Dr Craig Emerson | |
---|---|
Minister for Trade | |
In office 14 September 2010 –26 June 2013 | |
Prime Minister | Julia Gillard |
Preceded by | Stephen Smith |
Succeeded by | Richard Marles |
Minister for Tertiary Education and Science | |
In office 25 March 2013 –26 June 2013 | |
Prime Minister | Julia Gillard |
Preceded by | Chris Bowen |
Succeeded by | Kim Carr |
Minister for Small Business | |
In office 3 December 2007 –14 September 2010 | |
Prime Minister | Kevin Rudd Julia Gillard |
Preceded by | Fran Bailey |
Succeeded by | Nick Sherry |
Member of the Australian Parliament for Rankin | |
In office 3 October 1998 –5 August 2013 | |
Preceded by | David Beddall |
Succeeded by | Jim Chalmers |
Personal details | |
Born | Craig Anthony Emerson 15 November 1954 Baradine,New South Wales,Australia |
Political party | Labor Party |
Alma mater | University of Sydney (BEc,MEc) Australian National University (PhD) |
Profession | Economist,Politician |
Website | Parliamentary website Personal website |
Craig Anthony Emerson (born 15 November 1954) is an Australian economist and former politician. A member of the Australian Labor Party,he served as the Australian House of Representatives Member for the Division of Rankin in Queensland from 1998 until 2013. Emerson also served as Minister for Trade and Competitiveness,Minister for Tertiary Education,Skills,Science and Research and Minister for Competition Policy,Small Business and Consumer Affairs in the Rudd and Gillard Governments.
Emerson was born in Baradine,New South Wales to Ern and Marge Emerson,and raised as a Roman Catholic. [1] He and his late elder brother,Lance,were subjected to physical and emotional abuse from their mother,Marge. He was intensely religious as a child,finding solace from his turbulent home life,recalling that "Catholicism helped me make sense of Mum's volatile behaviour where there was no sense to be made of it." [2] He earned a bursary to attend St Patrick's College,Strathfield. He later attended the University of Sydney,where he graduated with a Bachelor of Economics (Honours) and a Master of Economics. He also holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Economics from the Australian National University.
Early in his career,Emerson variously worked as an economic analyst with the United Nations,an economic adviser to the Minister for Resources and Energy and the Minister for Finance Senator Peter Walsh,an Assistant Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet,and economic and environmental adviser to Prime Minister Bob Hawke. [3] He became Director-General of the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage in 1990,where he became embroiled in the Cape Melville affair. [3] He was chief executive officer of the South East Queensland Transit Authority from 1995 to 1996. [3]
Following the defeat of the Goss Government in 1996,Emerson set up a small business partnership,Eco Managers,with former economic adviser to Premier Wayne Goss,Raymond Garrand. They advised various clients on electricity supply issues in Queensland and global petroleum companies on energy policy.[ citation needed ]
Representing the Australian Labor Party,Emerson was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Member for Rankin at the 1998 federal election.
Emerson was appointed Shadow Minister for Innovation,Industry,Trade and Tourism from 2001 to 2003,and then Shadow Minister for Workplace Relations and the Public Service from 2003 to 2004. Emerson was relegated to the backbench following the 2004 Australian federal election,having supported Simon Crean and Mark Latham in leadership ballots against the wishes of his Right faction in Queensland. While on the backbench he wrote a book,Vital Signs,Vibrant Society,proposing new economic and social policies for the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party. Following the election of Kevin Rudd as Leader of the Labor Party and Julia Gillard as Deputy Leader in December 2006,Emerson was appointed Shadow Minister for the Service Economy,Small Business and Independent Contractors. [3]
On 3 December 2007,Emerson was named Minister for Small Business,Independent Contractors and the Service Economy and Minister Assisting the Finance Minister on Deregulation in the newly elected Rudd ministry. [3] In June 2009,he was also appointed Minister for Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs. [3]
On 14 September 2010,Emerson was appointed the Minister for Trade, [3] expanded to Minister for Trade and Competitiveness in a ministerial reshuffle announced on 2 March 2012. [4] On 28 October 2012,the Gillard Government released a White paper on Australia in the Asian Century Emerson of which Emerson was the architect. Emerson was assigned the role of Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Asian Century Policy. [5] [6]
In March 2013,in a further reshuffle of ministerial responsibilities,Emerson gained an additional portfolio as Minister for Tertiary Education,Skills,Science and Research. [7] However,after a leadership change in the federal Australian Labor Party in June 2013 in which Kevin Rudd took over as prime minister from Gillard,Emerson resigned his ministerial portfolios and said he would not contest his seat at the next election. [8] Following the Australian federal election held a few months later in September 2013,Jim Chalmers took over from Emerson as the MP for the seat of Rankin in Queensland.
After leaving parliament,Emerson established an economic consulting firm,Craig Emerson Economics Pty Ltd. His clients have included Wesfarmers,Coles,AGL Energy,Santos,the BCA,the ACTU and the PNG Government. Emerson is an adviser to KPMG. He was also a regular presenter on Sky News Australia for some years after leaving parliament. [9]
In 2014,Emerson was appointed an adjunct professor of Victoria University. He was also a member of the CEDA Council on Economic Policy and Chair of the Advisory Board,Centre for Transformative Innovation,Swinburne University of Technology. Emerson was also President of the Australia China Business Council NSW [10] and a board member of Obesity Australia.
In February 2018,Emerson's memoir,The Boy from Baradine,was published by Scribe Publications. [11] '
In August 2018,Emerson was involved in public disagreement with Sky News Australia when he resigned in protest as a commentator for the TV network when Sky News broadcast an interview with the right-wing Australian activist Blair Cottrell. Emerson said that,"My father fought Nazis in World War II and was interred in a German POW camp." Explaining his decision on Twitter,he said that the decision by Sky News to screen the interview with Cottrell was "another step in a journey to normalising racism and bigotry in our country." [12]
In November 2018,Emerson was appointed Distinguished Fellow at the Australian National University. In March 2019,Emerson was appointed Director of the Australian APEC Study Centre at RMIT University. Emerson is also chair of the McKell Institute and The Australian Alliance for Animals. [13]
On the subject of Australia-China relations,Craig Emerson consistently argued prior to 2022 that the poor relationship was partly caused by Australia. [14] In September 2023,Emerson led The Australian delegation of the resumed High Level leadership Dialogue to Beijing,where he also met with China's foreign minister Wang Yi. [15]
Emerson and former South Australian premier,Jay Weatherill,assisted by Lenda Onsalem,John Graham and senators Anthony Chisholm and Linda White,conducted the ALP's review of the 2019 federal election loss. [16] Newly elected Labor leader,Anthony Albanese,referred to the Emerson-Weatherill report as a blueprint for the 2022 election campaign. [17] Emerson was also a panellist assisting Greg Combet and Lenda Onsalem in the review of Labor's successful 2022 election campaign. [18]
In late-2022,small business minister,the Hon Julie Collins MP,commissioned Emerson to conduct a Statutory Review of the Payment Times Report Act 2020,making recommendations to improve the payment times of large businesses to their small business suppliers. [19] The report was given to The Australian government in June 2023.
In September 2023,Emerson was appointed by trade minister,Don Farrell,to the Australian government's Trade 2040 Taskforce to advise the government on its trade policy agenda to the year 2040. [20]
Emerson's son,Thomas,is the co-founder of the Independents for Canberra party. [21] He was elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly on 19 October 2024.
Simon Findlay Crean was an Australian politician and trade unionist. He was the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and leader of the opposition from 2001 to 2003. He represented the seat of Hotham in the House of Representatives from 1990 to 2013 and was a cabinet minister in the Hawke,Keating,Rudd and Gillard governments.
Kevin Michael Rudd is an Australian diplomat and former politician who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and June to September 2013. He held office as the leader of the Labor Party (ALP) and was the member of parliament (MP) the Queensland division of Griffith from 1998 to 2013. Since 2023,Rudd has been the 23rd ambassador of Australia to the United States.
Julia Eileen Gillard is an Australian former politician who served as the 27th prime minister of Australia and the leader of the Labor Party (ALP) from 2010 to 2013. She was the member of parliament (MP) for the Victorian division of Lalor from 1998 to 2013. She previously served as the 13th deputy prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010,under Kevin Rudd. She is the first and only woman to hold either office in Australian history.
Jennifer Louise Macklin is an Australian former politician. She was elected to federal parliament at the 1996 federal election and served as the deputy leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 2001 to 2006,under opposition leaders Simon Crean,Mark Latham and Kim Beazley. After the ALP won government at the 2007 election,she held ministerial office under Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard,serving as Minister for Families,Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (2007–2013) and Minister for Disability Reform (2011–2013). She retired from parliament at the 2019 election.
Kate Alexandra Lundy is an Australian former politician. She was a Labor Party member of the Australian Senate,representing the Australian Capital Territory. Lundy served as the Minister for Multicultural Affairs and the Minister Assisting for the Digital Economy in the Second Rudd Ministry;having previously served as the Minister for Sport and the Minister Assisting the Minister for Industry and Innovation.
Brendan Patrick O'Connor is an Australian politician who served as Minister for Skills and Training from 2022 to 2024 in the Albanese ministry after having served in the same portfolio in 2013 in the Second Rudd ministry. 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.
Stephen Francis Smith is an Australian former politician and diplomat serving as the 26th and current high commissioner of Australia to the United Kingdom since 2023. A member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP),he was the federal member of Parliament (MP) for the division of Perth from 1993 to 2013,serving in the Rudd and Gillard governments as minister for Foreign Affairs from 2007 to 2010,minister for Trade in 2010 and minister for Defence from 2010 to 2013.
Wayne Maxwell Swan is an Australian politician serving as the 25th and current National President of the Labor Party since 2018,previously serving as the 14th deputy prime minister of Australia and the deputy leader of the Labor Party from 2010 to 2013,and the treasurer of Australia from 2007 to 2013.
Kim John Carr is an Australian former politician who served as a Senator for Victoria between 1993 and 2022. Representing the Labor Party,he was a minister in the Rudd and Gillard governments.
Christopher Eyles Guy Bowen is an Australian politician who has been Minister for Climate Change and Energy in the Albanese government since June 2022. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and was first elected to parliament at the 2004 federal election. He held ministerial office in the Rudd and Gillard governments from 2007 to 2013.
Joseph William Ludwig is an Australian barrister and retired politician. He was a member of the Australian Senate for the state of Queensland from July 1999 to May 2016,representing the Australian Labor Party. Ludwig served in a range of portfolios in the first Rudd and the second Gillard ministries until his resignation from Cabinet as the Minister for Agriculture,Fisheries and Forestry and Minister Assisting the Attorney-General on Queensland Floods Recovery,in 2013.
Maria Justine Elliot is an Australian politician. She is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has served in the House of Representatives since the 2004 federal election,representing the New South Wales seat of Richmond. She served as Minister for Ageing in the First Rudd government from 2007 to 2010 and as a parliamentary secretary in the Gillard government from 2010 to 2013.
Gregory Ivan Combet is the chairman of Australia’s sovereign wealth fund,the Future Fund. Prior to this he served as chair of the Australian Government Net Zero Economy Agency,overseeing the economic transformation from fossil fuels to renewable energy and net zero emissions.
Richard Donald Marles is an Australian politician and lawyer serving as the 19th and current deputy prime minister of Australia and the Minister for Defence since May 2022. He has been the deputy leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since 2019,having served as the member of Parliament (MP) for the division of Corio since 2007.
The Gillard government was the Government of Australia led by the 27th prime minister of Australia,Julia Gillard,of the Australian Labor Party. The Gillard government succeeded the first Rudd government by way of the Labor Party leadership spill,and began on 24 June 2010,with Gillard sworn in as prime minister by the governor-general of Australia,Quentin Bryce. The Gillard government ended when Kevin Rudd won back the leadership of the Australian Labor Party on 26 June 2013 and commenced the second Rudd government.
The 2013 Australian federal election to elect the members of the 44th Parliament of Australia took place on Saturday 7 September 2013. The centre-right Liberal/National Coalition opposition led by Opposition leader Tony Abbott of the Liberal Party of Australia and Coalition partner the National Party of Australia,led by Warren Truss,defeated the incumbent centre-left Labor Party government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in a landslide. It was also the third time in history that a party won 90 or more seats at an Australian election. Labor had been in government for six years since being elected in the 2007 election. This election marked the end of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd Labor government and the start of the 9 year long Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Liberal-National Coalition government. Abbott was sworn in by the Governor-General,Quentin Bryce,as Australia's new prime minister on 18 September 2013,along with the Abbott Ministry. The 44th Parliament of Australia opened on 12 November 2013,with the members of the House of Representatives and territory senators sworn in. The state senators were sworn in by the next Governor-General Peter Cosgrove on 7 July 2014,with their six-year terms commencing on 1 July.
The Second Gillard ministry (Labor) was the 66th ministry of the Australian Government,led by Prime Minister Julia Gillard. It succeeded the first Gillard ministry upon its swearing in by Governor-General Quentin Bryce on 14 September 2010 after the 2010 election.
A leadership spill in the Australian Labor Party,the party of government in the Parliament of Australia,was held on 27 February 2012 at 10 am AEDT,followed by a ballot. The Prime Minister,Julia Gillard,announced the spill at a press conference on 23 February 2012,following the resignation of the Minister for Foreign Affairs,Kevin Rudd,from his cabinet position after months of speculation that he intended to challenge Gillard for the leadership. Rudd announced his intention to seek the leadership at a press conference on 24 February.
A leadership spill in the Australian Labor Party,the party then forming the Government of Australia,took place on 26 June 2013 at 7:00pm AEST. Prime Minister Julia Gillard called a ballot for Leader and Deputy Leader of the Labor Party live on Sky News Australia at 4:00pm,following persistent leadership tensions. She stated that she would retire from politics if she lost the vote,while calling on any would-be challengers to pledge to do the same if they lost. In a press conference held shortly after Gillard's announcement,backbencher and former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced that he would challenge Gillard,whilst also pledging to step down if he did not win the vote. At the ALP caucus meeting,Rudd was elected Leader of the Labor Party,with the caucus voting 57–45 in his favour.
The second Rudd government was the federal executive Government of Australia led by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of the Australian Labor Party. It commenced on 27 June 2013 and ceased on 18 September 2013. Rudd had previously served a term as Prime Minister from 2007 to 2010 and been replaced by his deputy Julia Gillard,following an internal party spill. Rudd regained the Labor Party leadership by successfully re-challenging Gillard in a June 2013 party spill. On 5 August,Rudd called an election for 7 September 2013,which resulted in the defeat of his government by the Liberal/National Coalition led by Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.