Laurie Ferguson

The Honourable Laurie Ferguson
Member of the Australian Parliament for Reid
In office 24 March 1990 – 21 August 2010
Preceded by	Tom Uren
Succeeded by	John Murphy
Member of the Australian Parliament for Werriwa
Incumbent
Assumed office 21 August 2010
Preceded by	Chris Hayes
Personal details
Born	7 July 1952 (1952-07-07) (age 59) Sydney, New South Wales
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Australian Labor Party
Spouse(s)	Maureen Walsh
Relations	Jack Ferguson (father) Martin Ferguson (brother) Andrew Ferguson (brother)
Alma mater	University of Sydney
Occupation	Research officer

Laurie Donald Thomas Ferguson (born 7 July 1952), Australian politician, has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives since March 1990, representing Reid until 2010 and Werriwa thereafter, both in New South Wales. He was born in Sydney, New South Wales, and grew up in the Sydney suburb of Guildford. He was the son of Jack Ferguson, who was Deputy Premier of New South Wales 1976-84. He is the brother of Martin Ferguson, also a federal MP, and both attended at St Patrick's College, Strathfield. His younger brother Andrew Ferguson is the NSW Secretary of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (Construction and General Division). He is married to Maureen Walsh, a former councillor at Parramatta City Council in the Woodville Ward.^[1]

Ferguson was educated at Sydney University and was a Research Officer with the Federated Miscellaneous Workers' Union before entering politics. He was the member for Granville in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 1984-90.^[2]

In the federal Parliament, Ferguson was elected to the Opposition Shadow Ministry in March 1996 and was Shadow Minister for Immigration in 2004-05. His handling of the debate around Petro Georgiou's private member's bill on asylum seekers was severely criticised^{[citation needed]}, and he was shifted to become Shadow Minister for Consumer Affairs; Population Health and Health Regulation in June 2005. Upon the election of the Rudd Labor Government in 2007, Ferguson became Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs and Settlement Services.

Ferguson is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Global Panel Foundation-Australasia.

Ferguson was preselected to contest the south-western Sydney seat of Werriwa at the 2010 federal election after his existing seat of Reid was merged with neighbouring Lowe. Lowe MP John Murphy contested the redistributed Reid.^[3] He was not re-appointed to the executive of the Gillard Ministry after the election.

References

1. ^ "Woodville Ward". Councillors and eards. Parramatta City Council. http://www.parracity.nsw.gov.au/council/Councilors__and__Wards/woodville. Retrieved 2007-10-07. 
2. ^ "Mr Laurie Donald Thomas Ferguson (1952 - )". Members of Parliament. Parliament of New South Wales. http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/members.nsf/1fb6ebed995667c2ca256ea100825164/9450359c3674ce5aca256e29007efc34. Retrieved 19 February 2010. 
3. ^ "Reid - Election 2010". http://www.tallyroom.com.au/election-2010/reid. Retrieved 2010-07-29. 

External links

• Search or browse Hansard for Laurie Ferguson at OpenAustralia.org
• The Global Panel Foundation

Parliament of New South Wales
Preceded by James Flaherty	Member for Granville 1984–1990	Succeeded by Kim Yeadon
Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Tom Uren	Member for Reid 1990–2010	Succeeded by John Murphy
Preceded by Chris Hayes	Member for Werriwa 2010–present	Incumbent

Persondata
Name	Ferguson, Laurie Donald Thomas
Alternative names
Short description	Australian politician
Date of birth	7 July 1952
Place of birth	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Date of death	Living
Place of death