong had been established in 1949 to allow the union movement to provide poor kids with decent holidays.[7] Robertson denied the deal was at less than value as it was an unconditional sale compared to other bids which were conditional on building approval.
He has been on the Administrative Committee of the Australian Labor Party since 2005 and he became the Vice-President of Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) in 2006. As member of the group Labor for Refugees, Robertson fought in 2002 to overturn the Labor Party's policy on asylum seekers, which mimicked the policy of the Howard Government at the time.[8]
Robertson has held other roles. In 1993 he was a member of the Building and Construction Industry Long Service Payments Corporation. He was a Director of WorkCover NSW between 2001 and 2007. In 2002 he was appointed a Director of the Parramatta Stadium Trust. In 2006 he became a member of the New South Wales Heritage Council. Robertson was a director of Energy Australia between 1998 and 2003, as well as a Director of 2KY Broadcasters between 1998 and 2001.[1]
He has co-authored the book Your Rights at Work, which was published in 1993.
Columnist Piers Akerman alleges that Robertson played the greatest role in elevating Nathan Rees to State Premier following Morris Iemma’s resignation in 2008.[9] He was also regarded as a pivotal player in the campaign to replace Federal Opposition Leader Kim Beazley with Kevin Rudd.[6]
Political career
On 18 October 2008 he was endorsed to be the Labor Party candidate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of former State Treasurer Michael Costa.[10] He was subsequently appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council to fill that casual vacancy. Costa was Robertson’s predecessor at Unions NSW, and ironically, was one of the causes that led to Costa’s resignation due to blocking of the privatisation of the NSW power industry.[6]
Shortly after his swearing in, former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating sent a scathing letter to Robertson stating that Keating was "ashamed to share membership of the same party" as him.[11] Keating's view of Robertson was that his opposition to the privatisation bid would cost Labor dearly at the next State election.[12]
Robertson won the seat of Blacktown in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly at the March 2011 election that resulted in Labor losing government. After Keneally declined to contest the leadership of the party, a caucus meeting on 31 March 2011 elected Robertson as leader and Leader of the Opposition.[13]
References
- ^ a b c Who’s Who Australia
- ^ a b c {Robertson, John (2008-11-11). "Inaugral Speech – John Robertson, MLC". Hansard. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
{{cite web}}: Text "publisherParliament of New South Wales" ignored (help) - ^ "1998 Annual Report". Unions NSW. 1998. Retrieved 2008-11-20. [dead link]
- ^ "2000 Annual Report". Unions NSW. 2000. Retrieved 2008-11-20. [dead link]
- ^ "2001 Annual Report". Unions NSW. 2001. Retrieved 2008-11-20. [dead link]
- ^ a b c Norrington, Brad (2008-10-20). "Robertson profits in Costa cutting". The Australian. News Limited. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
- ^ a b Farrelly, Elizabeth (2008-10-22). "Currawong, yet another black mark against Labor". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
- ^ Mitchell, Alex (2008-10-21). "NSW Labor swears in Rt Hon "Robbo" MLC". Crikey. Private Media Pty Limited. Retrieved 2008-11-07.
- ^ Akerman, Piers (2008-10-24). "The NSW rabble". Geelong Advertiser. News Limited. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
- ^ http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24510853-5006009,00.html.
{{cite news}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) [dead link] - ^ Clennell, Andrew (2008-11-08). "MP gets lashing from ex-PM". The Sydney Morning Herald.
- ^ "Banshee on a rampage: the full Keating text". Crikey. Private Media Pty Limited. 2008-11-25. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
- ^ "Robertson confirmed as NSW Labor leader". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 31 March 2011. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
External links
Media related to John Robertson (politician born 1962) at Wikimedia Commons