Biography

Parliamentary service

• Elected to the House of Representatives for Charlton, New South Wales, 2007. Re-elected 2010. Retired prior to general elections 2013.

Ministerial appointments

• Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Procurement from 3.12.2007 to 25.2.2009.
• Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change from 25.2.2009 to 9.6.2009.
• Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science from 9.6.2009 to 1.4.2010.
• Minister Assisting the Minister for Climate Change from 9.6.2009 to 8.3.2010.
• Minister Assisting the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency from 8.3.2010 to 14.9.2010.
• Minister for Defence Materiel and Science from 1.4.2010 to 14.9.2010.
• Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency from 14.9.2010 to 25.3.2013.
• Cabinet Minister from 14.9.2010 to 1.7.2013.
• Minister for Industry and Innovation from 14.12.2011 to 25.3.2013.
• Minister for Climate Change, Industry and Innovation from 25.3.2013 to 1.7.2013.

Conferences, delegations and visits

• Attended official meetings in the UK, France, Spain and USA, July 2008.
• Attended official meetings in the USA from September to October 2009.
• Attended official meetings in Mexico, December 2010.
• Attended official meetings in Belgium and France from April to May 2011.
• Attended official meetings in South Africa, December 2011.
• Attended official meetings in the UK, Belgium and Germany from March to April 2012.
• Attended official meetings in Japan, China, South Korea, Italy and France, April 2012.

Parliamentary party positions

• Australian Labor Party. Served: 24.11.2007 to 05.08.2013

Personal

• Born: 28.4.1958, Sydney, Australia
• Gender: Male

Qualifications and occupation before entering Federal Parliament

• BE(Hons) (University of New South Wales).
• GradDipLabRel&Law (University of Sydney).
• BEc (University of Sydney).
• Union official from 1987 to 2007.
• Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions from 1999 to 2007.

Electorate

• Name: Charlton
• Location: lower Hunter Valley; it includes the centres of Boolaroo, Cardiff, Cooranbong, Edgeworth, Elermore Vale, Fletcher, Minmi, Morisset, Speers Point, Toronto, Wangi Wangi, and parts of Wallsend and Warners Bay.
• Area: 688 Sq km
• Electors enrolled: 94,480 (at 21.8.2010)
• Industries: light and heavy engineering, timber, textiles, some dairy farms and poultry farming, tourism, coal-mining, electricity and retailing.
• Includes: Charlton includes parts of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorates of Cessnock, Charlestown, Lake Macquarie and Wallsend.

Honours

• Appointed a Member of the Order of Australia, 12.6.2006.
• Appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia, 10.6.2024.

Publications

• A new Australian consensus for the 21st century: ninth annual Hawke lecture, Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Library, Adelaide: 2006.
• The fights of my life, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Vic.: 2014.