Australian politician
Brendan Patrick O'Connor
(born 2 March 1962) is an Australian politician who has served as
Minister for Skills and Training
since 2022. He is a member of the
Australian Labor Party
(ALP) and has served in the
House of Representatives
since 2001. He held ministerial office in the governments of
Kevin Rudd
and
Julia Gillard
from 2007 to 2013, including as a member of
cabinet
from 2012 to 2013. He was a member of the
shadow cabinet
from
2013
to 2022.
Early life
[
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O'Connor was born on 2 March 1962 in London, England.
[1]
He is the son of Michael and Philomena O'Connor.
[2]
His parents were both born in Ireland, his mother in
Thurles
and his father in
Tralee
. O'Connor was born with both Irish and British citizenship, renouncing the latter in the early 1980s. He acquired Australian citizenship by naturalisation in 1995 and renounced his Irish citizenship in 2001 in order to stand for parliament.
[3]
O'Connor arrived in Australia when he was six years old.
[2]
He attended
Aquinas College, Melbourne
,
[4]
and subsequently completed the degrees of
Bachelor of Arts
and
Bachelor of Laws
at
Monash University
. He also completed a diploma at
Harvard University
in the United States through the
Harvard Trade Union Program
.
[1]
Union movement
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While at university, O'Connor worked as a researcher for the Municipal Employees Union.
[5]
He was the assistant national secretary of the
Australian Services Union
from 1993 to 2001.
[1]
Early political involvement
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A member of
Labor Left
,
[6]
O'Connor is a member of the National Left faction of the Australian Labor Party and is a member of the Socialist Left faction of the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party. At the time of his endorsement for Burke in 2001 he was aligned with the 'Independent Left', a breakaway group from the Socialist Left. This group included Julia Gillard. O'Connor has been a close ally of
Julia Gillard
since they were both involved in student politics during the 1980s along with Michael O'Connor. In 2015 the Independent Left rejoined the Socialist Left.
Parliament
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First terms (2001?2007)
[
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At the
2001 election
, O'Connor was elected as the Member for Burke, When the division was abolished by the 2003 redistribution, O'Connor successfully contested the new electoral division of Gorton at the
2004 election
.
In December 2005, he was elected to the position of Chair of the Federal Labor
Industrial Relations Taskforce
in a caucus ballot. The Taskforce investigated the adverse effects of the Howard Government's
WorkChoices
legislation, a controversial package of industrial relations changes.
Shortly after the election of
Kevin Rudd
to the office of federal Labor leader and Leader of the Opposition on 4 December 2006, O'Connor was appointed Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Industrial Relations.
Government (2007?2013)
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Following the Labor victory at the
2007 federal election
, Prime Minister Rudd announced that O'Connor would serve as the
Minister for Employment Participation
from 29 November 2007.
[7]
As Minister he reformed the Job Network, replacing it with Job Services Australia.
[8]
This streamlined seven separate employment services programs into a 'one-stop-shop' to provide job seekers with a more personalised service.
On 6 June 2009, O'Connor was announced as the
Minister for Home Affairs
in the
First Rudd ministry
, replacing
Bob Debus
who retired at the
2010 election
.
[9]
Following Labor's narrow victory, Prime Minister
Julia Gillard
allocated increased responsibilities to O'Connor. He became Minister for Home Affairs,
Minister for Justice
and Minister for Privacy and Freedom of Information. In this portfolio, O'Connor enacted several key policy reforms including: new and tougher laws to protect children from being procured and groomed online,
[10]
achieving consensus for an R18+ video game classification after 10 years of debate at Standing Committee of Attorney-General;
[11]
and introducing significant reforms of the anti-dumping regime in 20 years.
[12]
In December 2011, O'Connor became the
Minister for Human Services
and Minister Assisting for School Education.
[13]
On 5 March 2012, O'Connor was sworn in as
Minister for Small Business
,
Minister for Housing
and Minister for Homelessness. He was also promoted to
Cabinet
for the first time,
[14]
becoming the first small business minister in Cabinet for more than a decade.
[15]
In this role O'Connor introduced the first Australian Small Business Commissioner, on 2 January 2013.
[16]
On 30 August 2012, O'Connor and the
Council of Australian Governments
released the
Housing Supply and Affordability Reform
report, proposing reforms to increase housing affordability in Australia.
On 4 February 2013, O'Connor was sworn in as
Minister for Immigration and Citizenship
.
[17]
Following the
June 2013 Labor leadership spill
, O'Connor was appointed
Minister for Employment
and
Minister for Skills and Training
in the
Second Rudd ministry
.
[18]
Opposition (2013?2022)
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After the ALP's defeat at the
2013 federal election
, O'Connor was included in
Bill Shorten
's
shadow cabinet
. He was retained in shadow cabinet when
Anthony Albanese
succeeded Shorten as opposition leader after the
2019 election
. O'Connor has held the portfolios of employment and workplace relations (2013?2019),
special minister of state
(2016), employment and industry (2019?2021), science (2019?2021), and small and family business (2019?2021).
[1]
He succeeded
Richard Marles
as shadow minister for defence following a reshuffle in January 2021.
[19]
Government (2022?present)
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Following the
2022 federal election
, O'Connor was appointed
Minister for Skills and Training
in the
Albanese ministry
.
[1]
Personal life
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O'Connor was married to Jodi Dack until her death from breast cancer in August 2018; she had first been diagnosed in 2012. The couple had one daughter together.
[20]
O’Connor lives in Keilor.
References
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External links
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