Steve Herbert

Steven Ralph "Steve" Herbert (born 30 April 1954) is an Australian politician. He is an Australian Labor Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, and has represented the seat of Eltham since 2002.

Education and employment

Herbert was born in Melbourne, Victoria, and attended Glenroy Technical School (1965–70), received a Diploma of Arts in 1975 from Swinburne University of Technology, and a Diploma of Education in 1977 from Melbourne State Teachers College.

Living in Melbourne's northern suburbs most of his life, Herbert taught at several schools including at his alma mater, Glenroy Tech. He was subsequently a state organiser for the Australian Labor Party and a senior electorate officer to Senator Kim Carr. From 1999 to 2002, he was Chief of Staff to Lynne Kosky, the then Victorian Minister for Education and Training and Minister for Finance, an experience which he cites as developing his "strong capacity to deal with the intricacies of government, bureaucracy and the private sector to effectively deliver State Government services and programs".^[1]

Parliamentary career

Herbert was preselected as the Labor candidate for the Liberal-held seat of Eltham prior to the 2002 state election, and defeated sitting member Wayne Phillips in Labor's land-slide election victory.

Following his election to Victoria's Legislative Assembly, Herbert became the inaugural chair of the all-party Parliamentary Education and Skills Committee, and over-saw the production of a number of reports to Parliament including an investigation into unmet demand for places in higher education institutions on Victoria;^[2] the suitability of current pre-service teacher training courses in Victoria;^[3] the promotion of maths and science education;^[4] and the effects of television and multimedia on education.^[5] During this term, he also served on the Legislative Assembly's Privileges Committee, and he continued to serve on the Education and Training committee throughout the 56th Parliament between 2006 and 2010.

Herbert was re-elected in 2006, achieving a swing to him and increasing his margin to 6.4 percent.^[6] Herbert was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment, assisting the then Deputy Premier John Thwaites. When John Brumby assumed the Premiership in mid-2007, Herbert was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary for education assisting then Education Minister Bronwyn Pike. Subsequent to the narrow defeat of the Brumby Labor Government, Herbert joined Shadow Cabinet, becoming the Shadow Minister for Higher Education and Skills and Shadow Minister for the Teaching Profession.^[7] Despite a nail-biting election outcome in Eltham,^[8] Herbert retained the seat and holds it with a margin of 0.8 percent.^[9]

References