Laurie Ferguson

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Laurie Donald Thomas Ferguson (born 7 July 1952), Australian politician, has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives since March 1990, representing the Division of Reid, New South Wales. He was born in Sydney, New South Wales, the son of Jack Ferguson, who was Deputy Premier of New South Wales 1976-84. He is the brother of Martin Ferguson, also a federal MP. His younger brother Andrew Ferguson is the NSW Secretary of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (Construction and General Division). He is married to his wife, Maureen.

Ferguson was educated at Sydney University and was a Research Officer with the Federated Miscellaneous Workers' Union before entering politics. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 1984-90.

In the federal Parliament, Ferguson was elected to the Opposition Shadow Ministry in March 1996 and was Shadow Minister for Immigration in 2004-05. His handling of the debate around Petro Georgiou's private member's bill on asylum seekers was severely criticised, and he was shifted to become Shadow Minister for Consumer Affairs; Population Health and Health Regulation in June 2005. Ferguson is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Global Panel Foundation-Australasia.

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