Brendan O'Connor (politician)

Brendan Patrick O'Connor (born 2 March 1962), Australian politician, has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives since November 2001, representing the Division of Burke, Victoria 2001–04 and the Division of Gorton since October 2004. He is currently the Minister for Home Affairs.

He was born in London, England, to Irish parents and held Irish citizenship until 1995, when he became an Australian citizen. He was educated in Ireland and Australia, taking degrees in Arts and Law at Monash University. In 1995, he participated in the Harvard Trade Union Program at Harvard Law School, Harvard University.

He firstly began his union career as an organiser with the now defunct Municipal Employees Union of Victoria. And then he was Assistant National Secretary with the Australian Services Union before entering politics.

The Electoral Division of Burke was abolished by the 2003 redistribution, and O'Connor contested the new Electoral Division of Gorton at the 2004 election.

He is a member of the Independent Left faction of the Victorian branch of the Labor Party, more commonly known as the Ferguson Left.

In December 2005, he was elected to the position of Chair of the Federal Labor Industrial Relations Taskforce, in a caucus ballot. The Taskforce was instigated by the caucus in order to investigate the adverse effects of the Howard Government's WorkChoices legislation, a controversial package of industrial relations changes.

In 2006, the Taskforce travelled to every state and territory convening meetings with individuals, employers, church and community groups and trade unions, collecting testimony. An interim report, 'WorkChoices: A Race to the Bottom' was launched by Opposition Leader Kim Beazley at Parliament House, Canberra on 20 June 2006.

Shortly after the election of Kevin Rudd to the office of federal Labor leader and Leader of the Opposition on 4 December 2006, O'Connor was appointed Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Industrial Relations.

Following the Labor victory at the 2007 federal election, the new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced that O'Connor would serve as the Minister for Employment Participation from 29 November 2007.^[1]

On 6 June 2009 O'Connor was announced as the Minister for Home Affairs in the Rudd Government, replacing Bob Debus who will be retiring at the next federal election.^[2]

Following Labor's narrow victory at the 2010 Election, new Prime Minister Julia Gillard allocated increased responsibilities to O'Connor. He became Minister for Home Affairs, Minister for Justice and Minister for Privacy and Freedom of Information.

References

External links

• Brendan O'Connor's personal website.
• Parliament House webpage.