Martin Ferguson
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Martin John Ferguson, AM (born 12 December 1953), Australian politician, has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives since March 1996, representing the Division of Batman, Victoria. 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 Laurie Ferguson, also a federal MP.
Ferguson was educated at St Patrick's College, Strathfield and then Sydney University. He was successively research officer, Assistant General Secretary and General Secretary of the Miscellaneous Workers' Union, a member of the executive of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) 1984-90. He was Vice-President of the ACTU 1985-90 and President of the ACTU 1990-96. He was a member of the Governing Body of the International Labour Organisation 1990-96. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1996.
Ferguson was elected to the Opposition Shadow Ministry in March 1996 and was Shadow Minister for Regional and Urban Development and Shadow Minister for Transport and Infrastructure 2001-04. He has been Shadow Minister for Primary Industries, Resources and Tourism since October 2004.
[edit] Uranium debate
In 2005, Ferguson addressed an Australian Uranium Conference and said "We as a community have to be part of the ever-complex question of how we clean up the world's climate. And part of that debate is going to be nuclear power."
Friends of the Earth have strongly opposed Ferguson's advocacy for expanding the export of uranium beyond the existing three-mines policy which Ferguson hopes to overturn at the ALP's next national conference in April 2007 [1]. The lobby group Northern Anti Nuclear Alliance has distributed 60,000 leaflets critical of his policy in his electorate of Batman. He also supported - in scientific terms - the proposal of former Prime Minister Bob Hawke for Australia to become the world's storage facility for nuclear waste although he said that it was politically not possible[2].
He also told ABC Radio that it was wrong to ban uranium export to the People's Republic of China: "The Labor Party adopts the view that we're open for investment. It's about economic growth and jobs in Australia. Is China to be treated any different to South Korea, Japan, France, United States? I don't think so. We don't have one rule for China in terms of overseas investment and economic growth and jobs and another rule for Japan."
[edit] External links
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ferguson, Martin John |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Australian politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 12 December 1953 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| DATE OF DEATH | living |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
