Laurie Donald Thomas Ferguson (born 7 July 1952) is a former Australian politician who was an Australian Labor Party member of the House of Representatives from March 1990, representing Reid until 2010 and Werriwa until May 2016, both in New South Wales.

Early life and education

Laurie Ferguson grew up in

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

, the eldest son of Mary Ellen and Jack Ferguson, who was deputy premier of New South Wales 1976–84. His brother Martin was also a federal MP. Both attended at

St Patrick's College, Strathfield , motto_translation = Matthew 5:16: Let Your Light Shine , location = , Inner West Sydney , state = New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , other_n ...

. His younger brother, Andrew, was the former NSW Secretary of the

Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMMEU, though most commonly still referred to as CFMEU) is Australia's main trade union in construction, forestry, maritime, mining, energy, textile, clothing and footwear producti ...

(Construction and General Division). Ferguson was educated at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one o ...

and was a research officer with the

Federated Miscellaneous Workers' Union The Federated Miscellaneous Workers' Union (F.M.W.U.), commonly known as the 'Missos', was an Australian trade union which existed between 1915 and 1992. It represented an extremely diverse and disparate range of occupations, but its core support ...

before entering politics.

Career

He was the member for Granville 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 House ...

1984–90. In the federal Parliament, Ferguson was elected to the opposition shadow ministry in March 1996 and was Shadow Minister for Immigration in 2004–05. His handling of the debate around

Petro Georgiou Petro Georgiou AO (born 30 November 1947) is a Greek Australian politician who was a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives from November 1994 to July 2010, representing the Division of Kooyong, Victoria. Early life Bor ...

's private member's bill on asylum seekers was severely criticised and he was shifted to Shadow Minister for Consumer Affairs, Population Health and Health Regulation in June 2005. On the election of the

Rudd Labor Government ''Scardinius'' is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae commonly called rudds. Locally, the name "rudd" without any further qualifiers is also used for individual species, particularly the common rudd (''S. erythrophthalmus''). The ...

in 2007, Ferguson became Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs and Settlement Services. He was preselected to contest the south-western Sydney seat of Werriwa at the 2010 federal election after his existing seat of Reid was merged with neighbouring

Lowe Lowe may refer to: People * Lowe (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * Liu, a Chinese surname sometimes romanized as Lowe Places * Division of Lowe, an Australian federal government electoral division * Lowe, Delaw ...

. Lowe MP John Murphy contested the redistributed Reid. He was not re-appointed to the Gillard Ministry after the election. Ferguson is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Global Panel Foundation-Australasia.

Personal life

Ferguson is married to Maureen Walsh, a former councillor at Parramatta City Council in the Woodville Ward.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferguson, Laurie 1952 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Reid Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Werriwa Australian people of Scottish descent Politicians from Sydney People educated at St Patrick's College, Strathfield University of Sydney alumni Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales Labor Left politicians 21st-century Australian politicians 20th-century Australian politicians