Carmel Tebbutt

Infobox Politician
honorific-prefix = The Honorable
name = Carmel Tebbutt
honorific-suffix =


imagesize =
caption =
order = Deputy Premier of New South Wales
term_start = 5 September 2008
term_end =
predecessor = John Watkins
birth_date = Birth date and age|1964|1|22|df=y
birth_place = Forbes, New South Wales
death_date =
death_place =
constituency = Marrickville
party = Australian Labor Party
spouse = Anthony Albanese
profession =


footnotes =
website = [http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/members.nsf/d890a06557517cedca256e700008765e/b7d63557380b4bcc4a25672e0002e1dd!OpenDocument Parliamentary website]
[http://www.nswalp.com/labor-people/5/83/carmel-tebbutt-mp ALP website]

Carmel Mary Tebbutt (born 22 January 1964) is an Australian politician. She is the Australian Labor Party State Member for Marrickville in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly and is currently Deputy Premier of NSW. She is the first female to hold this position. [cite news|url=http://www.theage.com.au/national/first-female-nsw-deputy-premier-20080905-4a6y.html|title=First female NSW deputy premier|date=2008-09-05|work=The Age|accessdate=2008-09-06]

Background

Tebbutt is one of seven children. She was born and raised in the country town of Forbes. Her family then moved to Sydney where she attended Catholic high schools. She went on to earn an Economics degree from Sydney University, graduating in 1986. She joined the Australian Labor Party in 1985, and is a member of its left-wing faction. [cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/05/23/1211183103075.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1|title=The one that got away|last=Clennell|first=Andrew|date=2008-05-24|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|accessdate=2008-09-06]

Tebbutt is married to Anthony Albanese, the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Services and Local Government in the federal Labor Government. Interestingly, her state seat of Marrickville is contained almost entirely within her husband's federal seat of Grayndler, leading the Greens to dub them as the 'King and Queen of Marrickville'. [cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/carr-cant-vote-on-successor-to-seat-he-held-for-22-years/2005/08/20/1124435179546.html|title=Carr can't vote on successor to seat he held for 22 years|last=Mitchell|first=Alex|date=2005-08-21|work=The Sun-Herald|accessdate=2008-09-06] She and her husband have one young son named Nathan.

Parliamentary career

Tebbutt was elected to a seat on Marrickville Council in 1993 before becoming Deputy Mayor in 1995. She was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council filling a vacancy following the retirement of Ann Symonds in 1998.cite web|url=http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/members.nsf/d890a06557517cedca256e700008765e/b7d63557380b4bcc4a25672e0002e1dd!OpenDocument|title=The Hon. Carmel Mary TEBBUTT, BEc MP|publisher=Parliament of New South Wales|accessdate=2008-09-06]

After the Carr government was re-elected in 1999, she served as Minister for Juvenile Justice. After Labor's second landslide re-election in 2003, Tebbutt was promoted, given responsibility for the Ministries of Community Services, Ageing, Disability Services, and Youth. In a cabinet reshuffle in early 2005, she was promoted to Minister for Education and Training.

Following Premier Bob Carr's unexpected resignation 27 July 2005, and the resultant resignations of Deputy Premier Andrew Refshauge and Senior Minister Craig Knowles, the 'Triple-M' by-elections for the seats of Maroubra, Marrickville, and Macquarie Fields were held on 17 September, 2005. The new incoming Premier, Morris Iemma, was said to have favoured her for the position of Deputy Premier because having a female in the role would have looked favourably with the electorate, however ultimately the position of the Deputy Premier is chosen by the Left Faction. [cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/09/03/1220121331178.html?feed=fairfaxdigitalxml|title=Rise and fall of Labor's waverer|last=Smith|first=Alexandra|date=2008-09-04|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|accessdate=2008-09-06]

Tebbutt resigned from the Legislative Council on 26 August to seek election for the seat of Marrickville. Hence for the three week period from 26 August to 17 September, 2005, Tebbutt was in the unusual, though not unprecedented, position of being a Minister of the State, without being a Member of Parliament. [cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/act-lets-tebbutt-stay-on-payroll/2005/09/14/1126377375955.html|title=Act lets Tebbutt stay on payroll|last=Wainwright|first=Robert|coauthors=Pearlman, Jonathan|date=2005-09-15|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|accessdate=2008-09-06]

Tebbutt successfully defended the seat of Marrickville for the Labor Party in her by-election. With no Liberal candidate contesting the election, the ALP primary vote increased, though she suffered a 5.6% two-candidate preferred swing to the Greens. [cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/elections/nsw/2007/guide/byelec.htm#marr|title=Marrickville By-election: 17 September 2005 - Resignation of Andrew Refshauge|publisher=abc.net.au|accessdate=2008-09-06] [cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/iemma-gets-a-bloody-nose/2005/09/17/1126750169882.html|title=Iemma gets a bloody nose|last=Mitchell|first=Alex|date=2005-09-18|work=The Sun-Herald|accessdate=2008-09-06]

On 27 November, 2006, Tebbutt made an embarrassing gaffe during a live interview on radio Nova 96.9. Tebbutt was complaining about the lack of history knowledge of today's schoolchildren. When the announcer asked her what is the significance of Australia Day, Tebbutt replied, "Well, we celebrate Australia Day because that's the day that we became a nation. When the states joined together, the federation of Australia, and it's an important day to understand that history." When the announcer pointed out her error, she quickly backtracked: "Sorry, you've got me too early in the morning. Australia Day of course is European arrival in Australia."cite news |title=No Minister, Tebbutt blunders on history test |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/no-minister-tebbutt-blunders-on-history-test/2006/11/27/1164476109321.html |publisher="The Sydney Morning Herald" |date=2006-11-27 |accessdate=2008-09-04 ]

Tebbutt successfully held the seat of Marrickville at the 2007 election, but announced after it that she would not be a candidate for the new ministry and would return to the back bench so she could spent more time with her family. [cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/hard-choice-but-politics-wins-day/2008/09/04/1220121430159.html?page=fullpage|title=Hard choice but politics wins day|last=West|first=Andrew|date=2008-09-05|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|accessdate=2008-09-06]

A meeting of the Left faction on September 4 2008 saw her return to the front bench as she was elected as the Deputy Leader of the NSW Labor Party. Following the resignation of Morris Iemma and the selection of Nathan Rees as the new Premier the following day, she was sworn in as Deputy Premier of New South Wales. [cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/09/05/2356881.htm|title=Rees, Tebbutt sworn in|date=2008-09-05|publisher=abc.net.au|accessdate=2008-09-06] She was sworn in as Minister for Climate Change and the Environment and Minister for Commerce on 7 September 2008. [cite news|url=http://news.sbs.com.au/worldnewsaustralia/nathan_rees_names_nsw_cabinet_557139|title=Nathan Rees names NSW cabinet|date=2008-09-08|work=sbs.com.au|accessdate=2008-10-02]

References

External link

* [http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/members.nsf/0/B7D63557380B4BCC4A25672E0002E1DD Carmel Tebbutt official parliamentary profile]