Barrie Unsworth
Encyclopedia
Barrie John Unsworth was an Australian politician, representing the Australian Labor Party
in the Parliament of New South Wales
from 1978 to 1991. He served as the 36th Premier from July 1986 to March 1988.
, and educated in Sydney, at Kogarah
High School. On leaving school, at age 15, he was apprenticed as an electrical fitter. In 1955, aged 21 years, he married Pauline Hennessy and they subsequently had one daughter and three sons, one of whom has died; he and his wife have nine grandchildren. Unsworth was initially an Apprentice Electrical Fitter, then Electrical Fitter, Electrical Testing Officer and subsequently Sales Representative for Sydney County Council
from 1950 until 1960.
Unsworth had a brief period of military national service between 1953 and 1954 in the Royal Australian Navy
(RAN).
, and continued to build his career in the labour movement
and was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 1966 to attend Harvard University
, Trade Union Program. The following year, he was elected to the Labor Council of NSW
and was its elected Secretary from 1979 to 1984. Unsworth was an Australian delegate to His Royal Highness of Duke of Edinburgh
Study Conference, Oxford University in 1974
During his career as an elected union official, he was appointed by the Wran
Labor NSW Government to a range of government bodies including:
in 1978
. While serving in the Legislative Council, Unsworth represented Australia as a delegate at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Worker Participation in Management Conferences held in Geneva (1980) and The Hague (1981).
In the Wran
Labor Government, Unsworth was Minister for Transport (1984–1986) and Minister for Health (February to July 1986).
After the surprise retirement of Premier Neville Wran
in May 1986, he became leader of the NSW Labor Party
and thus Premier, and was also Minister for Ethnic Affairs and Minster for State Development. As Premiers are required by convention to be members of the Legislative Assembly
, Brian Bannon
, member for Rockdale
, resigned to accept a government job as Chairman of the Homebush States Sport Centre Trust, and Unsworth contested the resulting by-election held on 2 August 1986. He only narrowly won the seat, with a 17.1% dive in the primary vote and hostile independent preferences giving him a margin of just 54 votes. A by-election for Wran's safe Labor seat of Bass Hill was even worse, with a 22.2 per cent drop on the primary vote delivering a 103 vote victory to the Liberal candidate.
Unsworth was Premier for two years until the Labor Party's landslide defeat by the Liberals' Nick Greiner
in the 1988 elections
. Unsworth did not contest the 1991 election.
Following the election of the Carr
Labor Government in 1995, Unsworth was placed on a number of key government and community bodies, including:
During 2003 - 2008, Unsworth was a Director of Father Chris Riley
's charity, Youth off the Streets, that provides crisis care, refuges, schools, drug and alcohol programs to young people in Australia and throughout Asia. Unsworth has also been a Director of Entherm Pty Ltd (2003–2005), Member of Overseas Trade Authority of New South Wales (1978) and a Director of Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
(2004–2006).
In 2003 and 2004, Unsworth was commissioned by the NSW Government to conduct a formal review of public bus services. In 2008 he headed a committee that considered the privatisation of the New South Wales' electricity industry. The committee and Unsworth supported the sale.
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
in the Parliament of New South Wales
Parliament of New South Wales
The Parliament of New South Wales, located in Parliament House on Macquarie Street, Sydney, is the main legislative body in the Australian state of New South Wales . It is a bicameral parliament elected by the people of the state in general elections. The parliament shares law making powers with...
from 1978 to 1991. He served as the 36th Premier from July 1986 to March 1988.
Early years
Unsworth, the son of Joseph and Olive Unsworth, was born in Dubbo, New South WalesNew South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, and educated in Sydney, at Kogarah
Kogarah, New South Wales
Kogarah is a suburb of southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Kogarah is located 14 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is considered to be the centre of the St George area...
High School. On leaving school, at age 15, he was apprenticed as an electrical fitter. In 1955, aged 21 years, he married Pauline Hennessy and they subsequently had one daughter and three sons, one of whom has died; he and his wife have nine grandchildren. Unsworth was initially an Apprentice Electrical Fitter, then Electrical Fitter, Electrical Testing Officer and subsequently Sales Representative for Sydney County Council
Sydney County Council
The Sydney County Council was the authority responsible for electricity supplies in Sydney, Australia. The entity was created in 1936, and was elected and controlled by the municipal councils of Sydney. Between 1936 and 1952, it was responsible for electricity generation and distribution...
from 1950 until 1960.
Unsworth had a brief period of military national service between 1953 and 1954 in the Royal Australian Navy
Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...
(RAN).
Union career
In 1961, Unsworth became an organiser of the Electrical Trades UnionElectrical Trades Union of Australia
The Electrical Trades Union of Australia is a trade union in Australia which has a history stretching back over 100 years. In its modern form the ETU is a division of the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union , although it is possibly the most well known of the three divisions...
, and continued to build his career in the labour movement
Labour movement
The term labour movement or labor movement is a broad term for the development of a collective organization of working people, to campaign in their own interest for better treatment from their employers and governments, in particular through the implementation of specific laws governing labour...
and was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 1966 to attend Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, Trade Union Program. The following year, he was elected to the Labor Council of NSW
Labor Council of New South Wales
The Labor Council of New South Wales is a representative body of Trade union organisations in the State of New South Wales, Australia. As of 2005 there are 67 unions and 8 Rural and Regional Trades & Labor Councils affiliated to the Labor Council, representing 800,000 workers in NSW...
and was its elected Secretary from 1979 to 1984. Unsworth was an Australian delegate to His Royal Highness of Duke of Edinburgh
Duke of Edinburgh
The Duke of Edinburgh is a British royal title, named after the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, which has been conferred upon members of the British royal family only four times times since its creation in 1726...
Study Conference, Oxford University in 1974
During his career as an elected union official, he was appointed by the Wran
Neville Wran
Neville Kenneth Wran, AC, CNZM, QC was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 until 1986. He was National President of the Australian Labor Party from 1980 to 1986 and Chairman of both the Lionel Murphy Foundation and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation from 1986...
Labor NSW Government to a range of government bodies including:
- Public Transport Commission of New South Wales, Commissioner (1972–1975)
- Pipeline Authority, Member (1973–1978)
Political career
Unsworth was elected a member of the New South Wales Legislative CouncilNew South Wales Legislative Council
The New South Wales Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of New South Wales in Australia. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney. The Assembly is referred to as the lower house and the Council as...
in 1978
New South Wales state election, 1978
A general election was held in the state of New South Wales, Australia, on Saturday 7 October 1978. The result was the "Wranslide": a landslide victory for the Australian Labor Party under Neville Wran....
. While serving in the Legislative Council, Unsworth represented Australia as a delegate at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Worker Participation in Management Conferences held in Geneva (1980) and The Hague (1981).
In the Wran
Neville Wran
Neville Kenneth Wran, AC, CNZM, QC was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 until 1986. He was National President of the Australian Labor Party from 1980 to 1986 and Chairman of both the Lionel Murphy Foundation and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation from 1986...
Labor Government, Unsworth was Minister for Transport (1984–1986) and Minister for Health (February to July 1986).
After the surprise retirement of Premier Neville Wran
Neville Wran
Neville Kenneth Wran, AC, CNZM, QC was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 until 1986. He was National President of the Australian Labor Party from 1980 to 1986 and Chairman of both the Lionel Murphy Foundation and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation from 1986...
in May 1986, he became leader of the NSW Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
and thus Premier, and was also Minister for Ethnic Affairs and Minster for State Development. As Premiers are required by convention to be members of the Legislative Assembly
New South Wales Legislative Assembly
The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...
, Brian Bannon
Brian Bannon
Brian Joseph Bannon, OAM is a former Australian politician. He was the Labor member for Rockdale in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1959 to 1986....
, member for Rockdale
Electoral district of Rockdale
Rockdale is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by John Flowers of the Liberal Party of Australia.-History:...
, resigned to accept a government job as Chairman of the Homebush States Sport Centre Trust, and Unsworth contested the resulting by-election held on 2 August 1986. He only narrowly won the seat, with a 17.1% dive in the primary vote and hostile independent preferences giving him a margin of just 54 votes. A by-election for Wran's safe Labor seat of Bass Hill was even worse, with a 22.2 per cent drop on the primary vote delivering a 103 vote victory to the Liberal candidate.
Unsworth was Premier for two years until the Labor Party's landslide defeat by the Liberals' Nick Greiner
Nick Greiner
Nicholas "Nick" Frank Hugo Greiner AC, is an Australian businessman and former politician. He was the 37th Premier New South Wales from 1988 to 1992. He was Leader of the New South Wales Division of the Liberal Party from 1983 to 1992 and Leader of the Opposition from 1983 to 1988. He is married...
in the 1988 elections
New South Wales state election, 1988
Elections to the 49th Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday 19 March 1988. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election...
. Unsworth did not contest the 1991 election.
Life after politics
Immediately following politics, Unsworth had little political involvement with his only public commitment being as Deputy Chairman and then Chairman of the Australian Executive Committee for His Royal Highness Duke of Edinburgh Study Conference (1982–1998). Unsworth was General Manager of 2KY Broadcasters Pty Ltd Racing Radio between 1992-2000.Following the election of the Carr
Bob Carr
Robert John "Bob" Carr , Australian statesman, was Premier of New South Wales from 4 April 1995 to 3 August 2005. He holds the record for the longest continuous service as premier of NSW...
Labor Government in 1995, Unsworth was placed on a number of key government and community bodies, including:
- Australia Day Council of New South Wales, Chairman (1995–2003)
- Totalizator Agency Board, Director (1997–2004)
- Delta Electricity, Director (1997–2006)
- New South Wales Centenary of Federation Committee, Member (1997–2002)
- Tempo Services, Director (1999–2005)
- Ambulance Service of New South WalesAmbulance Service of New South WalesThe Ambulance Service of New South Wales , an agency of the Department of Health of the New South Wales Government, is the main provider of pre-hospital emergency care and ambulance services in the state of New South Wales, Australia....
, Chairman (2001–2008) - RailCorpRail Corporation New South WalesRail Corporation New South Wales is a statutory authority of the New South Wales government. RailCorp owns, operates and maintains the Sydney suburban and interurban rail network which is marketed under the CityRail brand; in addition to operating rural passenger services under the CountryLink...
, Director (2005–2008) - State Transit AuthorityState Transit Authority of New South WalesThe State Transit Authority of New South Wales is an agency of the Government of New South Wales based in Sydney, Australia operating bus and ferry services. The STA is part of transport minister Gladys Berejiklian's portfolio...
, Chairman (2004 to the present) - WorkCover Authority of New South WalesWorkCover Authority of New South WalesWorkCover NSW is a NSW government body responsible for ensuring that all employers guarantee the safety of their employees or workers and have the correct insurance in place to cover them....
, Chairman (1995–1997) - Constitution Education Fund Australia, Trustee
During 2003 - 2008, Unsworth was a Director of Father Chris Riley
Chris Riley (Priest)
Father Chris Riley, AM is an Australian Roman Catholic priest who founded and is CEO of the charity Youth Off The Streets. He is a member of the Salesian order....
's charity, Youth off the Streets, that provides crisis care, refuges, schools, drug and alcohol programs to young people in Australia and throughout Asia. Unsworth has also been a Director of Entherm Pty Ltd (2003–2005), Member of Overseas Trade Authority of New South Wales (1978) and a Director of Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. They compete in the National Rugby League's Telstra Premiership, the premier rugby league competition of Australasia...
(2004–2006).
In 2003 and 2004, Unsworth was commissioned by the NSW Government to conduct a formal review of public bus services. In 2008 he headed a committee that considered the privatisation of the New South Wales' electricity industry. The committee and Unsworth supported the sale.