Tim Ayres

Last updated

Senator
The Honourable
Tim Ayres
Tim Ayres Official Portrait (cropped).jpg
Official portrait, 2022
Minister for Industry and Innovation
Incumbent
Assumed office
13 May 2025
Party Labor
SpouseRae Cooper
Children2
Alma mater University of Sydney
OccupationTrade unionist
politician

Timothy Ayres (born 18 December 1973) is an Australian politician and trade unionist who was elected as a Senator for New South Wales at the 2019 federal election. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party and was previously a trade union official with the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU). He has served as the Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science in the Second Albanese ministry since 13 May 2025. [2]

Contents

Early life

Ayres was born in Sydney, on 18 December 1973. [2] He was raised on a farm near Lismore, New South Wales. He completed his schooling at Glen Innes High School, before going on to study industrial relations at the University of Sydney. [3] Ayres has at least one Canadian grandparent, causing him to briefly become a Canadian citizen when that nation changed its laws to extend citizenship by descent. Ayres renounced Canadian citizenship immediately, and the situation was described by Anne Twomey as an "unusual case of a person being validly elected, but then, against their will, having foreign citizenship conferred upon them", and it did not affect Ayres's eligibility to sit in Parliament. [1]

Career

Ayres worked as a union organiser in the Riverina until 2000, when he moved to Sydney. He was elected state secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU) in 2010. [3]

In July 2017, Ayres won preselection for the ALP Senate ticket in New South Wales, replacing retiring senator Doug Cameron. He defeated former federal MP Chris Haviland by a substantial margin in a ballot of Labor Left factional delegates. According to The Australian , the vote was "highly controversial and acrimonious", and was boycotted by two major left-wing unions, the Maritime Union of Australia and the CFMEU. [4]

Ayres was elected to the Senate at the 2019 federal election, running in second place on the ALP ticket in New South Wales. [5] [6] He made his first speech to parliament on 30 July 2019, in which he offered that "a cruel pea-heart beats inside the chest of this mean-spirited government". [7]

In 2022, following the ALP's victory at the 2022 federal election, Ayres was appointed assistant trade minister in the Albanese government. [2]

In 2025, Ayres was appointed the successor to Ed Husic as the Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science in the second Albanese ministry. [8] Ayers' promotion was seen as recognition of his success in undertaking work as the Assistant Minister for Manufacturing and Labor's Made in Australia agenda. [9]

References

  1. 1 2 Massola, James (3 February 2026). "The Labor minister who was Canadian for two weeks, despite trying not to be" . The Sydney Morning Herald . Nine Entertainment. ISSN   0312-6315. OCLC   226369741. Archived from the original on 3 February 2026. Retrieved 6 February 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 "Senator Tim Ayres". Senators and Members of the Parliament of Australia . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  3. 1 2 "Tim Ayres". Australian Labor Party. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  4. ↑ Bramston, Troy (25 July 2017). "Ayres' early claim for Senate splits Labor left". The Australian . Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  5. ↑ "Senate Results". ABC News. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  6. ↑ "Qualification checklist" (PDF). Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  7. ↑ Coughlan, Matt (30 July 2019). "Labor senator urges better ties to country". Canberra Times.
  8. ↑ McIlroy, Tom; Butler, Josh (12 May 2025). "Anthony Albanese reveals new cabinet with Tanya Plibersek named as minister for social services". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 12 May 2025.
  9. ↑ McIlroy, Tom (6 May 2025). "Tim Ayres among MPs tipped for promotion in Albanese reshuffle". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 14 May 2025.
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