Thomas Stephen Webster, (born 5 July 1950) is a property valuer and former Labor Party local councillor and member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

, representing the electorate of

Wakehurst Wakehurst may refer to: Places: *Electoral district of Wakehurst, electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales *Wakehurst (formerly known as Wakehurst Place), a property owned by the National Trust and m ...

from 1978 to 1984.

Early years

Born in 1950, Webster was educated at Rozelle Public School and

Drummoyne Boys' High School Drummoyne Boys' High School (abbreviation:DBHS) is a former high school in the Inner West (Sydney), inner western Sydney suburb of Drummoyne, New South Wales, Drummoyne, New South Wales, Australia. It was a boys high school operated by the New Sou ...

(closed in 1990). After High school he attended

Sydney Technical College The Sydney Technical College, now known as the TAFE New South Wales Sydney Institute, is a technical school established in 1878, that superseded the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts. The college is one of Australia's oldest technical education i ...

and became a property valuer from 1970 for the Valuer-General's Department. As a Fellow of the Australian Property Institute (FAPI), Webster served as a divisional councillor from 2004 to 2009 and as president from 2006 to 2007.

Political career

Webster joined the Grafton Branch of the Australian Labor Party in 1971 and joined the Dee Why branch in 1976, becoming President from 1977–1978. At age 28, he was pre-selected as Labor Party candidate for the NSW State seat of Wakehurst in 1978. The 1978 election saw a huge swing towards the Labor Party in NSW and was known as the 'Wranslide', in reference to the state leader,

Neville Wran Neville Kenneth Wran, (11 October 1926 – 20 April 2014) was an Australian politician who was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 to 1986. He was the national president of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1980 to 1986 and chairman of ...

, with first-time seat wins in Wakehurst, Manly,

Cronulla Cronulla is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Boasting numerous surf beaches and swimming spots, the suburb attracts both tourists and Greater Sydney residents. Cronulla is located 26 kilometres south of the Sydney ...

and Willoughby. Webster was elected on 7 October 1978, becoming the first Labor member of what was a traditionally safe Liberal seat, defeating the sitting Liberal member and Shadow Minister for Services, Allan Viney, on a swing of over 14 percent. During his six years in Parliament, he served on a number of committees including the Public Accounts Committee. He was later appointed as senior policy adviser to the State Premier. He retained his seat at the 1981 election, gaining enough of a swing to technically make Wakehurst a safe Labor seat. However, he lost his seat to Liberal candidate John Booth at the 1984 election. With Booth only winning election on a margin of 1.6%, Wakehurst remained a marginal seat and Webster stood again as the Labor candidate at the 1988 election, but was again unsuccessful on a two-party-preferred result of 57-42% at an election that saw Labor lose power to the Coalition led by

Nick Greiner Nicholas Frank Hugo Greiner (;) (born 27 April 1947) is an Australian politician who served as the 37th Premier of New South Wales from 1988 to 1992. Greiner was Leader of the New South Wales Division of the Liberal Party from 1983 to 1992 an ...

. Webster was later elected as a Councillor for B Riding (which became A Riding/Ward following the secession of

Pittwater Council Pittwater Council was a local government area on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It covered a region adjacent to the Tasman Sea about north of the Sydney central business district. The area is named ...

in 1992) on

Warringah Shire Council Warringah Council was a Local government areas of New South Wales, local government area in the Northern Beaches (Sydney), northern beaches region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It was proclaimed on 7 March 1906 as the Wa ...

in September 1991 and later served a single term as Deputy Mayor. He served on the Council until 1999 After leaving he returned to work exclusively for his Valuer Practice, T. S. Webster and Associates, which he had founded in 1988, but remains involved in the Dee Why Branch of the ALP. In the lead-up to the 2011 NSW state election, Webster was made a life member of the ALP and tried to mentor local Labor candidates but lamented to the

Manly Daily The ''Manly Daily'' is an Australian community newspaper, covering the Northern Beaches region of Sydney. The paper is one of News Corp Australia's community newspapers in New South Wales. It was delivered free to homes and businesses on Wednesd ...

that: "In my 40-year membership of the party I don’t think we have ever been in such dire straits", a comment that was reflected in the subsequent landslide defeat suffered by the party at that election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Webster, Tom Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly New South Wales local councillors Living people 1950 births Valuation professionals Australian Labor Party councillors Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales