Rodney Weston Sawford (born 26 June 1944), is a former

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 t ...

politician. He served as the 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 o ...

from March 1988 to November 2007, representing the

Division of Port Adelaide The Division of Port Adelaide was an Australian electoral division in the state of South Australia. The 181 km² seat extended from St Kilda in the north to Grange Road and Findon in the south with part of Salisbury to the east. Subur ...

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 ...

Biography

He was born in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, and was educated at Western Teachers College,

. He was a teacher before entering politics, serving as the principal of the local Taperoo Primary School. He was elected to parliament at the 1988 Port Adelaide by-election, following the resignation of

Mick Young Michael Jerome Young (9 October 19368 April 1996) was an Australian politician. He rose through the Australian Labor Party (ALP) to become its National Secretary, before serving as a Labor member of the House of Representatives from the 1974 ...

. He prided himself on the fact that he and his forebears have lived in the electorate for many generations. He was a member of the previously dominant Centre-Left faction, which is now defunct, and is now classified as a member of the "independents" faction. He spoke out against

Kim Beazley Kim Christian Beazley (born 14 December 1948) is an Australian former politician and diplomat. He was leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and leader of the opposition from 1996 to 2001 and 2005 to 2006, having previously been a cabine ...

when he attempted to regain the leadership from former leader

Simon Crean Simon Findlay Crean (born 26 February 1949) is an Australian politician and trade unionist. He was the Member of Parliament for Hotham from 1990 to 2013, representing the Labor Party, and served as a Cabinet Minister in the Hawke, Keating, R ...

in 2003, again when Beazley contested the leadership with

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 ...

in December 2003, and again in 2005, when Beazley reassumed the leadership following Latham's retirement. His electorate office was burnt down in an overnight fire in 2004. Sawford was a Deputy Government Whip 1994–96 and a Deputy Opposition Whip 1996–2001. He announced his retirement as of the

2007 federal election This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not ...

, citing an interest in running as a state independent as a protest against "gutless wonders" in the Rann state Labor government over long-running housing development plans at Cheltenham.http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20131260-2702,00.html

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sawford, Rod 1944 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Port Adelaide 21st-century Australian politicians 20th-century Australian politicians