Graham Keith Ernst (born 16 March 1940) is a former Australian trade unionist and politician. He 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 ...

member of the

Parliament of Victoria The Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria that follows a Westminster-derived parliamentary system. It consists of the King, represented by the Governor of Victoria, the Legislative Assembly an ...

from 1979 to 1992.

Biography

Ernst was born in Yorketown,

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, to Frederick Ernst, a farmer, and Leta Grace Bittner. He attended state schools in Cranbrook and

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

before becoming a

fitter and turner A machinist is a tradesperson or trained professional who not only operates machine tools, but also has the knowledge of tooling and materials required to create set ups on machine tools such as milling machines, grinders, lathes, and drilling ...

at the Portland Superphosphate Works, where he was elected as shop steward for the

Amalgamated Metal Workers Union The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), or more fully the Automotive, Food, Metals, Engineering, Printing and Kindred Industries Union, is an Australian trade union. The AMWU represents a broad range of workers in the manufacturing se ...

(AMWU). He also worked as the manager of a bakery and operated an engineering workshop in Portland. Heavily involved in the union movement, Ernst was founding junior vice-president of the South West Trades and Labour Council and president of the local branch of the AMWU. In 1973 Ernst moved to

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

where he became president of the Geelong branch of the AMWU (now renamed the Amalgamated Metal Workers and Shipwrights Union) and junior vice-president of the Geelong Trades Hall Council. In 1979 he was elected to the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presiding ...

as Labor member for Geelong East, moving to

Bellarine The Bellarine Peninsula (Wathawurrung: ''Balla-wein'' or ''Biteyong'') is a peninsula located south-west of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, surrounded by Port Phillip, Corio Bay and Bass Strait. The peninsula, together with the Mornington Pe ...

in 1985 following his old seat's abolition. He was defeated in 1992.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ernst, Graham 1940 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly