Gavan Michael O'Connor (born 2 December 1947) is an Australian politician who was an

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

(ALP) member of the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...

from March 1993 to November 2007, representing the

Division of Corio The Division of Corio is an Australian electoral division in the state of Victoria. The division was proclaimed in 1900, and was one of the original 65 divisions to be contested at the first federal election. Named for Corio Bay, it has alway ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

Career

Education

He was born in Colac, Victoria, and was educated at

St Patrick's College, Ballarat , motto_translation = To Do and To Teach , city = Ballarat , state = Victoria , country = Australia , coordinates = , type = Independent second ...

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...

and the University of New England. He was a farmer, high school teacher, and member of the Colac City Council before entering Parliament.

Politics

He contested the 1984 Corangamite by-election but was unsuccessful as it was a safe Liberal seat. He won the seat of Corio at the 1993 federal election. He became Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition (

Kim Beazley Kim Christian Beazley (born 14 December 1948) is an Australian former politician and diplomat. He was leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and leader of the opposition from 1996 to 2001 and 2005 to 2006, having previously been a cabinet ...

) from 1996 to 1998 and Member of the Opposition Shadow Ministry from October 1998. He was Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries from December 2003 until 2007 when he was dropped in a cabinet reshuffle by incoming leader

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...

. O'Connor lost his endorsement as the ALP candidate for Corio to

Richard Marles Richard Donald Marles (born 13 July 1967) is an Australian politician serving as the 19th deputy prime minister of Australia and the Minister for Defence. He has been the deputy leader of the Labor Party since 2019 and previously served as D ...

in March 2007. On 18 October the same year, he announced he would run as an independent at the 2007 election, and achieved 12.7 percent of the vote, but lost to Marles.

References

1947 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Independent members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Corio Monash University alumni University of New England (Australia) alumni Australian farmers Australian schoolteachers People educated at St Patrick's College, Ballarat People from Colac, Victoria 21st-century Australian politicians 20th-century Australian politicians {{Australia-Labor-representative-stub