Patrick Possum Gorman (born 12 December 1984) is an Australian politician, elected as 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 ...

representative to the

Division of Perth The Division of Perth is an Australian electoral division in the state of Western Australia. It is named after Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, where the Division is located. History The division was proclaimed in 1900, and was ...

at the

2018 Perth by-election A by-election for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Perth took place on Saturday 28 July 2018, following the resignation of incumbent Labor MP Tim Hammond. In early counting, within 90 minutes of the close of polls, the Australian ...

Early life

Gorman was born on 12 December 1984 in

East Fremantle, Western Australia East Fremantle (nicknamed East Freo) is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located south-west of the central business district. The suburb is mainly residential, and is coterminous with the Town of East Fremantle local government area. Previ ...

. His parents are Wendy and Ron Gorman, who were both teachers. Gorman has a younger brother. He attended Lance Holt School, a small independent primary school in Fremantle, and

Melville Senior High School Melville Senior High School is a Government school, public co-educational high school located in Melville, Western Australia, Melville, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Opened in 1960, as of 2021 the school had an enrolment of 1,399 students ...

. He then completed a Bachelor of Social Science at

Curtin University Curtin University, formerly known as Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT), is an Australian public research university based in Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. It is named after John Curtin, ...

, and a Graduate Diploma of Business and a Master of Business Administration at the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

Early career

From 2006 to 2007, Gorman worked as a research officer for

Ken Travers Kenneth Dunstan Elder Travers (born 1 February 1961) is a former Australian politician who was a Labor Party member of the Legislative Council of Western Australia from 1997 to 2016, representing North Metropolitan Region. Early life Traver ...

, a member of the

Western Australian Legislative Council The Western Australian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Western Australia, a state of Australia. It is regarded as a house of review for legislation passed by the Legislative Assembly, the lower house. The two Houses ...

, and from 2008 to 2009, Gorman worked as an electorate officer for

Melissa Parke Melissa Parke (born 11 August 1966) is a former Australian Labor Party politician and UN human rights lawyer, who served as Member for the federal electoral Division of Fremantle in the Australian House of Representatives from 2007 to 2016. In ...

, a 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 ...

. During this time, he held several voluntary positions in the Labor Party: from 2006 to 2008, he was secretary of the Australian Labor Party Curtin University sub-branch; from 2007 to 2008, he was Secretary of

Young Labor Australian Young Labor, also known as the Young Labor Movement or simply Young Labor, is the youth wing of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) representing all ALP members aged between 15 to 26. The organisation operates as a federation with independen ...

(WA); and in 2009, he was convenor of the Australian Labor Party Conservation, Environment and Climate Change Policy Committee (WA). From 2010 to 2013, Gorman worked in various advisor positions for

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 ...

, including as principal advisor during Rudd's second term as

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

. In 2014 and 2015, Gorman worked as Director of Public Affairs for the

United Voice United Voice was a large Australian trade union, with over 130,000 members. United Voice members worked in a wide range of occupations including hospitality, childcare, teachers' aides, aged care, property services (cleaning, security, maintenan ...

union, which is part of the

Labor Left The Labor Left, also known as the Progressive Left or Socialist Left, is political faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It competes with the more economically liberal Labor Right faction. The Labor Left operates autonomously in each s ...

faction. In 2015, Gorman replaced Simon Mead as the State Secretary of WA Labor, with the backing of United Voice. Mead had resigned after losing support from WA Labor leader

Mark McGowan Mark McGowan (born 13 July 1967) is an Australian politician, the 30th premier of Western Australia, and the leader of the Western Australian branch of the Labor Party. McGowan was born and raised in Newcastle, New South Wales. He attended t ...

, and United Voice. As secretary, Gorman led the

2017 Western Australian state election The 2017 Western Australian state election was held on Saturday 11 March 2017 to elect members to the Parliament of Western Australia, including all 59 seats in the Legislative Assembly and all 36 seats in the Legislative Council. The eight-a ...

campaign for Labor, where McGowan became

Premier of Western Australia The premier of Western Australia is the head of government of the state of Western Australia. The role of premier at a state level is similar to the role of the prime minister of Australia at a federal level. The premier leads the executive bra ...

In parliament

In May 2018, Gorman was selected as the Labor Party's candidate for the

division of Perth The Division of Perth is an Australian electoral division in the state of Western Australia. It is named after Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, where the Division is located. History The division was proclaimed in 1900, and was ...

at the

. This came after first-term MP

Tim Hammond Timothy Jerome Hammond (born 25 March 1975) is a former Australian politician. He was the member for Perth in the Australian House of Representatives. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party and succeeded the previous member, Alannah MacTie ...

resigned from parliament, citing that he wanted to spend more time with his family. The

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

declined to contest the election. The by-election was held on 28 July, the same day as 4 other by-elections. Gorman won with a primary vote of 38.5%, and a

two-party-preferred vote In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP, ...

of 63.1% against

the Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to: Current political parties * Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens'' * Greens of Andorra * Greens of Bosnia and Herzegovina * Greens of Burkina * Greens (Greece) * Greens of Montenegro *Greens of Serbia *G ...

. Gorman retained his seat at the

2019 Australian federal election The 2019 Australian federal election was held on Saturday 18 May 2019 to elect members of the 46th Parliament of Australia. The election had been called following the dissolution of the 45th Parliament as elected at the 2016 double dissolut ...

. In a January 2021 shadow cabinet reshuffle, Gorman became Shadow Assistant Minister for Western Australia. In October 2021, Gorman announced his support for changing the date of

Australia Day Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove and raising of the Union Flag by Arthur Phillip following days of exploration of Port Ja ...

, having previously been against the idea. In addition to the day's negative impact on indigenous people, he said that Australia Day is "not a date that means much to what became Western Australia". He also said he was wrong not to previously support changing the date.

Personal life

Gorman is married to Jess Bukowski. They have two kids.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorman, Patrick 1984 births Living people Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Perth 21st-century Australian politicians Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Labor Left politicians People from Fremantle