Robert Douglas Martin (born 7 December 1945) is a former

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n politician. He was the Labor Party member for Port Stephens in the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

from 1988 to 1999. Martin was born in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

to Douglas and Beryl, and attended McDonald Upper Primary School and Hurlestone Agricultural High School, graduating in 1962. He then attended

Hawkesbury Agricultural College Hawkesbury Agricultural College was the first agricultural college in New South Wales, Australia, based in Richmond. It operated from 1891 to 1989. It was established on 10 March 1891, and formally opened by Minister for Mines and Agriculture ...

and graduated with a Diploma in Agriculture in 1965. He worked for the Department of Agriculture at Alstonville, Dareton and Bathurst, before moving to

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in 1969. On 11 January that year he married Margaret Eady from Murwillumbah, a primary school teacher. They had two children. He also joined the Labor Party. In 1970 he was employed with New South Wales State Fisheries, and managed the Port Stephens centre until 1988. In 1988, Martin was selected as the Labor candidate for the new seat of Port Stephens. He won the seat by less than 100 votes. Defeated

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

candidate Walter Scott went to the

Court of Disputed Returns The Court of Disputed Returns is a court, tribunal, or some other body that determines disputes about elections in some common law countries. The court may be known by another name such as the Court of Disputed Elections. In countries that derive ...

, obtaining a judgement that government cheques handed to community groups by Martin counted as electoral

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. This decision was met with astonishment by all sides of politics, and Martin won the by-election resoundingly with a 13% margin. In 1991, boundary changes made his seat notionally Liberal-held, but he was elected with a 10% margin nevertheless. He was appointed Minister for Mineral Resources and Minister for Fisheries in the Carr Government when it was elected in 1995. Martin retired from politics in 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Bob 1945 births Living people Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales Politicians from Sydney