Stewart John West (31 March 1934 – 29 March 2023) was an Australian politician. He represented 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 ...

(ALP) in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

from 1977 to 1993, holding the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

seat of

Cunningham Cunningham is a surname of Scottish origin, see Clan Cunningham. Notable people sharing this surname A–C *Aaron Cunningham (born 1986), American baseball player *Abe Cunningham, American drummer * Adrian Cunningham (born 1960), Australian ...

. He was a member of cabinet in the Hawke Government, serving as

Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs The Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs is a ministerial post of the Australian Government and is currently held by Andrew Giles, pending the swearing in of the full Albanese ministry on 1 June 2022, following the ...

(1983–1984), Housing and Construction (1984–1987), and Administrative Services (1987–1990).

Early life

West was born on 31 March 1934 in

Forbes, New South Wales Forbes is a town in the Central West, New South Wales, Central West region of New South Wales, Australia, located on the Newell Highway between Parkes, New South Wales, Parkes and West Wyalong, New South Wales, West Wyalong. At the , Forbes h ...

. Before entering parliament he was president of the

Port Kembla A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...

branch of the

Waterside Workers' Federation The Waterside Workers' Federation of Australia (WWF) was an Australian trade union that existed from 1902 to 1993. After a period of negotiations between other Australian maritime unions, it was federated in 1902 and first federally registered ...

from 1972 to 1977. He also served as

Rex Connor Reginald Francis Xavier "Rex" Connor (26 January 190722 August 1977) was an Australian politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1963 to his death, representing the Labor Party. He was the Minister for Minerals ...

's campaign manager from 1966 to 1975.

Politics

West was elected to parliament in the Cunningham by-election on 15 October 1977, after the sudden death of the sitting member,

. He was promoted to the shadow ministry of

Bill Hayden William George Hayden (born 23 January 1933) is an Australian politician who served as the 21st governor-general of Australia from 1989 to 1996. He was Leader of the Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1977 to 1983, and served as ...

in 1980. When the Labor Party won government in the 1983 federal election, West was appointed

in the

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

under Prime Minister

Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and union organiser who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (A ...

. As the only member of Labor's left-wing faction to be a Cabinet minister, West found himself at odds with the Labor Right-dominated

, and he resigned on 4 November 1983 when he was unable to support a Cabinet decision on

uranium mining Uranium mining is the process of extraction of uranium ore from the ground. Over 50 thousand tons of uranium were produced in 2019. Kazakhstan, Canada, and Australia were the top three uranium producers, respectively, and together account f ...

. He was reappointed to Cabinet on 3 April 1984, and served out the remaining parliamentary term as Immigration Minister. West remained in Cabinet for the Hawke government's two subsequent terms as

Minister for Housing and Construction Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

from 1984 to 1987, and Minister for Administrative Services from 1987 to 1990. He resigned from Parliament on 8 February 1993 after losing pre-selection for the seat of Cunningham to Stephen Martin. West died on 29 March 2023, two days before his 89th birthday.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:West, Stewart 1934 births 2023 deaths Australian trade unionists Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Cunningham Members of the Cabinet of Australia 20th-century Australian politicians People from Forbes, New South Wales