Tony Burke

The Honourable Tony Burke MP
File:Tonyburke.jpg
Member of the Australian Parliament for Watson
Incumbent
Assumed office 2004
Preceded by	Leo McLeay
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 December 2007
Preceded by	Peter McGauran
Personal details
Born	(1969-11-04) 4 November 1969 Sydney, NSW, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Australian Labor Party
Alma mater	University of Sydney
Website	TonyBurke.com.au

Anthony Stephen (Tony) Burke (born 4 November 1969) is an Australian politician representing the Labor Party. He was elected as a member of the Parliament of New South Wales in 2003 and in October 2004 was elected to the federal House of Representatives as the Member for Watson, New South Wales.

Background

Tony Burke was educated at Regina Coeli, St Patrick's College, Strathfield (where he was Vice-Captain) and the University of Sydney, where he graduated in arts and law. An accomplished debater, in 1995 he was awarded the Martin Sorensen award for best speaker at the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships.

He was a founding director of Aticus Pty Ltd, an advocacy training business across Australia and Asia.

From 1997 until 2003, Burke worked as an organiser for the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association.

On 22 March 2003, he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council. He chaired the NSW State Development Committee, conducting inquiries into Ports Infrastructure and into Science and its Commercialisation. He resigned from the NSW state parliament on 24 June 2004 to campaign for the federal parliament, and was successful at the 2004 federal election, held on 9 October.

Federal Parliament

Burke was appointed as Shadow Minister for Small Business immediately after his election, and in June 2005 was promoted to Shadow Minister for Immigration. In December 2006 Kevin Rudd was elected leader and conducted a further reshuffle, expanding the portfolio to Immigration, Integration and Citizenship. On 29 November 2007, Burke was selected by the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as the next Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and was sworn in on 3 December 2007.

See also

• First Rudd Ministry

External links

• Tony Burke's Website
• The Honourable Tony Burke, Final Speech to the NSW Parliament
• Mr Tony Burke MP, Member for Watson (NSW) First Speech To Federal Parliament - 29/11/2004
• Tony Burke's page, Australian Parliament Website
• Tony Burke's page, ALP website
• Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry website