Martin Ferguson

Martin Ferguson
Minister for Resources and Energy
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 December 2007
Preceded by	Ian Macfarlane
Minister for Tourism
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 December 2007
Preceded by	Fran Bailey
Personal details
Born	12 December 1953 (1953-12-12) (age 57) Sydney, New South Wales
Political party	Australian Labor Party
Website	MartinFerguson.com.au

Martin John Ferguson AM (born 12 December 1953), Australian politician, has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives since March 1996, representing the Division of Batman, Victoria. He was born in Sydney, the son of Jack Ferguson, who was Deputy Premier of New South Wales from 1976 to 1984. He is the brother of Laurie Ferguson, also a federal MP.

Ferguson was educated at St Patrick's College, Strathfield and then the University of Sydney. He was successively research officer, Assistant General Secretary and General Secretary of the Miscellaneous Workers' Union, a member of the executive of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) 1984–90. He was Vice-President of the ACTU 1985–90 and President of the ACTU 1990–96. He was a member of the Governing Body of the International Labour Organisation 1990–96. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 1996.

Ferguson won preselection unopposed for the seat of Batman in 1995 after a deal negotiated between the right-wing Labor Unity faction in Victoria and the ALP National Executive. At the local level the majority Greek membership, largely resulting from heavy branch stacking,^[1] was likely to support a candidate other than Ferguson, but no local candidate was likely to receive support from the fifty per cent vote in the preselection panel elected by the Victorian ALP State Conference. Both opposing candidates, Jenny Mikakos and Theo Theophanous, then members of competing Left factions, were forced to withdraw from a local preselection plebiscite in favour of Ferguson as a result of these negotiations.^[2]

Ferguson was elected to the Opposition Shadow Ministry in March 1996 and was Shadow Minister for Regional and Urban Development and Shadow Minister for Transport and Infrastructure 2001–04. He was then Shadow Minister for Primary Industries, Resources and Tourism from October 2004, being moved back to Shadow Minister for Transport, Roads and Tourism from December 2006.

On 29 November 2007 after Labor had won the Federal Election, Labor held a caucus meeting at which he was promoted to Minister for Resources and Energy and Minister for Tourism and was sworn in on 3 December.

Uranium debate

In 2005, Ferguson addressed an Australian Uranium Conference and said "We as a community have to be part of the ever-complex question of how we clean up the world's climate. And part of that debate is going to be nuclear power."

Friends of the Earth have strongly opposed Ferguson's advocacy for expanding the export of uranium beyond the existing Three mine policy which Ferguson sought to overturn at the ALP's national conference in April 2007 [1]. The lobby group Northern Anti Nuclear Alliance has distributed 60,000 leaflets critical of his policy in his electorate of Batman. He also supported – in scientific terms – the proposal of former Prime Minister Bob Hawke for Australia to become the world's storage facility for nuclear waste although he said that it was politically not possible [2].

He told ABC Radio that it was wrong to ban uranium export to the People's Republic of China: "The Labor Party adopts the view that we're open for investment. It's about economic growth and jobs in Australia. Is China to be treated any different to South Korea, Japan, France, United States? I don't think so. We don't have one rule for China in terms of overseas investment and economic growth and jobs and another rule for Japan."

See also

• First Rudd Ministry
• Ferguson Left

References

1. ^ Ernest Healy (1995), 'Ethnic ALP Branches – The Balkanisation of Labor Revisited,' People and Place, Vol.3, No.3, p.48-54
2. ^ Lyle Allan (1995), '"Sam Benson for Batman and Australia"-Labor Preselection Problems, The Ethnic Vote and the Ghost of Benson,' People and Place, Vol.3, No.3, pp.54–56

External links

• Paydirt's Uranium Conference 2006
• Martin Ferguson's Parliamentary web page
• Search or browse Hansard for Martin Ferguson at OpenAustralia.org

Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Brian Howe	Member for Batman 1996–present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Ian Macfarlane	Minister for Resources and Energy 2007–present	Incumbent
Preceded by Fran Bailey	Minister for Tourism 2007–present	Incumbent
Other offices
Preceded by Simon Crean	President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions 1990–1996	Succeeded by Jennie George

Persondata
Name	Ferguson, Martin John
Alternative names
Short description	Australian politician
Date of birth	12 December 1953
Place of birth	Sydney
Date of death	living
Place of death