Joel Fitzgibbon
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Joel Andrew Fitzgibbon (born 16 January 1962) is a retired Australian politician. 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 the f ...
(ALP) and has served 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 1996 to 2022, representing 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
Hunter Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
. He served as
Minister for Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
(2007–2009) in the
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and Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (2013) in the second Rudd Government. He was also Chief Government Whip in the House of Representatives (2010–2013) in the Gillard Government. Fitzgibbon succeeded his father
Eric The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...
in federal parliament. He is aligned with the Centre Unity faction in NSW, part of the federal
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. Since the 2019 election, he has become a vocal critic of stronger climate change policies, calling a potential 2030 target "delusional", and claiming that any embrace of more ambitious policies will alienate working-class support of Labor.


Early life

Fitzgibbon was born on 16 January 1962 in
Bellingen, New South Wales Bellingen ( ) is a small town in the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia. It is located on Waterfall Way on the Bellinger River, approximately halfway between the major Australian cities of Sydney and Brisbane. In 2021, the population ...
. He is the son of Anne and
Eric Fitzgibbon Eric John Fitzgibbon (27 August 1936 – 24 January 2015) was an Australian politician representing the Australian Labor Party. Born in Taree, New South Wales, he attended the University of New England and became a teacher. He served on Cessn ...
. His father, a schoolteacher, served as mayor of Cessnock and was elected to federal parliament in 1984. Fitzgibbon attended
All Saints College, Maitland All Saints College is a dual-campus independent Roman Catholic co-educational secondary day school, located in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales, Australia. The College is administered by the Catholic Schools Office of the Roman Cathol ...
. He worked as an automotive electrician from 1978 to 1990, operating a small business. He completed a graduate certificate in business administration at the University of Newcastle and was also a part-time
TAFE Technical and further education or simply TAFE (), is the common name in English-speaking countries in Oceania for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational cours ...
lecturer.


Political career

Fitzgibbon served on the Cessnock City Council from 1987 to 1995, including as deputy mayor from 1989 to 1990. He was a vice-president of the ALP's Cessnock branch and served as a delegate to state conference. From 1990 he worked as an electorate officer for his father.


Early career in federal politics

Fitzgibbon 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 seat of
Hunter Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
following his father's retirement prior to the 1996 federal election. He suffered a seven-point swing in 1996, but has been re-elected with little trouble since then, with the exception of the 2013 election, where his margin was significantly reduced. He was elected to the opposition shadow ministry in October 1998 and was appointed Shadow Minister for Mining, Energy and Forestry in 2003–05. In June 2005 he was appointed shadow assistant treasurer and shadow minister for revenue and for small business and competition. In early December 2006, when
Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...
became leader of the opposition, Fitzgibbon was appointed shadow minister for defence. He was subsequently appointed minister for defence when Labor won office at the
2007 federal election This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not i ...
.


Minister for Defence

In 2008 Fitzgibbon expressed dissatisfaction with an unclassified briefing he received on an assessment of the
Joint Strike Fighter Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is a development and acquisition program intended to replace a wide range of existing fighter, strike, and ground attack aircraft for the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands ...
(JSF). He subsequently ordered and received a classified report that addressed his concerns, and then expressed confidence in the JSF project. In the same interview, he denied any personal involvement in the
Australian Federal Police The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the national and principal federal law enforcement agency of the Australian Government with the unique role of investigating crime and protecting the national security of the Commonwealth of Australia. Th ...
(AFP) raid on the home of ''
Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in ...
journalist Philip Dorling, although he did not guarantee that his department had not contacted the AFP. Dorling was accused of receiving confidential cabinet documents intended for Fitzgibbon. On 22 October 2008, Fitzgibbon instructed the Department of Defence to cease debt recovery procedures against SAS soldiers who had been accidentally overpaid. A subsequent audit by
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discovered that the soldiers' pay continued to be docked after the ministerial instruction. In May 2009, Fitzgibbon announced a new defence
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titled '' Defending Australia in the Asia Pacific Century: Force 2030''.


Controversy

On 26 March 2009, ''
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'' reported that officers in the Department of Defence had conducted a covert and unauthorised investigation into Fitzgibbon's friendship with a Chinese-Australian businesswoman in the belief that it constituted a security risk. This was alleged to have included officers from the
Defence Signals Directorate Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), formerly the Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) is the federal statutory agency in the Australian Government responsible for foreign signals intelligence, support to military operations, cyber warfare, and ...
accessing the computer network in Fitzgibbon's office to obtain the woman's bank details. The Department launched an urgent inquiry into the reports.
Nick Warner Nicholas Peter Warner, (born 22 May 1950) is an Australian diplomat, intelligence official, public servant, and the Director-General of the Office of National Intelligence since 20 December 2018. Warner served as the director-general of the ...
, the Department's Secretary, stated that he had not seen any information to confirm the claims and that there were no circumstances in which secret investigations into Ministers could be authorised. Fitzgibbon was reported to be "furious" about the investigation, and suggested that it may have been conducted by officials opposed to his reforms to the
Australian Defence Organisation The Australian Defence Organisation (ADO), also known as simply Defence, is an Australian Government organisation that consists of both the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and the Department of Defence (DoD). The ADO's collective aims are to "de ...
. Fitzgibbon resigned as Minister for Defence on 4 June 2009 after admitting that meetings held between his brother Mark Fitzgibbon, the head of the health fund NIB, and Defence officials concerning business opportunities had breached the Ministerial Code of Conduct. In 2013, Fitzgibbon reflected on his term as Defence Minister and said that the defence chiefs had an obsession for the JSF and had refused to consider other alternatives.


43rd Parliament

Following his re-election in the 2010 federal election, Fitzgibbon was elected by the Labor
caucus A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting ...
as
chief government whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom ...
. Following the June 2013 Labor leadership spill, Fitzgibbon was appointed as Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in the Second Rudd ministry.


2015 proposed abolition of Hunter

In 2015 the
Australian Electoral Commission The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums. Responsibilities The AEC's main responsibility is to ...
announced plans to abolish the federation seat of Hunter. Due to changing populations, overall New South Wales was to lose a seat while Western Australia was to gain an extra seat. Electors in the north of Hunter were to join
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
. The roughly 40 percent remainder were to become part of Paterson, with the Liberal margin calculated to be notionally reduced from 9.8 to just 0.5 points as a result. Since the Commission's guidelines require it to preserve the names of original electorates where possible, the commission proposed renaming Charlton to Hunter. The final plan, however, saw Charlton abolished, with Hunter pushed slightly eastward to absorb much of Charlton's former territory. While most of the new Hunter's voters come from the old Charlton, as previously mentioned, Commission guidelines required the name of Hunter to be retained. The Labor incumbent for Charlton,
Pat Conroy Donald Patrick Conroy (October 26, 1945 – March 4, 2016) was an American author who wrote several acclaimed novels and memoirs; his books '' The Water is Wide'', ''The Lords of Discipline'', ''The Prince of Tides'' and ''The Great Santini'' we ...
, opted to contest neighbouring Shortland in order to allow Fitzgibbon to contest the new Hunter.


2019 election and aftermath

In the 2019 federal election, Fitzgibbon suffered a 9.5-point swing against him in his electorate, reducing his margin to just 3 points. After the election, he was a vocal critic of his party's direction, claiming that "Labor must reconnect with its blue-collar base and get back to the centre". He stated that he was considering running in the leadership ballot if other candidates do not "show more interest in regional Australia". He later endorsed
Anthony Albanese Anthony Norman Albanese ( or ; born 2 March 1963) is an Australian politician serving as the 31st and current prime minister of Australia since 2022. He has been leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since 2019 and the member of parlia ...
as leader, who won unopposed. In November 2020, Fitzgibbon announced that he was quitting the shadow cabinet, a response to moves by Labor's Left Faction to push for more action on climate change which, he believes are "delusional." In September 2021, Fitzgibbon announced his retirement at the next election, claiming that he has been successful in bringing back the Labor Party to the political centre.


Political positions

As the Labor Shadow Agriculture spokesman, Fitzgibbon opposed the Government's decision to stop the sale of S. Kidman & Co as "political" and accused it of running a "discriminatory foreign investment regime". Fitzgibbon serves as the convenor of the NSW Right
faction Faction or factionalism may refer to: Politics * Political faction, a group of people with a common political purpose * Free and Independent Faction, a Romanian political party * Faction (''Planescape''), a political faction in the game ''Planes ...
in federal parliament.


See also

* First Rudd Ministry * Second Rudd Ministry


References


External links

* * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgibbon, Joel 1962 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Labor Right politicians Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Hunter Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Cabinet of Australia Rudd Government Defence ministers of Australia 21st-century Australian politicians 20th-century Australian politicians Government ministers of Australia Deputy mayors of places in Australia New South Wales local councillors