Clayton Gordon Barr (born 1971) is an Australian politician who was elected to 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 ...

as the State Member for Cessnock for the Labor Party at the

2011 New South Wales state election Elections to the 55th Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday, 26 March 2011. The 16-year-incumbent Labor Party government led by Premier Kristina Keneally was defeated in a landslide by the Liberal–National Coalition opposition ...

. Prior to entering Parliament he had a career as a secondary education teacher, an employee of the children’s cancer charity

CanTeen {{Primary sources, date=February 2007 Canteen is an Australian national support organisation for young people (aged 12–25) living with cancer; including cancer patients, their brothers and sisters, and young people with parents or primary carers ...

and worked in local government administration.

Background and education

Barr was born in Cessnock, New South Wales to Margaret and Gordon Barr. The youngest of four, Barr spent his early years in Cessnock and completed his secondary education at

All Saints College, Maitland All Saints College is a dual-campus independent Roman Catholic co-educational secondary day school, located in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales, Australia. The College is administered by the Catholic Schools Office of the Roman Cathol ...

. Barr then matriculated to the University of Newcastle where he studied in the Faculty of Education and Arts being graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor of Education in Physical Education and Health. He taught in the PDHPE faculty at Mount View High School (Cessnock) for 9 years, before seeking a change in vocation where he became a manager at the young people’s cancer charity,

. In the 18 months prior to his election to the Legislative Assembly, Barr was a Community and Recreational Facilities Planner at

Port Stephens Council Port Stephens Council (also known simply as Port Stephens) is a local government area in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. The area is just north of Newcastle and is adjacent to the Pacific Highway which runs through Raymond ...

. Barr is married to Lisa and has four children. He is a keen water poloist and for 15 years was a committee member of Cessnock Water Polo Club and a member of the Newcastle Water Polo Executive.

Political career

In the lead-up to the

, Barr received a threat in the mail aimed at his pregnant wife and children. His wife opened the letter which said: "Clay pulls out or I start shooting kids." Barr reported the threat to the

NSW Police The New South Wales Police Force (NSW Police Force; previously the New South Wales Police Service and New South Wales Police) is the primary law enforcement agency of the state of New South Wales, Australia. Divided into Police Area Commands (P ...

. Despite this attempt to have him withdraw his candidacy, Barr was elected as the State Member for Cessnock in 2011, despite an 8.1% swing to the New South Wales Nationals candidate. He was preselected again as the Labor candidate for Cessnock for the

2015 New South Wales state election A general election for the 56th Parliament of New South Wales (NSW) was held on Saturday 28 March 2015. Members were elected to all 93 seats in the Legislative Assembly using optional preferential voting. Members were also elected to 21 of th ...

, winning the seat with 72.0% on a two-party-preferred basis. In April 2015, Barr was appointed to the

Shadow Ministry of Luke Foley The Shadow Ministry of Luke Foley was the Labor opposition from December 2014 to November 2018, opposing the Baird and Berejiklian coalition governments in the Parliament of New South Wales. The shadow ministry comprised 'spokespeople' or 'shadow ...

as the Shadow Minister for Finance, Services and Property, where he was responsible for analysing the

NSW Government The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party. The Governmen ...

's policy proposals concerning government finances, major public works and maintenance programs, government procurement and information and communications technology. At the

2019 New South Wales state election The 2019 New South Wales state election was held on Saturday 23 March 2019 to elect the 57th Parliament of New South Wales, including all 93 seats in the Legislative Assembly and 21 of the 42 seats in the Legislative Council. The election was ...

, Barr again contested the seat of Cessnock for the Labor Party. Despite measuring a small swing against him, Barr won the seat with 69.3% on a two-party-preferred basis. Following the elevation of

Jodi McKay Jodi Leyanne McKay (born 16 August 1969) is a former Australian politician who was the Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of New South Wales from June 2019 until May 2021. She previously served as a member of the New South Wales Legislat ...

to the position of

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

in June 2019, Barr was appointed as the Shadow Minister for Innovation, Science and Tertiary Education, Shadow Minister for the Hunter and the Shadow Minister for Water. He held these positions until June 2021 when he was demoted to the backbench by the newly appointed

Chris Minns Christopher John Minns (born 17 September 1979) is an Australian politician who is the leader of the NSW Labor Party. He was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the member for Kogarah for the Labor Party at the 2015 New South ...

as a result of factional disagreements.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barr, Clayton Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales Living people Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly University of Newcastle (Australia) alumni 21st-century Australian politicians 1971 births