Tim Gartrell (born 1970) is the former National Secretary of the Australian Labor Party.
Born and raised in Orange in Central Western NSW, he worked as an advocate and researcher for the Australian Services Union and the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union while studying politics part-time at the University of NSW.[1]
Gartrell worked for two Keating government ministers, Jeannette McHugh (Consumer Affairs) and Frank Walker (Admin Services and Special Minister of State), and later for Labor MP Anthony Albanese. He joined the staff of the ALP National Secretariat in 1998 after a year as the Media and Community Liaison Manager with South Sydney Council. Serving as Assistant National Secretary of the ALP from April 2000, he was elected unopposed as National Secretary on 2 September 2003.
Gartrell announced his resignation from the position on 30 September 2008 and that he would join the private sector market research firm Auspoll,[2] which is part of the larger Photon group of media companies. He left the post on 24 October 2008.[3]
Gartrell is recognised as one of the driving forces behind Labor’s successful 2007 election campaign, which saw the Party return to power after more than 11 years in Opposition.[4] Through a creative use of new campaign techniques and advertising, Labor’s campaign was seen to be superior to the Liberal Party campaign and won a series of media awards.[5] Gartrell worked closely with the new Labor leader Kevin Rudd from his ascension to the leadership through to his election as Prime Minister, as a key member of Labor’s Political Strategy Group.
Gartrell’s career followed the fortunes of the ALP, with his term as National Secretary beginning on the eve of the 2004 election campaign which saw the Party beaten under then leader Mark Latham.[6] Gartrell then pursued reform of the campaigning structures of the Party, enabling Labor to effectively campaign under the “New Leadership” slogan with Kevin Rudd. Gartrell recognised this in his resignation media release stating:
“I’m particularly grateful for the support I received from the National Executive after the 2004 federal election defeat and the privilege of being the ALP Campaign Director for the 2007 Federal Election.”[7]
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd described Gartrell’s leadership skills as “superb” and stated “[h]is ability, hard work, judgment and campaign leadership skills are first class”.
During the 2009 ALP National Conference, Gartrell hosted a "Unions versus Media" dinner debate for media, unions and party members. The topic debated was "It's All Your Fault" and the debate was overwhelming won by the media side, which featured Annabel Crabb and Charles Firth.
Gartrell holds a Masters Degree in Communications Studies. He is a director of the Chifley Research Centre, a member of the Australian Political Exchange Council and a member of the Consultative Committee of the Centre for Democratic Institutions at the ANU. He has shown interest in progressing policies to address environmental problems including climate change and biodiversity loss.
He is now the CEO of Generation One.