Patrick Frederick "Pat" Conlon (born 1959) is a former

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 ...

n politician who represented the

Electoral district of Elder Elder is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. It is named after nineteenth-century businessman and philanthropist Sir Thomas Elder. Elder is an 18.3 km² suburban electorate in Adelaide's inner sou ...

in the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assembly was creat ...

as a member of the Labor Party from 1997 to 2014. He was Minister for Transport, Minister for Infrastructure, and Minister for Energy, as well as the Leader of Government Business in the Lower House. Until early 2005, Conlon was also Emergency Services Minister and took part in the government's response to the

Eyre Peninsula bushfire The Eyre Peninsula bushfire of 2005, an event also known locally as Black Tuesday and by South Australian Government agencies as the Wangary bushfire, was a bushfire that occurred during January 2005 on the lower part of the Eyre Peninsula, a si ...

(also known as ''Black Tuesday'') in January 2005. Conlon was the most senior

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 ...

figure in the Labor cabinet until April 2010 when he became unaligned. He was formerly an organiser for the Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union.

Early life

Born in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, the seven-year-old Conlon was brought to

by his family in 1966. They lived initially in

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

before settling in

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...

. Conlon was educated at LeFevre Boys Technical High School. His early jobs included being a roof tiler, storeperson, timberhand, deckhand, and signalperson. In 1983 he became a union organiser and five years later he took part-time Arts and Law classes at the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

, which he funded through part-time work as an office cleaner, industrial officer, project officer and workers compensation employee advocate. He graduated with an Arts degree and with first class honours in Law. He won the Howard Zelling prize for Constitutional Law, the Stow Prize, and the David Murray Scholarship for his honours dissertation on employment law. In the early 1990s he worked at law firm Duncan Basheer with

Jay Weatherill Jay Wilson Weatherill (born 3 April 1964) is an Australian politician who was the 45th Premier of South Australia, serving from 21 October 2011 until 19 March 2018. Weatherill represented the House of Assembly seat of Cheltenham as a member of ...

and

Isobel Redmond Isobel Mary Redmond (born 8 April 1953) is a former Australian politician who was the member for the electoral district of Heysen in the House of Assembly from 2002 to 2018. She was the parliamentary leader of the South Australian Division of t ...

Parliament

Conlon was first elected to the

as the member for the south-western Adelaide seat of Elder at the 1997 election with a 52.6 percent

two-party A two-party system is a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually referr ...

vote from a 6.1 percent two-party swing. Conlon won a 53.7 percent two-party vote at the 2002 election. The 2006 election saw Conlon win a 64.9 percent two-party vote. The 2010 election saw Conlon win a 53.6 percent two-party vote. Conlon served in many portfolios between 2002 and 2013 as a senior cabinet member, including Government Enterprises, Police, Emergency Services, Energy, Infrastructure, Transport, Industrial Relations, State/Local Government Relations, Housing and Urban Development, and Transport and Infrastructure. After announcing in September 2012 his intention not to recontest his parliamentary seat at the 2014 election, Conlon announced in early March 2013 that he would immediately take up a salaried position with national law firm

MinterEllison MinterEllison is a multinational law firm, and professional services firm, based in Australia. The firm has fifteen offices and operates in five countries. By number of lawyers it is the largest law firm in Australia. History MinterEllison is ...

in Adelaide for the equivalent of three days per week.

Personal life

Conlon and his wife Tania have two daughters; Sadie Conlon born in December 2004 and Jemima Conlon. His hobbies include supporting the

Port Adelaide Magpies Adelaide Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia. The club's senior men's team plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), where they are nicknamed the Power, whilst its reserves ...

, fishing, fine wine, and cooking.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conlon, Patrick 1959 births Adelaide Law School alumni Living people Members of the South Australian House of Assembly Northern Ireland emigrants to Australia Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of South Australia Politicians from Belfast 21st-century Australian politicians