Karl Bitar was the 9th National Secretary of the

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 ...

and former General Secretary of

NSW Labor The New South Wales Labor Party, officially known as the Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch) and commonly referred to simply as NSW Labor, is the New South Wales branch of the Australian Labor Party. The parliamentary leader is elect ...

. He now works as an executive for

Crown Limited Crown Resorts Limited is Australia's largest gaming and entertainment group that owns and operates two of Australia's leading gambling and entertainment complexes, Crown Melbourne and Crown Perth. It was listed on the Australian Securities Ex ...

Political career

Between 1999 and 2004, Bitar worked as an organiser for NSW Labor. He was then elevated to Assistant General Secretary of NSW Labor in 2004 before becoming General Secretary in 2007. In his role as General Secretary, Bitar acted as NSW Campaign Director at the 2007 federal election. Bitar then succeeded Tim Gartrell as National Secretary of the Australian Labor Party in 2008. As National Secretary, he oversaw the 2010 Australian federal election campaign which left Labor in minority government. Several sources at the time credited Bitar for the poor result. However, Bitar largely cited other factors, including expectations of a Labor win, the media's failure to properly scrutinise

Tony Abbott Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott was born in Londo ...

, the leaks and

Mark Latham Mark William Latham (born 28 February 1961) is an Australian politician and media commentator, currently serving as a member in the New South Wales Legislative Council. He previously served as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and ...

, as issues that led to the result. The campaign review found his specific efforts in NSW largely helped Labor gain victory. Bitar resigned as National Secretary in 2011. He is a member of the right faction.

Personal life

Bitar is of Lebanese descent and is a

Melkite The term Melkite (), also written Melchite, refers to various Eastern Christianity, Eastern Christian churches of the Byzantine Rite and their members originating in the Middle East. The term comes from the common Central Semitic Semitic root, ro ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

References

Australian people of Lebanese descent Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Australian Labor Party officials {{Australia-Labor-politician-stub