Anthony Vincent Sheldon (born 26 August 1961) is an Australian politician and trade unionist. He is a member of 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 t ...

(ALP) and has served as a Senator for

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 ...

since 2019. He was previously a senior figure in the Transport Workers Union (TWU), serving as state secretary (1999–2008) and national secretary (2006–2019).

Early life

Sheldon was born on 26 August 1961 in

Caringbah, New South Wales Caringbah is a suburb in Southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Caringbah is south of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Sutherland Shire. Caringbah once stretched from Woolooware Bay on ...

. He attended

De La Salle College, Cronulla , motto_translation = With God As Leader , established = , type = Independent comprehensive co-educational secondary day school , denomination = Roman Catholic , oversight = Catholic Education Office, Archdiocese of Sydney , re ...

. He worked as a cleaner, bartender and garbage collector prior to becoming a professional unionist. He undertook postgraduate studies in industrial law at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...

and is also a graduate of the

Harvard Trade Union Program Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan cler ...

Transport Workers Union

Sheldon joined the TWU in the 1990s. He led the NSW branch of TWU from 1999 to 2008 and was elected TWU National Secretary in 2006. In 2008, Sheldon was accused of running a joint employer–union training fund. A review by professional services firm

Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of professio ...

noted a lack of governance arrangements in the operation of the fund, which should have been in place to ensure its formal separation from the TWU. In December 2011 he restructured elements of the TWU's national office, with a stated view to position the TWU for the future, but the move received some criticism from rival unions and disgruntled former members of staff. As TWU National Secretary, Sheldon led the widely praised TWU 'Safe Rates' campaign, where his negotiation skills and leadership of the TWU's campaigning were instrumental in garnering community and political support for the Road Safety Remuneration Act 2012, landmark legislation which is aimed at improving safety and conditions in the road transport industry. In October 2015, he led a delegation to the

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...

lobbying for a plan based on the Australian Safe Rates model to tackle unfair and unsafe remuneration as the root cause of the high global death toll in trucking. In May 2012 Sheldon was named one of the most powerful union leaders in Australia by the Power Index. In 2014 he was elected chairperson of the International Transport Workers' Federation Road Transport Sector. He resigned from the TWU in August 2018 following his preselection for the Senate. Sheldon also served as vice president of the

Australian Council of Trade Unions The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), originally the Australasian Council of Trade Unions, is the largest peak body representing workers in Australia. It is a national trade union centre of 46 affiliated unions and eight trades and la ...

, a member of the Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch) administrative committee, as a board member to TWU Super and is a former senior vice president of the

Politics

Sheldon won ALP

preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presele ...

for the Senate in June 2018, with the endorsement of the Centre Unity (

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 ...

) faction. ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' described him as a "strong backer of Labor leader

Bill Shorten William Richard Shorten (born 12 May 1967) is an Australian politician currently serving as Minister for Government Services and Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme since 2022. He previously served as leader of the opposition ...

" and speculated he would be elevated to the ministry if the party won government. He was elected to the Senate at the 2019 federal election to a term beginning on 1 July 2019. On 24 July 2022, Sheldon was appointed Special Envoy for Disaster Recovery by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheldon, Tony 1961 births Living people Australian trade unionists Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Labor Right politicians Members of the Australian Senate Members of the Australian Senate for New South Wales People from the Sutherland Shire People educated at De La Salle College, Cronulla