Kaila Murnain

Last updated

Kaila Murnain
Born
Newcastle, New South Wales
Nationality Australia
Alma mater University of New South Wales
Years activePolitical party administrator
Known forGeneral Secretary of NSW Labor
(2016 –2019)

Kaila Murnain is an Australian politician who was the first female General Secretary of NSW Labor. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Murnain was born in Newcastle, to parents Anne and Neil, and grew up in Narrabri in north western New South Wales. [2] Murnain attended Narrabri Public School and Narrabri High School. [3] Her mother, Anne Murnain, contested the federal seat of Gwydir for the Australian Labor Party in 1998 and 2001. Murnain joined the Labor party herself when she was old enough, in 2000, and attended her first party conference at 15 years of age. She campaigned for Australia to become a republic. [2]

Murnain moved to Sydney to attend the University of New South Wales to complete a Bachelor of Social Science. Murnain worked three jobs while studying. She is currently undertaking a Masters of Business Administration at the Australian Graduate School of Management (UNSW). [2]

Murnain is married to Tom Hollywood, [4] an Army Reservist and Labor staffer who has worked for NSW Labor MLC Sophie Cotsis. [2]

Career

Murnain worked as an electorate officer for Michael Daley MP from 2005 to 2007. She served as a policy advisor for Ageing and Disability Services to Kristina Keneally MP from 2007 to 2008. In 2008 Murnain began working at the NSW Labor Party head office as an organiser running campaigns in local, state and federal by-elections and general elections. [2] With the support of the Australian Political Exchange Council, Murnain undertook an Individual Study Tour of the United States of America in 2012 and aided the Democratic Party campaign.[ citation needed ] In 2013 Murnain was appointed Assistant General Secretary of NSW Labor. [5]

In February 2016 Murnain was elected by ballot as the first female General Secretary of NSW Labor. Federal Opposition Leader, Bill Shorten, backed Ms Murnain, then aged 29, stating that "She's not to be underestimated. She'll make a strong NSW General Secretary." [5]

In response to a report into the status of women within the NSW division of the Labor Party, Murnain stated that her goal as General Secretary is to achieve cultural reform and strengthen Labor's affirmative action rules. [6] [2] Murnain introduced the Party's first code of conduct [7] [8] and announced the introduction of compulsory ethics seminars for newly elected representatives. [9] At the 2016 NSW Labor Conference delegates voted in affirmative action reforms such as a women's mentoring program and targets for women to have equal representation in all elected party positions, across all council, state and federal electorates, by 2027. [8]

In the lead up to the 2016 federal election, Murnain led a campaign strategy similar to Obama's "organising to win" campaign. [10] Labor NSW won 24 of the available 47 seats, [11] [12] with half of NSW Labor seats held by women, meeting the party's affirmative action goal. [13]

Murnain resigned as General Secretary of NSW Labor on 17 October 2019. [14]

Murnain works as a casual academic in psychology at the University of England and as an Associate Partner, Communications at SEC Newgate in Sydney. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neville Wran</span> Australian politician (1926–2014)

Neville Kenneth Wran, was an Australian politician who was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 to 1986. He was the national president of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1980 to 1986 and chairman of both the Lionel Murphy Foundation and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) from 1986 to 1991.

Tim Gartrell is an Australian political advisor currently serving as the Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister of Australia under Anthony Albanese. He previously served as the National Secretary of the Australian Labor Party between 2003 and 2008, overseeing Labor's federal election campaigns in 2004 and 2007. Gartrell was also the Campaign Director for the 'Yes' camapaign in favour of marriage equality at the 2017 Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morris Iemma</span> Former Premier of New South Wales

Morris Iemma is a former Australian politician who was the 40th Premier of New South Wales. He served from 3 August 2005 to 5 September 2008. From Sydney, Iemma attended the University of Sydney and the University of Technology, Sydney. A member of the Labor Party, he was first elected to the Parliament of New South Wales at the 1991 state election, having previously worked as a trade union official. From 1999, Iemma was a minister in the third and fourth ministries led by Bob Carr. He replaced Carr as premier and Leader of the New South Wales Labor Party in 2005, following Carr's resignation. Iemma led Labor to victory at the 2007 state election, albeit with a slightly reduced majority. He resigned as premier in 2008, after losing the support of caucus, and left parliament shortly after, triggering a by-election. He was replaced as premier by Nathan Rees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penny Sharpe</span> Australian politician (born 1970)

Penelope Gail Sharpe is an Australian politician. She has served as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since 2005, representing the Labor Party. Since March 2023, Sharpe is the Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council and the Vice-President of the Executive Council since Labor's election victory in March 2023, having previously served as leader of the opposition in the Legislative Council between 2021 and 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Rhiannon</span> Australian politician (born 1951)

Lee Rhiannon is a former Australian politician who was a Senator for New South Wales between July 2011 and August 2018. She was elected at the 2010 federal election, representing the Australian Greens. Prior to her election to the Federal Parliament, Rhiannon was a Greens NSW member of the New South Wales Legislative Council between 1999 and 2010.

Eric Michael Roozendaal, a former Australian politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, serving between 2004 and 2013. He is a former General Secretary of the Labor Party. Roozendaal was the Treasurer of New South Wales, Minister of State and Regional Development, Minister of Ports and Waterways, Minister for the Illawarra, and Special Minister of State in the Rees and Keneally governments.

Belinda Jane Neal is a former Australian federal politician. She was a Member of the House of Representatives representing the electorate of Robertson between 2007 and 2010; and representing the state of New South Wales in the Senate from 1994 to 1998, both on behalf of the Australian Labor Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kristina Keneally</span> Australian politician (born 1968)

Kristina Marie Kerscher Keneally is an American-born Australian politician who served as the first female Premier of New South Wales from 2009 to 2011 and was later a Labor Senator for New South Wales from February 2018 until April 2022. She resigned from the Senate to contest the House of Representatives seat of Fowler, but was unsuccessful. From 2019 to 2022 she served as Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Shadow Minister for Home Affairs, and Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Saleam</span> Australian nationalist activist (born 1955)

James Saleam is an Australian political scientist, academic, political activist, and author noted for his involvement in Australian nationalism, anti-globalism, and the anti-immigration movement. He is currently the chairman of the Australia First Party. He came to prominence after founding National Action, a militant nationalist organization active in Sydney during the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katrina Hodgkinson</span> Australian politician

Katrina Ann Hodgkinson is an Australian former politician. She is the former Federal Vice President of the National Party of Australia and a former Australian Member of Parliament. She was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing Cootamundra for The Nationals from 28 March 2015 to 1 September 2017, and Burrinjuck from 27 March 1999 to 27 March 2015.

Mary Louise Easson is an Australian politician. She was an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1993 to 1996, representing the Sydney-based electorate of Lowe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Robertson (politician, born 1962)</span> Australian politician

John Cameron "Robbo" Robertson is a former Australian politician who served as the leader of the Labor Party in New South Wales from 2011 to 2014. Before entering politics he was prominent in the union movement.

Karl Bitar was the 9th National Secretary of the Australian Labor Party and former General Secretary of NSW Labor. He now works as an executive for Crown Limited.

The New South Wales Labor Party, officially known as the Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch) and commonly referred to simply as NSW Labor, is the New South Wales branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). The branch is the current ruling party in the state of New South Wales and is led by Chris Minns, who has served concurrently as premier of New South Wales since 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luke Foley</span> Australian Labor Party politician

Luke Aquinas Foley is a former Australian Labor Party politician who served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of New South Wales from 2015 to 2018. Foley was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since 19 June 2010 until his resignation to contest the Legislative Assembly seat of Auburn at the 2015 New South Wales election. Foley resigned after it was alleged that he had indecently assaulted an ABC journalist. Foley denies the allegations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Sheldon (politician)</span> Australian trade unionist and politician

Anthony Vincent Sheldon is an Australian politician and trade unionist. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has served as a Senator for New South Wales since 2019. He was previously a senior figure in the Transport Workers Union (TWU), serving as state secretary (1999–2008) and national secretary (2006–2019).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Troy Grant</span> Former Australian politician

Troy Wayne Grant is an Australian politician and former police officer. Grant has been the Inspector-General of Water Compliance (IGWC) since August 2021, and is Australia’s first in this position. Previously, he was the Minister for Police and the Minister for Emergency Services from January 2017 until March 2019 in the Berejiklian government. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Dubbo for the Nationals from 2011 to 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 New South Wales state election</span> State election for New South Wales, Australia in March 2015

The 2015 New South Wales state election was held on Saturday 28 March 2015. Members were elected to all 93 seats in the Legislative Assembly using optional preferential voting. Members were also elected to 21 of the 42 seats in the Legislative Council using optional preferential proportional representation voting. The election was conducted by the New South Wales Electoral Commission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Dastyari</span> Australian former politician

Sam Dastyari is an Australian former politician, who from 2013 to 2018 represented New South Wales in the Australian Senate as a member of the Australian Labor Party. Dastyari was previously General Secretary of the New South Wales branch of the Labor Party. He was the first person of Iranian origin and Azerbaijani descent to sit in the Australian Parliament. As a Senator, Dastyari was the subject of a Chinese-related donations scandal, which eventually led to his resignation from the Senate on 25 January 2018.

Noah Carroll was the 11th National Secretary of the Australian Labor Party. He is a member of the party's right faction.

References

  1. ↑ Bramston, Troy (10 January 2017). "New Labor women reckon they have the ideas — not just the numbers". The Australian . Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Nicholls, Sean (12 February 2016). "New Labor general secretary Kaila Murnain wants to drive cultural change in the party membership". The Sydney Morning Herald . Archived from the original on 2 September 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  3. ↑ "New Labor Chief is On Fire : Kaila Murnain Takes Top Post". The Daily Telegraph . Australia. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  4. ↑ Snow, Deborah (30 June 2018). "Kaila Murnain: the woman behind the NSW Labor machine". The Sydney Morning Herald . Archived from the original on 2 September 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  5. 1 2 "Bill Shorten backs Kaila Murnain to replace Jamie Clements as NSW Labor general secretary". ABC News . Australia. 15 January 2016. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  6. ↑ Nicholls, Sean (18 January 2016). "Labor launches historic affirmative action rules in wake of Jamie Clements saga". The Sydney Morning Herald . Archived from the original on 23 June 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  7. ↑ Bramston, Troy (5 December 2016). "NSW Labor adopts code of conduct for officials, members". The Australian . Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  8. 1 2 "NSW Labor Party votes to adopt bullying "code of conduct"". ABC News . Australia. 13 February 2016. Archived from the original on 10 November 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  9. ↑ Nicholls, Sean (15 August 2016). "ALP councillors' new school for scandal". The Sydney Morning Herald . Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  10. ↑ Bramston, Troy (23 November 2015). "NSW Labor adopts Barack Obama campaign tactics". The Australian . Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  11. ↑ Michael Evans (8 July 2016). "Federal election 2016: How the west was won by NSW Labor Party general secretary Kaila Murnain". The Border Mail . Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  12. ↑ "2016 Federal Election - AEC Tally Room". Australian Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 11 June 2017. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  13. ↑ "Labor Party Brings in More Women to Take Aim at NSW Seats". The Daily Telegraph . Australia. Archived from the original on 20 May 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  14. ↑ Stewart, Selby; Calderwood, Kathleen (17 October 2019). "NSW Labor boss resigns amid corruption probe, gets $700,000 payout". ABC News . Archived from the original on 24 October 2019. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  15. ↑ Estcourt, David (16 July 2023). "Exiled after ICAC probe, a one-time Labor chief returns to the fold". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.