Timothy Hugh Pallas (born 7 January 1960) is an Australian politician. He has been a Labor Party member of the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presiding ...

since 2006, representing the electorate of

Tarneit Tarneit () is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, west of Melbourne's Melbourne City Centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham Local government areas of Victoria, local government area. ...

until 2014 and

Werribee Werribee is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham local government area. Werribee recorded a population of 50,027 at the 2021 census. Werribee i ...

thereafter. He has served as

Treasurer of Victoria The Treasurer of Victoria is the title held by the Cabinet Minister who is responsible for the financial management of the budget sector in the Australian state of Victoria. This primarily includes:Andrew Ministries since December 2014. and is currently still serving as treasurer in the Allan Ministry in 2023. Pallas previously served as Minister for

Roads A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

and Ports and Minister for Major Projects in the

Brumby Ministry The Brumby Ministry was the 66th ministry of the Government of Victoria. It was led by the Premier of Victoria, John Brumby, and Deputy Premier, Rob Hulls. It succeeded the Bracks Ministry on 3 August 2007, following the retirement of former P ...

until 2010.

Early career

Prior to entering parliament, Pallas worked as a trade union official with the National Union of Workers, Assistant Secretary of the ACTU and as Chief of Staff to

Premier of Victoria The premier of Victoria is the head of government in the Australian state of Victoria. The premier is appointed by the governor of Victoria, and is the leader of the political party able to secure a majority in the Victorian Legislative Assembly ...

Steve Bracks Stephen Phillip Bracks (born 15 October 1954) is a former Australian politician and was the 44th Premier of Victoria. He first won the electoral district of Williamstown in 1994 for the Labor Party and was party leader and premier from 1999 ...

Political career

He first contested the open preselection for the federal seat of

Melbourne Ports The Division of Melbourne Ports was an Australian federal electoral division in the inner south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was located to the south of Melbourne's central business district and covered an area of appro ...

in 1998, but was defeated by

Michael Danby Michael David Danby (born 16 February 1955) is an Australian politician who was an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1998 until 2019, representing the Division of Melbourne Ports, Victoria. Danby was b ...

. In 2005, Pallas challenged incumbent backbencher Mary Gillett for preselection in the safe seat of

, and with Bracks' backing, was successful. He was easily elected at the 2006 state election, and was immediately appointed to Cabinet, being assigned the roads and ports portfolio. In 2010, Pallas called Formula One driver

Lewis Hamilton Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Mich ...

a "dickhead" while launching a road safety initiative. Hamilton had been caught by police engaging in an act of 'hoon driving' in a $160,000 Mercedes on the previous Friday night. During his ministry, he implemented a number of measures to improve traffic flow on the major Victorian freeways including the Monash CityLink West Gate Upgrade. In February 2010, he launched a $5 million study into traffic flow along

Hoddle Street Hoddle Highway is an urban highway in Melbourne linking CityLink and the Eastern Freeway, itself a sub-section of Hoddle Main Road. Both these names are not widely known to most drivers, as the entire allocation is still best known as by the n ...

between

CityLink CityLink is a network of tollways in Melbourne, Australia, linking the Tullamarine, West Gate and Monash Freeways and incorporating Bolte Bridge, Burnley Tunnel and other works. In 1996, Transurban was awarded the contract to augment two exi ...

and the Eastern Freeway. The study had been previously announced in the

Victorian Transport Plan The Victorian Transport Plan is a now defunct transport planning framework for the state of Victoria, Australia announced on 9 December 2008 by then Premier of Victoria, John Brumby. The plan was submitted to the Government of Australia for fund ...

in 2008. In March 2010, he approved a ban on trucks using the right-hand lane on busy sections of three-lane freeways. The

RACV The Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV) is a motoring club and mutual organisation. It offers various services to members, including insurance and roadside assistance. It has about 30,000 ordinary club members who have access to the lif ...

had campaigned for the ban for two years, attracting support from an "overwhelming 83% of motorists tsurveyed". Transferring to the electorate of Werribee following a boundary redistribution, Pallas was again successful at the

2014 Victorian state election The 2014 Victorian state election, held on Saturday, 29 November 2014, was for the 58th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly and 40 seats in the Victorian Legislative Council were up for election. The incumb ...

and was appointed Treasurerafter the election of the Andrews Labor Government. His first budget in May 2015 provided for the biggest spend on education in Victoria's history. Pallas was additionally appointed Minister for Trade in June 2022. He was elected for a fifth time at the

2022 Victorian state election The 2022 Victorian state election was held on Saturday, 26 November 2022 to elect the 60th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Legislative Assembly (lower house) and all 40 seats in the Legislative Council (upper house) were up for el ...

. Originally a member of

Labor Right The Labor Right, also known as Modern Labor, is a political faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) at the national level that is characterised by being more economically conservative and, in some cases, more socially conservative. The Labor ...

, Pallas defected to

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 ...

along with six of his colleagues shortly after the 2022 Victorian state election; his defection meant that the positions of Premier, Deputy Premier and Treasurer were all held by members of Labor Left, and also ensured that Labor Left constituted a majority of the state Labor caucus.

Personal life

Pallas resides in Williamstown, approximately 20km away from his electorate of Werribee. Pallas is married with two children, and is a supporter of the

Werribee Tigers The Werribee Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers, is an Australian rules football club, based in Werribee. The club was formed in 1964 and currently plays in the Victorian Football League (VFL). It is the western-most Melbourne-based VFL club as ...

, the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...

, the

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are a rugby league club based in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia that participates in the National Rugby League. The first fully professional rugby league team based in the state, the Storm entered the competition in 1998. ...

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory e ...

and the

Melbourne Vixens Melbourne Vixens is an Australian netball team based in Melbourne, Victoria. Since 2017 they have represented Netball Victoria in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. The team was formed in 2007 ...

.https://www.ttf.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Biography-Victorian-Treasurer-Tim-Pallas-May-2018.pdf

References

External links

*
Tim Pallas at re-memberParliament of Victoria profile page

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pallas, Tim 1960 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Victoria Labor Left politicians Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Treasurers of Victoria Australian trade unionists Australian National University alumni 21st-century Australian politicians Politicians from Newcastle, New South Wales Ministers for Roads and Road Safety (Victoria) Ministers for Industrial Relations (Victoria) Ministers for Ports and Freight (Victoria) Ministers for Major Projects (Victoria)