Steven Georganas (born 13 June 1959) is an Australian politician and is 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 ...
member for 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 ...
seat of
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
since the
2019 Australian federal election
The 2019 Australian federal election was held on Saturday 18 May 2019 to elect members of the 46th Parliament of Australia. The election had been called following the dissolution of the 45th Parliament as elected at the 2016 double dissolut ...
. Previously, he had been the member for
Hindmarsh from 2004 to 2013 and again from 2016 to 2019.
Background
Georganas was born in
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
of Greek parents. He gained a Business Studies Certificate at a
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 ...
college and worked as a taxi driver, an assembly-line worker in a factory, and an underwriter.
He worked as a ministerial adviser to South Australian government minister
Jay Weatherill
Jay Wilson Weatherill (born 3 April 1964) is an Australian politician who was the 45th Premier of South Australia, serving from 21 October 2011 until 19 March 2018. Weatherill represented the House of Assembly seat of Cheltenham as a member of ...
from 2002 to 2004.
Political career
Elections
Georganas was the Labor Party candidate for
Hindmarsh at the
1998 federal election and the
2001 federal election, but was unsuccessful on both occasions.
At the
2004 federal election, Georganas defeated
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
candidate
Simon Birmingham
Simon John Birmingham (born 14 June 1974) is an Australian politician who has been a Senator for South Australia since 2007. A member of the Liberal Party, he served in the Morrison Government as Minister for Finance from 2020 to 2022 and as Min ...
, winning Hindmarsh by 108 votes. He was re-elected with increased majorities at the
2007
File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...
and
2010 federal elections.
Georganas was defeated by Liberal candidate
Matt Williams at the
2013 federal election when the Australian Labor Party lost government. Georganas was successful at recapturing the seat for Labor at the
2016 federal election.
A redistribution ahead of the
2019 federal election saw the neighbouring seat of
Port Adelaide
Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...
abolished, with most of its territory being transferred to Hindmarsh. The redistribution made Hindmarsh significantly more secure for Labor, boosting the Labor majority to 8.2 percent. Soon afterward, the Left and Right factions of SA Labor reached a deal that saw Georganas relinquish Hindmarsh to the incumbent MP for Port Adelaide, former federal Labor president
Mark Butler
Mark Christopher Butler (born 8 July 1970) is an Australian politician. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has served in the House of Representatives since 2007. He was a minister in the Gillard and Rudd Governments and al ...
. In return, Georganas was given Labor preselection for
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
, after the incumbent MP,
Kate Ellis, announced that she was retiring. Adelaide was made safer for Labor at the redistribution, having a nominal majority of 9 percent.
Policy positions
Georganas campaigned on noise reduction surrounding the
Adelaide Airport
Adelaide Airport , also known as Adelaide International Airport, is the principal airport of Adelaide, South Australia and the List of the busiest airports in Australia, fifth-busiest airport in Australia, servicing 8.5 million passenger ...
,
and in 2007 introduced a
Private member's bill
A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...
to create an Aircraft Noise Ombudsman.
He is a prominent advocate for animal welfare and curtailing
live animal exports, speaking at rallies and tabling motions in parliament calling for the practice to be condemned and fines to be imposed for animal cruelty. He also campaigned for the super-trawler
FV ''Margiris'' to be banned from fishing in Australia.
Georganas voted in support of
same-sex marriage in Australia
Same-sex marriage in Australia has been legal since 9 December 2017. Legislation to allow same-sex marriage, the ''Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017'', passed the Australian Parliament on 7 December 2017 and receiv ...
when the issue was debated in parliament in 2013.
He has also campaigned for a 'Do Not Knock' register to ban door-to-door salespeople from visiting registered properties, and introduced a Private member's bill to create a register in 2012.
Georganas left
Labor Left
The Labor Left, also known as the Progressive Left or Socialist Left, is political faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It competes with the more economically liberal Labor Right faction.
The Labor Left operates autonomously in each s ...
, the faction that had supported him since the 1990s, in May 2019. Georganas joined several other South Australian MPs, candidates and members who had resigned from the left to join
Labor Unity
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 ...
, including
Tony Piccolo MP in 2013 and candidate Jo Chapley in 2018.
Personal life
Georganas has lived in the suburb of Mile End, currently in the electorate of Adelaide, his entire life.
He has two adult sons; George and Alex.
He is a supporter of the
West Adelaide Football Club
West Adelaide Football Club is an Australian rules football club in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Commonly known as The Bloods and Westies, the club's home base is Richmond Oval (South Australia), Richmond Oval (current ...
, and a member of the club's board of directors.
He is also involved in numerous community organizations, including as president of his local Lions club, and as a board member of the Adelaide
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
Glendi
In Australia, Glendi is an annual weekend long festival that celebrates Greek culture in Australia. Established in 1978, it's held in Adelaide during the last weekend of November at Bonython Park since 2013 and is the largest ethnic festival in ...
Festival.
References
External links
Profile: ALP.org.au
{{DEFAULTSORT:Georganas, Steve
1959 births
Living people
Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia
Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Hindmarsh
Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Adelaide
Politicians from Adelaide
Australian people of Greek descent
Australian taxi drivers
Labor Right politicians
21st-century Australian politicians