John Robertson (politician, Born 1962)
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John Cameron "Robbo" Robertson (born 16 November 1962) is a former Australian politician who served as the leader of the Labor Party in
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
from 2011 to 2014. Before entering politics he was prominent in the
union movement The Union Movement (UM) was a far-right political party founded in the United Kingdom by Oswald Mosley. Before the Second World War, Mosley's British Union of Fascists (BUF) had wanted to concentrate trade within the British Empire, but the ...
. Robertson was born in
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
, and worked as an electrician before becoming an organiser for the Electrical Trades Union. He became an industrial officer with the Labor Council of New South Wales in 1991, and was elected assistant secretary in 1998 and secretary in 2001. He also served as a 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 trade union, unions and eight t ...
. Robertson entered the
New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. Along with the New South Wales Legislative As ...
in 2008, and was appointed to cabinet in 2009. He switched to the Legislative Assembly at the 2011 state election, where the Labor Party suffered a heavy defeat. Robertson was elected party leader following
Kristina Keneally Kristina Marie Kerscher Keneally (born 19 December 1968) is an American-born Australian politician who served as the first female Premier of New South Wales from 2009 to 2011 and was later a Labor Senator for New South Wales from February 2018 u ...
's resignation, becoming
leader of the opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...
. He resigned the leadership in the aftermath of the
2014 Sydney hostage crisis The Lindt Café siege was a terrorist attack that occurred on 15–16 December 2014 when a lone gunman, Man Haron Monis, held ten customers and eight employees of a Lindt#Lindt chocolate cafés and stores, Lindt Chocolate Café hostage in the ...
, after the disclosure of a minor link with its perpetrator. Robertson left politics in August 2017 to work in the non-profit sector. On 9 September 2017, it was announced that Robertson would chair the board for public insurer, icare.


Early life and personal background

Robertson was born at Ryde Hospital in New South Wales to parents Don and Rowena Robertson, the elder of their two boys.Who’s Who Australia Don Robertson conscripted his son into handing out how to vote cards in the 1972 Australian elections. Robertson was educated at Denistone East Primary School and Ryde High School. His first job was working for Woolworths packing shopping bags at the age of 15. He left school at 16 and began working as an apprentice electrical fitter. He worked as an electrician from 1979 until 1987 and worked on the New South Wales Parliament building. He claims to be the only person to have worked on the construction of the building and to have been voted into office to serve there. Robertson is married to Julie McLeod and they have three children.


Union career

During his time as an electrician, Robertson became an organiser for the Electrical Trades Union. In 1991, he became an industrial officer with the Labor Council of New South Wales, and then its executive officer in 1998. Later in life, he took up tertiary studies, and studied at the
University of Technology, Sydney The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The university was founded in its current form in 1988, though its origins as a technical institution can be traced back t ...
, graduating with a Graduate Diploma of Human Resources. In 1998, Robertson became the assistant secretary of the Labor Council, with responsibility for the building and construction industry, breweries, local government, public sector policy, the oil industry and
Sydney Water Sydney Water, formally, Sydney Water Corporation, is a Government of New South WalesState-owned corporation, owned statutory authority, statutory corporation that provides potable drinking water, wastewater and some stormwater services to Sydney ...
. In 2000, he ran the state wage case for the Labor Council before the Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales. The case was historic in that it was the first one heard in
Wollongong, New South Wales Wollongong ( ; Dharawal: ''Woolyungah'') is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near water' or 'sound ...
rather than Sydney. The Commission granted workers a $15 per week pay rise. In 2001, Robertson was elected unopposed as the secretary of Unions NSW (formerly the Labor Council of New South Wales), replacing Michael Costa. One of his first acts as secretary was to organise a blockade of the New South Parliament to protest the introduction of workers compensation law reforms. The blockade did not change the government's plans. During his term as secretary, Robertson headed the organisation as it sold its holiday property "Currawong" to finance a campaign to stop the implementation of
WorkChoices WorkChoices was the name given to changes made to the federal industrial relations laws in Australia by the Howard government#Fourth term: 2004–2007, Howard government in 2005, being amendments to the ''Workplace Relations Act 1996'' by the '' ...
by the Federal
Howard government The Howard government refers to the Government of Australia, federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister John Howard between 11 March 1996 and 3 December 2007. It was made up of members of the Liberal Party of Australia, Li ...
. The deal was said to have benefited the developers as the purchase was at "about half the price" of other bids for the property. Currawong had been established in 1949 to allow the union movement to provide poor children with holidays. Robertson denied the deal was at less than value, as it was an unconditional sale compared to other bids which were conditional on building approval. Robertson has been on the Administrative Committee of the Australian Labor Party since 2005 and became the 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 trade union, unions and eight t ...
(ACTU) in 2006. As member of the group Labor for Refugees, Robertson fought in 2002 to overturn the Labor Party's policy on asylum seekers, which mimicked the policy of the
Howard government The Howard government refers to the Government of Australia, federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister John Howard between 11 March 1996 and 3 December 2007. It was made up of members of the Liberal Party of Australia, Li ...
at the time. Robertson was a pivotal player in the campaign to replace Federal Opposition Leader
Kim Beazley Kim Christian Beazley (born 14 December 1948) is an Australian former politician and diplomat. Since 2022 he has served as chairman of the Australian War Memorial. Previously, he was leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and Leader of the ...
with
Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian diplomat and former politician who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and June to September 2013. He held office as the Leaders of the Australian Labo ...
in 2006. Robertson has held numerous other roles including member of the Building and Construction Industry Long Service Payments Corporation in 1993 and director of WorkCover NSW between 2001 and 2007. In 2002, he was appointed as a director of the Parramatta Stadium Trust. In 2006, he became a member of the New South Wales Heritage Council. He was a director of Energy Australia between 1998 and 2003, as well as a director of 2KY radio between 1998 and 2001. Robertson co-authored the book ''Your Rights at Work'', which was published in 1993.


Political career

On 18 October 2008, Robertson was endorsed to be the Labor Party candidate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of former state treasurer Michael Costa. He was subsequently appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council (the state's upper house) to fill that casual vacancy. Costa was Robertson's predecessor at Unions NSW, and ironically, his role in blocking the privatisation of the NSW power industry was one of the causes that led to Costa's resignation. Shortly after Robertson's swearing in, former Australian prime minister
Paul Keating Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is an Australian former politician and trade unionist who served as the 24th prime minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996. He held office as the leader of the Labor Party (ALP), having previously ser ...
sent a scathing letter to Robertson stating that Keating was "ashamed to share membership of the same party" as him. Keating's view of Robertson was that his opposition to the privatisation bid would cost Labor dearly at the next State election. Robertson won the seat of Blacktown in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly at the March 2011 election, despite the Labor government suffering the worst defeat of a sitting government in New South Wales since Federation. Robertson himself barely squeaked into office in what has historically been a comfortably safe Labor seat; he suffered a swing of 18.7 percent, cutting the Labor majority down to a very marginal three percent. After
Kristina Keneally Kristina Marie Kerscher Keneally (born 19 December 1968) is an American-born Australian politician who served as the first female Premier of New South Wales from 2009 to 2011 and was later a Labor Senator for New South Wales from February 2018 u ...
announced she was standing down as state Labor leader and returning to the backbench, Robertson was heavily tipped to succeed her. On 31 March, Robertson was elected unopposed as leader of the Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition. His immediate task was rebuilding a party that had seen its caucus more than halved in the election held a week earlier—a result that Robertson said the party deserved, calling it "a devastating result, a message that was sent to us." In the aftermath of the
2014 Sydney hostage crisis The Lindt Café siege was a terrorist attack that occurred on 15–16 December 2014 when a lone gunman, Man Haron Monis, held ten customers and eight employees of a Lindt#Lindt chocolate cafés and stores, Lindt Chocolate Café hostage in the ...
, it was revealed that Robertson had previously sent a letter on behalf of the gunman,
Man Haron Monis Man Haron Monis (; born Mohammed Hassan Manteghi Borujerdi; 19 May 1964 – 16 December 2014) was an Iranian-born refugee and Australian citizen who took hostages in a siege at the Lindt Chocolate Café at Martin Place, Sydney on 15 Dece ...
, a constituent in his Blacktown electorate, to the Department of Family and Community Services. The letter was, according to Robertson, routine procedure on behalf of a constituent and written in support of Monis' request for a supervised visit with his children on Father's Day in 2011 despite an apprehended violence order against him. The Department declined Monis' request. Pressure mounted on Robertson to resign as Leader of the Labor Party, with the 2015 state election three months away. ABC News reported that several members of the Labor caucus were gathering support to have Robertson voted out if he didn't resign. Robertson stood aside on 23 December 2014, saying that "the next election is so important that Labor must be united behind the leader. Robertson was initially replaced by Linda Burney on an interim basis, and then by Luke Foley. He was the first NSW Labor leader since
Pat Hills Patrick Darcy Hills (31 December 1917 – 22 April 1992) was a New South Wales politician. He served in various high offices across the state most notably the Deputy Premier of New South Wales, Leader of the Opposition and as the Lord Mayor ...
not to go on to become premier, and only the third in almost a century not to take the party into an election. On 3 August 2017, Robertson announced he would be resigning from parliament, which became effective on 25 August, to take up a position as executive general manager at Foodbank, a not-for-profit organisation which distributes excess food from retailers to the needy.


See also

* Shadow Ministry of John Robertson


References


External links

  , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, John 1962 births Living people Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Leaders of the opposition in New South Wales Australian electricians Australian trade unionists University of Technology Sydney alumni Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 21st-century Australian politicians Ministers for climate change (New South Wales) Ministers for corrections (New South Wales) Ministers for energy (New South Wales) Ministers for the environment (New South Wales)