Walt Secord

Walter Secord (born 25 December 1964) is a Canadian-born Australian politician. He has been a Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since May 2011, when he was elected to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Eddie Obeid. Secord was previously chief of staff to former NSW Premier, Kristina Keneally.

Early life and education

Secord was born in Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation, Ontario, Canada, and is a Mohawk-Ojibwe man whose father is a status Indian. He spent the first 17 years of his life on an Indian reserve. He states he is "fiercely proud of isaboriginal ancestry" and "that it shapes issocial justice."

He has two siblings. His brother, Dan, is a budding native rights leader in Canada and conducts annual Ojibway language camp ceremonies for native prisoners in Canada's toughest prisons. He was the first member of his father’s family to complete high school and the first to fly in aeroplane.

Early career

He studied arts at York University in Toronto, and worked as a journalist for the ''Toronto Star'' before emigrating to Australia in September 1988. He became an Australian citizen in June 1992.

Political career

Walt Secord was Bob Carr’s communications director and went on to become Kevin Rudd's director of communications. Secord was appointed as Shadow Treasurer, Shadow Minister for the Arts and Shadow Special Minister of State in the shadow cabinet of Jodi McKay in July 2019. Following Labor's defeat at the Upper Hunter by-election in May 2021, there was speculation that McKay would resign as party leader. After McKay announced she was not stepping down as party leader, Secord resigned from the shadow cabinet on 25 May 2021. He said it was "well-known that Jodi McKay and ehave disagreed on key policy, parliamentary and strategic decisions and directions", and that he could no longer serve under her.

Secord served as Shadow Minister for the Arts and Heritage, Shadow Minister for Police, Shadow Minister for Counter Terrorism and Shadow Minister for the North Coast in the NSW Shadow Cabinet until his resignation in August 2022.

Personal life

Secord married his partner on October 2021. Secord is the deputy chair of NSW Parliamentary Friends of Israel. In 2020 he announced that he was converting to Judaism. He has visited Israel multiple times and previously worked for the ''Australian Jewish News''. He described his conversion as "the logical step of a lifelong journey that was inevitable".

Bullying allegations

Published on 12 August 2022, the Independent Review of Bullying, Sexual Harassment and Sexual Misconduct in NSW Parliamentary Workplaces 2022 headed by Elizabeth Broderick outlined a range of inappropriate and criminal behaviour that had taken place in NSW Parliament workplaces. The allegations in the report were made anonymously, as were the identities of the alleged offenders, but a submission obtained by the ABC identified Secord as the MP in the report described as "a vicious manipulative bully who particularly targeted junior staff and young women". The submission further elaborated that "at various times he used his position, size and voice to pressure, berate, intimidate and humiliate staff to get his own way, with no issue too petty to bring about one of his outbursts.” Secord apologised for his behaviour and resigned from the Shadow Ministry on 15 August 2022 in response to the bullying allegations. On 19 August 2022, Secord announced his retirement from politics at the end of his current term in NSW Parliament.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Secord, Walt
1964 births
Living people
Australian Jews
Australian people of First Nations descent
Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council
First Nations politicians
Canadian newspaper journalists
Canadian male journalists
Toronto Star people
Canadian Mohawk people
Ojibwe people
York University alumni
Canadian emigrants to Australia
Naturalised citizens of Australia
Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales
21st-century Australian politicians
Mississauga people