Rod Welford | |
---|---|
Minister for Education and the Arts | |
In office 28 July 2005 –26 March 2009 | |
Premier | Peter Beattie Anna Bligh |
Preceded by | Anna Bligh |
Succeeded by | Geoff Wilson (Education) Anna Bligh (Arts) |
Attorney-General of Queensland Minister for Justice | |
In office 22 February 2001 –28 July 2005 | |
Premier | Peter Beattie |
Preceded by | Matt Foley |
Succeeded by | Linda Lavarch |
Minister for Environment and Heritage | |
In office 29 June 1998 –22 February 2001 | |
Premier | Peter Beattie |
Preceded by | Brian Littleproud |
Succeeded by | Dean Wells |
Minister for Natural Resources | |
In office 29 June 1998 –22 February 2001 | |
Premier | Peter Beattie |
Preceded by | Lawrence Springborg |
Succeeded by | Stephen Robertson |
Shadow Minister for Environment and Heritage | |
In office 27 February 1996 –29 June 1998 | |
Leader | Peter Beattie |
Preceded by | Doug Slack |
Succeeded by | Vince Lester |
Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Everton | |
In office 19 September 1992 –21 March 2009 | |
Preceded by | Glen Milliner |
Succeeded by | Murray Watt |
Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Stafford | |
In office 2 December 1989 –19 September 1992 | |
Preceded by | Terry Gygar |
Succeeded by | Seat abolished |
Personal details | |
Born | Rodney Jon Welford 30 September 1958 Brisbane,Queensland,Australia |
Political party | Labor |
Spouse | Rosemary Anne Walters |
Alma mater | University of Queensland |
Occupation | Solicitor,Barrister |
Rodney Jon (Rod) Welford (born 30 September 1958) is an Australian former politician from Queensland. He served as a Labor Party Member of Parliament in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 1989 to 2009.
Welford was born in Brisbane. He was a prominent solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland and barrister of the High Court of Australia prior to entering parliament. His qualifications are Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours),Bachelor of Laws,Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice,Graduate Diploma in Industrial Relations and a Master of Science (Environmental Management) and Certificate in Permaculture Design.
Welford has been active in his community as a member of the Royal Life Saving Society Australia and a branch,state and national medal winner for his Surf Life Saving Club Burleigh Heads Mowbray Park on the Gold Coast. He was the first honorary State Education Officer of the Surf Life Saving Association and Technical Director of the Royal Life Saving Society in the early 1980s. He also worked as a professional lifeguard for the Gold Coast City Council while completing university studies. Also during his university studies Welford served on the student union of the University of Queensland. [1]
Welford entered state parliament as the member for Stafford at the 1989 state election. He switched to the district of Everton at the 1992 state election,which he held until his decision not to stand for re-election at the State election in 2009. [2]
Welford served in a number of portfolios in the Labor governments of Premiers Peter Beattie and Anna Bligh. He was the Minister for Environment &Heritage and Minister for Natural Resources from 1998 to 2001. He was the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice from 2001 to 2005. He was the Minister for Education and Minister for the Arts from 2005 to 2009,as well as the Minister for Training from 2006 to 2009.
Before serving as a State Minister,he had led a Ministerial Review of Sports Funding (1990–91) leading to the creation of the Queensland Academy of Sport and chaired the Government Sustainable Energy Advisory Group (1994–95),a joint government-industry committee,which undertook projects providing the foundation for subsequent government grants programs to subsidise the installation of household solar water heaters and remote area solar power systems.
As a minister,his focus on active policy development attracted recognition for innovative policy initiatives. For example,while responsible for the environment and natural resources portfolio,he established the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency,took action to protect biodiversity and reduce greenhouse emissions by introducing ground-breaking legislation to stem broadscale land clearing,created the first large scale water efficiency program in the nation,legislated to protect environmental health of river systems and forged a historic Regional Forest Agreement between the government,timber industry and conservation movement which secured sustainable timber production while expanding the national park estate by more than 400,000 hectares. He was the Australian State Government representative at the United Nations Commission for Sustainable Development in 2000.
Since leaving Parliament,Welford has been chief executive of the Australian Council of Recycling Inc (ACOR),the national peak industry body for the recycling industry in Australia (2009-2013). While in this role,he held positions as a company director on ASX-listed public companies,including deputy chairman of the board of directors of AstiVita Renewables Limited,a non-executive director of Excela Limited,and board member of State power company,Stanwell Corporation Limited. He was also an honorary member of the board of the International River Foundation,honorary interim board member of the National Centre of Excellence for Desalination at Murdoch University and patron of the Centre for Research,Innovation and Future Development at St Paul's School,his former high school. He also the chairman and CEO of Ensight,a specialist energy system design firm based in Brisbane.
He now works in the fields of energy efficiency,renewable energy and recycling. He is also board chairman of the Electrogroup group of companies,a non-profit enterprise that operates a group training and apprenticeship service for the electrotechnology industry and chairman of the Energy Management Institute,a non-profit company established to train and accredit electrical contractors with skills in energy efficiency design and retrofitting.
He was subsequently the patron of the Albany Creek Junior Rugby League Football Club,the Pine Hills Sports Club and the Mitchelton Senior Citizens Association.
He is the sole parent of a daughter who has Down's Syndrome. His personal interests include philosophy,permaculture,environmental design,swimming,surfing and the performing arts.
John Selwyn Gummer,Baron Deben,is a British Conservative Party politician,formerly the Member of Parliament (MP) for Suffolk Coastal and now a member of the House of Lords. He was Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1983 to 1985 and held various government posts including Secretary of State for the Environment from 1993 to 1997.
Peter Douglas Beattie is an Australian former politician who served as the 36th Premier of Queensland,in office from 1998 to 2007. He was the state leader of the Labor Party from 1996 to 2007.
Wayne Keith Goss was Premier of Queensland from 7 December 1989 until 19 February 1996,becoming the first Labor Premier of the state in over thirty two years. Prior to entering politics,Goss was a solicitor,and after leaving politics he served as Chairman of the Queensland Art Gallery and Chairman of Deloitte Australia.
Andris Piebalgs is a Latvian politician and diplomat who served as European Commissioner for Development at the European Commission from 2010 until 2014. Between 2004 and 2009 he served as Commissioner for Energy. Between 4 June 2016 and 19 August 2017,he served as the leader of the Unity party.
Johnstone William "John" Thwaites is an Australian former politician,and served as Deputy Premier of the state of Victoria from 1999 to 2007.
Anna Maria Bligh is an Australian lobbyist and former politician who served as the 37th Premier of Queensland,in office from 2007 to 2012 as leader of the Queensland Labor Party. She was the first woman to hold either position. In 2017,she was appointed CEO of the Australian Banking Association.
Mark Alexander Birrell is a company director and a former Cabinet Minister in the Australian state of Victoria.
Annastacia Palaszczuk is an Australian politician who served as the 39th premier of Queensland from 2015 to 2023. She held office as the leader of the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 2012 until her resignation,and has been a member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland (MLA) for the division of Inala since 2006. Palaszczuk is the fifth-most tenured premier in Queensland state history and the first woman to win the premiership from opposition,she also presided over the first majority female cabinet in Australian state and federal history.
Jack Gordon Beale AO was an Australian politician who championed the need for Australia to conserve and develop its water resources. He was also Australia's first environment minister. In his obituary in The Sydney Morning Herald,he was described as "a visionary,one of the first to realize what would become vital issues in Australia:the potential of water resources and the limited capacity of the environment to sustain abuse." Known as the 'Water Man,' he was quoted as saying:
"Australia is the lowest,flattest,hottest and driest continent on the earth and we have to manage it accordingly."
Ronan Oliver Lee is an Irish Australian former politician and research fellow in the Institute for Media and Creative Industries at Loughborough University London. He was previously a visiting scholar at Queen Mary University of London's International State Crime Initiative. His research focusses on Myanmar,the Rohingya,genocide,and hate speech. He was formerly a political advisor and Labor and later Green Party member of the Queensland State Parliament. Lee represented the seat of Indooroopilly since he was first elected as a Labor Party member in 2001.
Visy Industries is a privately owned Australian-American paper,packaging and recycling company established in Melbourne in 1948. Visy was founded by a number of people. Richard Pratt acted as the head of the company after 1969 until his death in April 2009,when his son Anthony Pratt assumed the role of executive chairman. Since his assumption of the role,Anthony Pratt has presided over a major expansion into the Asian packaging market and moved Visy to a position as a key player in food security for the region.
Peter Elliot Rae AO is an Australian retired politician who represented the Liberal Party for the state of Tasmania in the Australian Senate. He served as a Senator from 1967 until his resignation in January 1986. He was subsequently elected to the division of Bass in the Tasmanian House of Assembly at the February 1986 election,serving until his defeat on 13 May 1989.
Kate Jennifer Jones is an Australian former politician. She served as a Labor Party Member of Parliament in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 2006 to 2012,and again from 2015 to 2020. Jones first represented the seat of Ashgrove until she was defeated by eventual Premier Campbell Newman at the 2012 state election. Jones retook the seat for the Labor Party at the 2015 state election. The seat was abolished prior to the 2017 state election,so Jones contested and won the new seat of Cooper at that election. In the Palaszczuk Government,she was the Minister for Innovation and Tourism Industry Development,Minister for State Development and the Minister for the Commonwealth Games.
Stephen Robertson is an Australian politician,he is a former member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland who represented the electoral district of Stretton for the Labor Party. He was the Minister for Natural Resources,Mines and Energy and Minister for Trade in the cabinet of Premier Anna Bligh. He had previously held the positions of Minister for Health (2005–2009) and Minister for Emergency Services (1999–2001).
David Francis Gibson is an Australian former politician who was the 18th member for Gympie in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 2006 to 2015. In January 2015 Gibson retired from State politics.
Cameron Robert Dick is an Australian politician and member of the Labor Party currently serving as the 36th Deputy Premier and 51st Treasurer of the state of Queensland and Minister for Trade and Investment. He previously served as Minister for State Development,Manufacturing,Infrastructure and Planning and was Minister for Health and Minister for Ambulance Services in the Palaszczuk Ministry. He also served as Attorney-General,Minister for Education and Minister for Industrial Relations in the Bligh government. He is currently a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly representing the seat of Woodridge.
Murray Patrick Watt is an Australian politician who has served as Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations in the Albanese government since July 2024. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has been a Senator for Queensland since the 2016 federal election. He previously served in the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 2009 to 2012.
Grant Steven Musgrove is an Australian public figure. Roles have included Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Council of Recycling (ACOR),the peak industry body for the resource recovery industry,a senior university advisor and member of parliament. He is a regular media commentator and keynote speaker on resource recovery and the recycling industry internationally. He was the member for Springwood in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 1998 to 2001,representing the Labor Party.
Michael James Hart is an Australian Liberal National politician,who is the member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland for Burleigh,having defeated Labor Party member,Christine Smith,at the 2012 state election. He was re-elected at the 2015 state election.
Keith Ernest De Lacy,AM was an Australian politician and businessman.